President Obama Nominates Stephanie Dawn Thacker to Serve on US Circuit Court of Appeals

WASHINGTON- Today, President Obama nominated Stephanie Dawn Thacker to serve on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

"Stephanie Dawn Thacker has displayed exceptional dedication to the legal profession through her work and I am honored to nominate her to serve the American people as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals,” President Obama said. "She will be a diligent, judicious and esteemed addition to the Fourth Circuit bench."

Stephanie Dawn Thacker:  Nominee for the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
Stephanie Dawn Thacker is currently a partner at the law firm of Guthrie & Thomas PLLC, located in Charleston, West Virginia, where she specializes in complex litigation, environmental and toxic tort litigation, and criminal defense.  She also teaches as an adjunct professor at the West Virginia University School of Law.

Thacker was raised in Hamlin, West Virginia.  She received her B.A. magna cum laude from Marshall University in 1987, and her J.D. from the West Virginia University School of Law in 1990, where she graduated Order of the Coif.  After graduating law school, Thacker spent two years in the Pittsburgh office of the law firm of Kirkpatrick & Lockhart (now K&L Gates).   In 1992, after working briefly in the West Virginia Office of the Attorney General, Thacker joined the law firm of King, Betts & Allen.

In 1994, Thacker joined the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia, serving as an Assistant United States Attorney in the General Criminal Division, where she handled a wide range of criminal prosecutions.  While at the United States Attorney’s Office, Thacker participated in the first prosecution in the country under the Violence Against Women Act.

In 1999, Thacker moved to Washington, D.C. to work as a Trial Attorney at the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (“CEOS”) of the United States Department of Justice.  Her work there focused on prosecution and training in connection with child pornography, child sexual exploitation, sex trafficking, sex tourism, obscenity, and criminal non-support offenses.  During Thacker’s seven-year tenure in the Section, she spent two years as the Deputy Chief of Litigation and two years as Principal Deputy Chief.  While at CEOS, Thacker was awarded the Attorney General’s Distinguished Service Award, the Department of Justice’s second-highest award.  Thacker left the Department of Justice and joined Guthrie & Thomas, the successor firm to King, Betts & Allen, as a partner in 2006.