Howell was born in 1956 in Fort Benning (now Fort Moore), Georgia.[3] She is the daughter of an Army officer and is Jewish.[4] She attended elementary and secondary school in six states and Germany.[5]
While working for Senator Leahy, Howell helped craft the E-FOIA amendments, which expanded electronic access to government records.[8] She also helped Sen. Leahy fend off proposals to impose new limits on the FOIA.[8] In 2001, she was honored by the Coalition to Support and Expand the Freedom of Information Act,[8] and in 2004, her FOIA work was honored by the Society of Professional Journalists.[7]
In response, Representative Elise Stefanik, a Republican from New York, filed a complaint of judicial misconduct in which she alleged that Howell's remarks were "conduct unbecoming of a federal judge".[16]
Howell presiding over a naturalization ceremony, 2016
On July 14, 2010, Howell was nominated by President Barack Obama to the seat vacated by Judge Paul L. Friedman, who assumed senior status on December 31, 2009.[5][24] She was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on December 22, 2010. She received her judicial commission on December 27, 2010. She served as the chief judge from March 17, 2016 to March 17, 2023. She assumed senior status on February 1, 2024.[6] A 2015 analysis by Ravel Law found Howell to be the second most-cited district court judge appointed in the previous five years.[25]
Notable decisions
In 2011, Harold Hodge Jr. stood outside the U.S. Supreme Court wearing a sign that protested the American government's treatment of black and Hispanic people.[26] He did so in violation of a 1949 federal law that makes such protests a crime. Hodge sued the Marshal of the United States Supreme Court and the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia under the First Amendment. In a June 2013 decision, Howell struck down the law as violating the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech.[27] The judge wrote, "The absolute prohibition on expressive activity in the statute is unreasonable, substantially overbroad and irreconcilable with the First Amendment." The defendants appealed the decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, which reversed Howell's decision and reinstated the law as it applies to the Supreme Court Plaza and steps. Hodge v. Talkin, 799 F. 3d 1145 (D.C. Cir. 2015).
In 2018, Howell struck down a regulation of the Federal Election Commission allowing dark money groups, certain nonprofit organizations engaged in political activities, to conceal their donors. She wrote that the regulation "blatantly undercuts the congressional goal of fully disclosing the sources of money flowing into federal political campaigns, and thereby suppresses the benefits intended to accrue from disclosure."[28]
The Supreme Court later declined to review the decision.[29]
In that same year, Howell became the supervising judge for the grand jury working for special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections.[1] On October 25, 2019, she ruled in favor of the House Judiciary Committee, which had sought grand jury materials from the Mueller investigation, finding their impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump to be a judicial proceeding.[30] Justice Department attorneys had previously asserted that congressional investigators had "not yet exhausted [their] available discovery tools,” arguments Howell said "smack of farce," as the administration had openly stated it would stonewall the investigation.[31]
Beryl Howell, "Lawyers on the Hook: Counsel’s Professional Responsibility to Provide Quality Assurance in Electronic Discovery", 2 J. Sec. L. Reg. & Compl. 216 (June 2009).
Beryl Howell, "Real World Problems of Virtual Crime, in Cybercrime: Digital Cops in a Networked Environment" (Jack M. Balkin et al., New York University Press 2007).
Beryl Howell & Dana J. Lesemann, "FISA’s Fruits in Criminal Cases: An Opportunity for Improved Accountability", 12 UCLA J. Intl. L. & For. Affairs 145 (Spring 2007).
Beryl A. Howell & Richard J. Wolf, "Rough Waters Ahead for E-discovery and the New Federal Rules of Civil Procedure," ACC Docket (January/February 2007).
Beryl Howell, "What You Need to Know About Digital Forensics," 28 Pa. Law. 32 (2006).
Beryl Howell, "Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act: Has the Solution Become the Problem?", in Protecting What Matters: Technology, Security, and Liberty Since 9/11 (Clayton Northouse, Brookings Institution Press 2006).
Beryl Howell, "Perspectives on the USA PATRIOT Act" (Pennsylvania Bar Association Quarterly, January 2005).[12]
Beryl Howell, "Seven Weeks: The Making of the USA Patriot Act", 72 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 1145 (2004).
Beryl Howell & Eric Friedberg, 21st Century Forensics: Searching for the "Smoking Gun" in Computer Hard Drives," 37 Prosecutor 18 (2003).
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