From 2007 to 2010, Whitehead worked as an attorney at Garvey Schubert Barer in Seattle. From 2010 to 2014, he served as a senior trial attorney in the Seattle office of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. From 2014 to 2016, he served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Western District of Washington. From 2016 to 2023, he was a shareholder at Schroeter Goldmark & Bender in Seattle.[3] Whitehead is a past president of the Loren Miller Bar Association, Washington's oldest and largest minority bar.[4]
Notable cases
In 2018, Whitehead served as co-counsel for a disabled car dealership employee after he was fired by Mercedes-Benz of Seattle when he began using a prosthetic voice box to speak. Whitehead tried the case to verdict before a federal jury, which returned a $5 million verdict in his client's favor.[5][6] The car dealership appealed the verdict, and Whitehead successfully argued the case before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.[7][8] The Court would later affirm the trial court's judgment.[9]
In 2021, Whitehead represented private plaintiffs when they sued a private prison, GEO Group, for paying incarcerated ICE detainees $1 a day in its work program.[8] The Court appointed Whitehead as class counsel for over 10,000 detained persons seeking back wages. The state of Washington stated the company must pay detainees the state minimum wage, just as other private corporations doing contract work with the state are required to.[10] After a three-week trial, a federal jury returned a verdict of $17.3 million to the class of workers.[11][12]
Federal judicial service
On July 13, 2022, President Joe Biden nominated Whitehead to serve as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington. President Biden nominated Whitehead to the seat vacated by Judge Richard A. Jones, who subsequently assumed senior status on September 5, 2022.[13] On September 21, 2022, a hearing on his nomination was held before the Senate Judiciary Committee.[14] On December 1, 2022, his nomination was reported out of committee by a 12–10 vote.[15] On January 3, 2023, his nomination was returned to the President under Rule XXXI, Paragraph 6 of the United States Senate; he was renominated later the same day.[16] On February 2, 2023, his nomination was reported out of committee by an 11–9 vote.[17] On February 28, 2023, the Senate invoked cloture on his nomination by a 51–43 vote.[18] Later that day, his nomination was confirmed by a 51–43 vote.[19] He received his judicial commission on March 14, 2023.[20] He was sworn in on April 4, 2023.[21]
Personal life
During her introduction in front of the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, senator Patty Murray said that Whitehead is the first judicial nominee by President Joe Biden to have a physical disability (he uses a prosthetic leg).[14][22][23]
