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The Visiting Jurist Program brings some of the nation’s most respected judges to Catholic University’s campus to participate in the life of the Law School and the programming offered by CIT. During their stay at CUA, Visiting Jurists co-teach courses with CUA faculty, participate in CIT events, and enjoy meals with CUA faculty and students. Through the Visiting Jurist Program, CIT enhances its scholarly programming with the perspectives of leading jurists and provides opportunities for Catholic Law’s students to interact with some of the country’s best legal thinkers.
Judge Thomas M. Hardiman was confirmed by the Senate (95-0) on March 15, 2007 to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. He previously served on the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania and was in private practice in Washington, D.C. from 1990-1992 and in Pittsburgh from 1992-2003.
Chief Justice John Roberts appointed Judge Hardiman to the Information Technology Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States in 2008, and he served as its Chair from 2013 until 2021. In 2021 he was appointed by the Director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts to serve as Chair of the Judiciary IT Security Task Force, which completed its work in fall 2023. In 2020, Chief Justice Roberts appointed Judge Hardiman to the Board of the Federal Judicial Center for a term that ended in March 2024. As part of his work with the Center, Judge Hardiman served as Editor in Chief for the Manual for Complex Litigation, Fifth.
In 2012, Judge Hardiman became a member of the American Law Institute and was elected to its Council in 2019. Since 2013 he has taught Advanced Constitutional Law at Duquesne University School of Law and since 2020 he has taught an intensive one-week course entitled “Constitutional Law: the First and Second Amendments” at Georgetown University Law Center. He is a 1987 honors graduate of the University of Notre Dame and a 1990 honors graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center, where he served as a Notes and Comments Editor of the Georgetown Law Journal. Judge Hardiman’s chambers are in Pittsburgh. He and his wife Lori married in 1992 and have three children.
Judge Duncan received his B.A. from Louisiana State University in 1994, his J.D. from the Paul M. Hebert Law Center at Louisiana State University in 1997, and his LL.M. from Columbia Law School in 2004.
After graduating from law school, he clerked for Louisiana-based Circuit Judge John Malcolm Duhé Jr. of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
From 2008–2012, Duncan served as Appellate Chief for Louisiana's Attorney General's office. From 2012–2014, he served as general counsel of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. From 2004-2008, he was an assistant professor of law at the University of Mississippi School of Law.
Before becoming a judge, Duncan practiced at the Washington, D.C. firm of Schaerr Duncan LLP, where he was a founding partner. He was appointed by President Trump to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on May 1, 2018.
Judge Pitlyk received her law degree from Yale Law School, after graduating summa cum laude from Boston College and earning master’s degrees from Georgetown University and the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium, where she studied as a Fulbright Scholar. Immediately before taking the bench, Judge Pitlyk served as Special Counsel for the Thomas More Society, a national public interest law firm, after earlier tenures at Clark & Sauer, LLC, in St. Louis, MO, and Covington & Burling in Washington, DC. From 2010 to 2011, she clerked for the Honorable Brett M. Kavanaugh, then a Circuit Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Judge Pitlyk was sworn in as a District Judge for the Eastern District of Missouri on December 6, 2019.
Justice Carlos G. Muñiz was appointed to the Florida Supreme Court by Governor Ron DeSantis on January 22, 2019, becoming the 89th Justice since statehood was granted in 1845. Prior to joining the Court, he served on the staff of Secretary Betsy DeVos as the presidentially-appointed, Senate-confirmed general counsel of the United States Department of Education.
In addition to working as an attorney in the federal government and in private practice, Justice Muñiz had an extensive career in Florida state government. He served as the deputy attorney general and chief of staff to Attorney General Pam Bondi; as deputy chief of staff and counsel in the Office of the Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives; as general counsel of the Department of Financial Services; and as deputy general counsel to Governor Jeb Bush.
Justice Muñiz is a graduate of the University of Virginia and of Yale Law School. After law school, he clerked for Judge José A. Cabranes of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and for Judge Thomas A. Flannery of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
Justice Muñiz lives in Tallahassee with his wife, Katie Muñiz, and their three children. He grew up in the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., where he attended St. James Catholic School and Bishop Ireton High School.
Judge Sykes was nominated to the Seventh Circuit by President George W. Bush and confirmed by the Senate in 2004. Prior to her appointment to the federal bench, Judge Sykes served as a justice on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Governor Tommy G. Thompson appointed her in September 1999 to fill a mid-term vacancy on the state supreme court, and she was elected to a full ten-year term in April 2000. From 1992-1999, Judge Sykes served on the state trial bench in Milwaukee County (elected in 1992 and re-elected in 1998). From 1985-1992, Judge Sykes practiced law with the Milwaukee firm of Whyte & Hirschboeck, S.C., and from 1984-1985, was a law clerk to Federal Judge Terence T. Evans.
Born and raised in the Milwaukee area, Judge Sykes earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University in 1980 and a law degree from Marquette University Law School in 1984. Between college and law school, Judge Sykes worked as a reporter for The Milwaukee Journal.
Judge Duncan received his B.A. from Louisiana State University in 1994, his J.D. from the Paul M. Hebert Law Center at Louisiana State University in 1997, and his LL.M. from Columbia Law School in 2004.
After graduating from law school, he clerked for Louisiana-based Circuit Judge John Malcolm Duhé Jr. of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
From 2008–2012, Duncan served as Appellate Chief for Louisiana's Attorney General's office. From 2012–2014, he served as general counsel of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. From 2004-2008, he was an assistant professor of law at the University of Mississippi School of Law.
Before becoming a judge, Duncan practiced at the Washington, D.C. firm of Schaerr Duncan LLP, where he was a founding partner. He was appointed by President Trump to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on May 1, 2018.
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