Judge Stephanos Bibas
Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals
Stephanos Bibas was born in 1969 in New York City, New York. He earned an undergraduate degree from Columbia University, a master’s from University College, Oxford, and his Juris Doctor from Yale School of Law. He clerked for a judge on the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. He worked as an associate in private practice, then clerked for Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy.
Bibas served as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. He was a research fellow at Yale Law, then became a law professor at the University of Iowa College of Law. He later switched to the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He ranks among the most-cited law professors in U.S. federal courts and among other law professors.
President Donald Trump nominated Bibas to be a judge for the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in June 2017. The Senate invoked cloture, and he was confirmed in November. Bibas received his commission later that month. He has also served by designation as a trial judge for the U.S. District Courts of Delaware, New Jersey, and the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
In the News…
The Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals determined this week that some nonviolent felons may legally own guns under the Second Amendment. The appellate judges upheld the firearm restriction against a man convicted of carjacking but in a separate ruling found that it did not apply to a man convicted of drunk driving.
Judge Stephanos Bibas wrote in the decision upholding the restriction, “The right to keep and bear arms has limits, and this is one: Those who pose a risk of physical violence from misusing guns can be disarmed before that risk becomes a reality.”
“History answers both why the government may disarm and how. It may disarm someone when a judge finds that he poses a risk of physical violence from misusing guns. That finding is built in when a defendant is convicted of a violent crime—so disarming him fits our tradition,“ Judge Bibas continued. “Yet when the predicate crime does not show even a risk of physical violence in the first place, the government cannot go on a fishing expedition, requiring him to disprove his own risk of violence. It must provide a different analogy.
Contact this Leader…
Did you pray for Judge Bibas today? You can let him know at:
The Honorable Stephanos Bibas
Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals
James A. Byrne United States Courthouse
601 Market Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106
