Cathy Bissoon, American federal judge. Bar: Pennsylvania 1993, United States District Court (western district) Pennsylvania 1993, Supreme Court Pennsylvania 1994, United States Court Appeals (4th Circuit) 1995, United States Court Appeals (3rd Circuit) 1997, United States Court Appeals (6th Circuit) 2001.
Background
Bissoon was born on May 16, 1968 in Brooklyn, New New York Bissoon"s father was from Puerto Rico and her mother from Trinidad. When Bissoon was four years old, her father was killed in a stabbing close to the family home in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn.
Education
Bachelor in Political Science summa cum laude, Alfred University, New York, 1990. Juris Doctor, Harvard Law School, 1993. Executive leadership program, The Wharton School, University Pennsylvania, 2004.
Career
Bissoon"s mother later remarried and the family moved to Queens, New New York She earned her Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School in 1993. After completing law school, Bissoon joined the Pittsburgh office of Reed Smith, practicing in the firm"s labor and employment group.
While at Reed Smith, Bissoon took a one-year leave of absence to serve as a law clerk for Judge Gary L. Lancaster of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania.
In 2007, Bissoon joined the Pittsburgh law firm of Cohen & Grigsby where she was a director and the head of the firm"s Labor & Employment Group. In July 2008, Bissoon was selected to serve as a magistrate judge for the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, replacing Judge Francis X. Caiazza.
She joined the bench on August 1, 2008, and is the first woman of color to sit on the federal bench in Pittsburgh. Bissoon, who is Hispanic and Indian, is also the first woman of Indian descent to sit on a federal court in the United States.
During the 111th Congress, Pennsylvania Senators Arlen Specter and Bob Casey recommended Bissoon for a seat on the Western District of Pennsylvania.
On November 17, 2010, President Barack Obama formally nominated Bissoon to be a United States district court judge, to replace Thomas Hardiman, who was elevated to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in March 2007. On October 17, 2011, the Senate voted 82–3 to confirm Bissoon. She received her commission on October 19, 2011.
With her appointment, Judge Bissoon became the first Hispanic female Article III judge in Pennsylvania and the first Asian American Article III judge in Pennsylvania.
Membership
Board member Pittsburgh Zoo & Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company Aquarium, Mount Lebanon Teen Center. Member of Pittsburgh Metropolitan Area Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Hispanic National Bar Association, Phipps Conservatory & Botanical Gardens.