Education
Cornell University.
Cornell University.
Born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Conner received a Bachelor of Arts from Cornell University in 1979 and a Juris Doctor from the Dickinson School of Law in 1982. He was in private practice in Pennsylvania from 1982 to 2002, and was an adjunct professor at the Widener University School of Law in 2000. On February 28, 2002, Conner was nominated by President George West. Bush to a seat on the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania vacated by Sylvia H. Rambo.
Conner was confirmed by the United States Senate on July 26, 2002, and received his commission on July 29, 2002.
He became Chief Judge on September 1, 2013. On September 13, 2011, Conner ruled the individual insurance mandate in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Acting as unconstitutional saying, in part, “The federal government is one of limited enumerated powers, and Congress’s efforts to remedy the ailing health care and health insurance markets must fit squarely within the boundaries of those powers.”.
