The Honorable Harold L., Jr. Cushenberry

Judge Harold L. Cushenberry Jr. was nominated to the Superior Court bench by President Reagan on January 29, 1986. Judge Cushenberry took senior status in 2016.

Judge Cushenberry attended elementary schools in Henderson, North Carolina and received his secondary education at the Taft School in Watertown, Connecticut. Thereafter he attended Harvard College, graduating with honors in 1972, majoring in economics and political science.

After obtaining his J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center in May 1975, Judge Cushenberry worked at the Federal Trade Commission from September 1975 until April 1977. Joining the United States Attorney’s Office in 1977, he served in the Misdemeanor Trial Section, the Grand Jury Section, the Appellate Division, and the Felony Trial Division, including a two- year period in the U.S. Attorney’s Office Felony One Division. As a supervisor in the United States Attorney’s Office, Judge Cushenberry served as Deputy Chief of the Felony Trial Division, Deputy Director of Superior Court Operations, and served as the Executive Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Columbia. In addition, Judge Cushenberry taught criminal procedure as an adjunct professor at the Howard University School of Law from 1983 to 1988.

Judge Cushenberry is a member of the District of Columbia Bar, the American Bar Association, the Washington Bar Association, the United States Attorney’s Association and the Black Assistant United States Attorney’s Association. Judge Cushenberry served as the Chair of the Committee on the Selection and Tenure of Magistrate Judges from 2002-2005 and as Chair of the Criminal Rules Advisory Committee. He served as a member of the District of Columbia Sentencing Commission, Superior Court Rules Committee, Bond and Collateral Committee, and a member of the Criminal Justice Act Panel Committee. Judge Cushenberry served as the Deputy Presiding Judge of the Criminal Division from January 2001 to December 2003, and the Presiding Judge of the Criminal Division from January 2004 to December 2006.

Judge Cushenberry is divorced and the father of two daughters, Erica Noel and Catherine Elizabeth Cushenberry.