Kent A. Jordan

Kent Amos Jordan (born October 24, 1957 in West Point, New York) is a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. He was previously a federal district judge on the United States District Court for the District of Delaware.

Early life

Jordan's father, Amos Jordan, was a professor at the United States Military Academy and also served as a Brigadier General as well as working for a time in the State Department.

Jordan is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He served a mission in Japan.

Education and clerkship

Jordan completed his undergraduate studies at Brigham Young University in 1981 (majoring in economics) and received his law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 1984. Jordan clerked for Judge James L. Latchum on the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware from 1984-1985.

Legal background

Previously, Jordan was vice president and general counsel for the Corporation Service Company from 1998-2002 in Wilmington, Delaware. He was in private practice in Delaware from 1985-1987 and again from 1992-1997. In between, from 1987 to 1992, he worked for the U.S. Justice Department as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware. He also taught at the Widener University School of Law from 1995-1996 as an adjunct professor. Jordan currently teaches as an adjunct professor for the University of Pennsylvania Law School, Vanderbilt University Law School, and Widener University School of Law.

Federal service

Jordan was nominated to a vacancy on the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware by President George W. Bush on July 25, 2002 and confirmed by the U.S. Senate on November 14, 2002 by voice vote. Four years later, Bush nominated Jordan to the Third Circuit on June 28, 2006 to fill a vacancy left by Judge Jane Richards Roth. He was confirmed to that court by a vote of 91-0 on December 8, 2006 during the waning hours of the final lame duck session of the 109th Congress. Jordan was the sixth judge appointed to the Third Circuit by Bush and the final Article III judge confirmed by the Republican-controlled 109th Senate.

Jordan's first precedential opinion for the Third Circuit was published on May 2, 2007. He authored the opinion for a unanimous three-judge panel in Eichorn v. AT&T II, an ERISA claims case. Judge Roth, whom Jordan was confirmed to replace, was a member of the panel.