Stephanie Thacker

Stephanie Dawn Thacker (born August 22, 1965) is a United States Circuit Judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

Born Stephanie Dawn Young in Huntington, West Virginia, she was raised in Hamlin, West Virginia, Thacker earned a bachelor's degree from Marshall University in 1987 and her law degree from West Virginia University College of Law in 1990.

After graduating from law school, Thacker spent two years working in the Pittsburgh office of the law firm Kirkpatrick & Lockhart (now K&L Gates). She then worked briefly for the West Virginia Office of the Attorney General before joining the law firm King, Betts & Allen.

In 1994, Thacker took a job in the United States Attorney's office for the Southern District of West Virginia, serving as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Criminal Division and handling a wide range of criminal prosecutions.

In 1999, Thacker moved to Washington, D.C. to work as a trial attorney in the United States Department of Justice's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section. She worked there for seven years, serving as Deputy Chief of Litigation for two years and then as Principal Deputy Chief of Litigation for five years. She also was part of the team that prosecuted the first case the U.S. ever brought involving the Violence Against Women Act.

In 2006, Thacker joined the Charleston, West Virginia law firm Guthrie & Thomas as a partner.

In July 2011, the West Virginia Record reported that President Obama would select Thacker to the judicial vacancy on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit that had been created by the death of Judge M. Blane Michael. Michael had died in March 2011.

On September 8, 2011, Obama formally nominated Thacker to be a judge on the Fourth Circuit. The Judiciary Committee reported her nomination to the floor of the Senate on November 3, 2011.

The United States Senate confirmed her nomination by a vote of 91 ayes to 3 nays on April 16, 2012. She received her commission on April 17, 2012.