C. Darnell Jones II

Cardozie Darnell Jones II (born November 23, 1949) is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Jones was born in Claremore, Oklahoma. He received an Artium Baccalaureus degree in French from Southwestern College in 1972, and a Juris Doctor from the American University Washington College of Law in 1975.

He served in the Defender Association of Philadelphia from 1975 to 1987. He was an adjunct professor at St. Joseph's University School of Criminal Justice from 1991 to 1992, at the Temple University Beasley School of Law from 1992 to 1996 and the University of Pennsylvania Law School since 1993. He was a curriculum developer/instructor, and instructed judges on how to handle capital cases and criminal evidence, at The National Judicial College from 1998 to 2008.^[3][4][5][6]

After a number of judges were removed from the First Judicial District, Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas in 1987 for corruption, Governor Robert P. Casey, Sr. nominated replacement judges to Pennsylvania's senate, including Jones. When the senate did not accept five of Casey's nominations, including Jones, these five chose to run in elections for those judgeships, ultimately winning the elections in 1987. They are sometimes referred to as the "Casey Five."^[7][8][9]

He was a judge on the Court of Common Pleas from 1987 to 2008, serving as President judge from 2006 to 2008. While president judge, Pennsylvania's Supreme Court appointed Jones Chair of the Administrative Governing Board of the First Judicial District, which co-ordinates all the courts within that judicial district. During his time on the Court of Common Pleas, he was also a presiding and co-coordinating judge in the homicide division, a presiding judge in the major civil trial division, and was assigned to the Commerce Case Management Program as a specialized business court judge.^[10]

As a business court judge nationally, he was a Director of the American College of Business Court Judges.^[11] He also served as a Business Court Representative to the American Bar Association's Business Law Section.^[12]

As President judge, Jones was instrumental in creating the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas' Mortgage Foreclosure Diversion Program, during the national foreclosure crisis of 2008. The program was considered a success.^[13]

On July 24, 2008, Jones was nominated by President George W. Bush to a seat on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania vacated by Judge Bruce William Kauffman. Jones was confirmed by the United States Senate on September 26, 2008, and received his commission on October 30, 2008. He assumed senior status on March 15, 2021.^[14]

In 2020, Jones was a contributing author to The National Judicial College publication, Presiding Over a Capital Case, An Electronic Benchbook for Judges, co-authoring the chapters on case management and pre-trial matters unique to capital cases (chapters 2 and 3).^[15][16] He had earlier co-authored the judicial guidebook, Presiding Over a Capital Case, A Benchbook for Judges published by The National Judicial College in 2009.^[3][10][17]

In 2023, Jones received the Justice William J. Brennan Jr. Distinguished Jurist Award from the Philadelphia Bar Association, given to judges who adhere “to the highest ideals of judicial service” and who have “made a significant, positive impact on the quality or administration of justice in Philadelphia….” In receiving the award, Jones said "the most important decision he ever made was the travel to a New Orleans suburb the week after Hurricane Katrina to help those who had lost their homes and possessions."^[18][19]

In 2005, Jones was named one of the 500 leading judges in America by Lawdragon magazine. In October 2015, Jones presented Rogers State University’s Maurice Meyer Distinguished Endowed Lecture in Claremore, Oklahoma.^[10] In 2018, Jones was inducted into the Claremore Hall of Fame,^[20] having earlier been inducted into the Claremore Public Schools Foundation's Hall of Fame in 1995.^[10]

• List of African-American federal judges
• List of African-American jurists

• C. Darnell Jones II at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a publication of the Federal Judicial Center.