President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individuals to key Administration posts:

• Rachel Elise Barkow – Commissioner, United States Sentencing Commission
• Judge Charles R. Breyer – Commissioner, United States Sentencing Commission

The President also announced his intent to appoint the following individual to a key Administration post:

• Thomas Murray – Member, Cultural Property Advisory Committee

President Obama said, “These dedicated individuals bring a wealth of experience and talent to their new roles and I am proud to have them serve in this Administration.  I look forward to working with them in the months and years to come.”

President Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individuals to key Administration posts:

Rachel Elise Barkow, Nominee for Commissioner, United States Sentencing Commission
Rachel Elise Barkow is the Segal Family Professor of Regulatory Law and Policy at the New York University School of Law, where she focuses her teaching and research interests on criminal and administrative law.  She also serves as the Faculty Director of the Center on the Administration of Criminal Law at the law school.  Ms. Barkow has been a member of the faculty at the New York University School of Law since 2002 and was the Beneficial Visiting Professor of Law at Harvard Law School in Fall 2008.  Previously, she worked at the law firm of Kellogg Huber Hansen Todd Evans & Figel, PLLC, in Washington, D.C., from 1998 to 2002.  Ms. Barkow began her legal career by clerking for the Honorable Antonin Scalia of the Supreme Court of the United States, from 1997 to 1998, and for the Honorable Laurence H. Silberman of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, from 1996 to 1997.  She received her J.D. magna cum laude in 1996 from Harvard Law School, where she won the Sears Prize, and her B.A. with distinction in 1993 from Northwestern University.

Judge Charles R. Breyer, Nominee for Commissioner, United States Sentencing Commission
Judge Charles R. Breyer currently serves as a United States District Judge in the Northern District of California, a position he has held since 1998.  Previously, he worked at the law firm now known as Coblenz, Patch, Duffy & Bass LLP from 1974 to 1997, with a brief stint as Chief Assistant District Attorney for San Francisco in 1979.  From 1973 to 1974, Judge Breyer spent a year working as an Assistant Special Prosecutor on the Watergate Special Prosecution Force.  He also served as an Assistant District Attorney in San Francisco from 1967 to 1973.  Judge Breyer began his legal career as a law clerk to the Honorable Oliver J. Carter of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.  He received his J.D. in 1966 from the University of California at Berkeley Boalt Hall School of Law and his B.A. cum laude in 1963 from Harvard College. 

President Obama announced his intent to appoint the following individual to a key Administration post:

Thomas Murray, Appointee for Member, Cultural Property Advisory Committee
Thomas Murray is an expert in Indonesian sculpture and textiles and the founder of Thomas Murray Asiatica-Ethnographica, a private gallery of tribal, Asian and textile art in Mill Valley, California.  In addition, he is a contributing editor of HALI, a quarterly international art magazine focused on antique carpets and textiles, and serves as their editorial consultant on ethnographic textiles.  Mr. Murray frequently lectures on textiles and has been published extensively on the subject in the United States and abroad.  Works of art from his collection have been placed in more than 30 museums on four continents.  Mr. Murray is past President of the Antique Tribal Art Dealers Association.