Maryanne Trump Barry (born April 5, 1937) is an American attorney and a retired United States federal judge. She became an Assistant United States Attorney in 1974 and was first appointed to the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey by President Ronald Reagan in 1983. In 1999, she was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (Philadelphia, PA) by President Bill Clinton.
In January 2006, she testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in support of the nomination of her colleague Samuel Alito to the United States Supreme Court. She took senior status in June 2011, and in February 2019, she announced her retirement from the bench after an investigation was launched into allegations that she committed judicial misconduct by participating in fraudulent tax and financial transactions.
Barry is the older sister of former US president Donald Trump.
Early life and education
Barry was born Maryanne Trump in Queens in New York City on April 5, 1937, the eldest child of real-estate developer Fred Trump and Mary Anne MacLeod Trump. She is an elder sister of Donald Trump, 45th president of the United States. She attended Kew-Forest School. She graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Mount Holyoke College in 1958, and a Master of Arts in public law and government from Columbia University in 1962. She later attended law school, earning her Juris Doctor from Hofstra University School of Law in 1974.
Career
U.S. Attorney's Office
After being a homemaker for thirteen years, in 1974, Barry became an Assistant United States Attorney, one of only two women out of sixty-two lawyers in the office of the United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey. She was in the civil division from 1974 to 1975 and in the appeals division from 1976 to 1982, serving as deputy chief of that division from 1976 to 1977 and chief of the division from 1977 to 1982. She served as Executive Assistant United States Attorney from 1981 to 1982. She was First Assistant United States Attorney from 1981 to 1983.
U.S. District Court
Barry was nominated by President Ronald Reagan on September 14, 1983, to a seat on the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey vacated by Henry Curtis Meanor. She was confirmed by the United States Senate on October 6, 1983, and received her commission the next day. According to her niece Mary L. Trump, Donald Trump influenced his lawyer Roy Cohn to get Barry the commission, which Donald waged against Barry, prompting her to state that she had earned the position.
In 1985, she recused herself in a drug-trafficking case due to her brother Donald's relationship with the accused trafficker. Her service in the district court ended on October 25, 1999, when she was elevated to the court of appeals.
Barry's reputation on the bench was that of a tough judge with strong command of her courtroom. In 1989, while a district court judge in Newark, New Jersey, she disapproved a plea bargain that would have freed two county detectives accused of protecting a drug dealer, and forced the case to trial. The detectives were convicted and received jail terms. She also presided over the conviction of Louis Manna, the Genovese crime family mobster accused of plotting to assassinate rival John Gotti.
U.S. Court of Appeals
A Republican, Barry was nominated to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit by Democratic President Bill Clinton on June 17, 1999. She was nominated to fill the vacancy created when H. Lee Sarokin retired in 1996. (Clinton had nominated Robert Raymar to the seat in 1998, but that nomination expired at the end of that year without being given a hearing by the Senate Judiciary Committee.)
The Senate unanimously confirmed Barry on September 13, 1999. She received her commission on September 22, 1999. Barry told the New Jersey Law Journal in 1999 that she was "deeply honored and very grateful for the nomination" and was "surprised [to be] approached on it", stating, "I assume that my record is good enough as a district court judge to be reached out to, and I'm glad that politics weren't a priority here."
In January 2006, Barry testified to support the appointment of fellow Third Circuit Judge Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court.