About the Commissioners

Chair

Judge Carlton W. Reeves

Judge Carlton W. Reeves has served as a United States District Court Judge for the Southern District of Mississippi since 2010. Judge Reeves was previously a partner at Pigott Reeves Johnson & Minor, P.A. from 2001 to 2010. From 1995 to 2001, Judge Reeves served as Chief of the Civil Division for the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Mississippi. From 1991 to 1995, Judge Reeves was an associate at Phelps Dunbar LLP. In 1991, Judge Reeves was a staff attorney for the Supreme Court of Mississippi. Judge Reeves served as a law clerk for Justice Reuben V. Anderson on the Mississippi Supreme Court from 1989 to 1990.

Judge Reeves received his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1989 and his B.A. from Jackson State University in 1986.

Vice chair

Judge Luis Felipe Restrepo

Judge Luis Felipe Restrepo has served as a United States Court of Appeals Judge for the Third Circuit since 2016. Judge Restrepo previously served as a United States District Court Judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania from 2013 to 2016. Judge Restrepo served as a United States Magistrate Judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania from 2006 to 2013. Judge Restrepo was a partner at Krasner & Restrepo from 1993 to 2006. From 1990 to 1993, he served as an Assistant Federal Defender in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, and from 1987 to 1990 as an Assistant Defender with the Defender Association of Philadelphia.

Judge Restrepo received his J.D. from Tulane Law School in 1986 and his B.A from the University of Pennsylvania in 1981.

Laura E. Mate

Laura E. Mate served as Director of the Sentencing Resource Counsel for the Federal Public and Community Defenders from 2020 to 2022. Prior to her position as Director, Ms. Mate served as a member of the Sentencing Resource Counsel from 2010 to 2020. From 2001 to 2010, Ms. Mate served in the Office of the Federal Public Defender for the Western District of Washington in various roles, including as Assistant Federal Public Defender. Ms. Mate was an associate at Perkins Coie LLP from 1998 to 2001.

Ms. Mate received her J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School in 1998 and her B.A. from Kenyon College in 1992.

Claire Murray

Claire Murray served as the Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General of the United States Department of Justice from 2019 to 2021. She also served as Acting Associate Attorney General in 2021 and as Counselor to the Attorney General in 2019. From 2017 to 2019, Ms. Murray served in the White House Counsel’s Office as Special Assistant and Associate Counsel to the President. From 2013 to 2017, Ms. Murray worked at Kirkland & Ellis as an associate until she was elevated to partner in 2015. From 2010 to 2012, Ms. Murray served as a trial attorney in the Criminal Division of the United States Department of Justice as part of the Attorney General’s Honors Program and as a Special Assistant United States Attorney in the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia in 2011. She served as a law clerk for Justice Samuel Alito on the Supreme Court of the United States from 2012 to 2013 and for then-Judge Brett Kavanaugh on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 2009 to 2010.

Ms. Murray received her J.D. from Yale Law School in 2009 and her A.B., magna cum laude, from Harvard College in 2004. She also received an M.Phil. from the University of Cambridge in 2008 and a d.e.a. from l’Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris in 2005.

Commissioner

Judge Claria Horn Boom

Judge Claria Horn Boom has served as a United States District Court Judge for the Eastern and Western Districts of Kentucky since 2018. Judge Boom was previously a partner at Frost Brown Todd LLC. Judge Boom served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the United States Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Kentucky from 2001 to 2002 and for the Western District of Kentucky from 1998 to 2001. From 1995 to 1998, Judge Boom was as an associate at King & Spalding LLP. Judge Boom served as a law clerk for Judge Pierce Lively on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit from 1994 to 1995.

Judge Boom received her J.D. from Vanderbilt University Law School and her B.A. from Transylvania University, summa cum laude.

Judge John Gleeson

Judge John Gleeson is a partner at Debevoise and Plimpton LLP in New York, where he has practiced since 2016. From 1994 to 2016 Judge Gleeson served as a United States District Court Judge for the Eastern District of New York. From 1985 to 1994, Judge Gleeson served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York. Judge Gleeson served as a law clerk for Judge Boyce Martin on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

Judge Gleeson received his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1980 and his B.A. from Georgetown University in 1975.

Candice C. Wong

Candice C. Wong is an Assistant United States Attorney and Chief of the Violence Reduction and Trafficking Offenses Section in the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. Ms. Wong serves as a Commissioner in her personal capacity, not official capacity. Ms. Wong joined the United States Attorney’s Office in 2015, and from 2017 to 2021, was detailed to the Criminal Division of the United States Department of Justice. There, she served in various roles, including as Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General and Acting Chief of Staff in the Criminal Division. From 2020 to 2021, Ms. Wong also served as the Department of Justice’s ex officio member on the United States Sentencing Commission. Ms. Wong was previously an associate at Bancroft PLLC from 2013 to 2015 and at King & Spalding LLP from 2009 to 2011. Ms. Wong served as a law clerk for Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and Justice Sonia M. Sotomayor on the Supreme Court of the United States from 2011 to 2012, and for then-Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 2008 to 2009.

Ms. Wong received her J.D. in 2008 from Harvard Law School and her A.B. in 2004 from Harvard College.

Ex Officio Commissioner

Patricia K. Cushwa

Ex officio member of the United States Sentencing Commission representing the United States Parole Commission. Patricia K. Cushwa was nominated to the United States Parole Commission and the United States Senate confirmed her nomination in November, 2004. She was sworn in as a member of the Commission on December 12, 2004. In August 2015 she was designated Vice Chairman by Chairman Patricia Smoot. Vice Chairman Cushwa is currently serving as the Acting Chair of the Commission.

Prior to her appointment to the U.S. Parole Commission, Patricia Cushwa served for 12 years on the Maryland Parole Commission, seven of those years as Chair. Her prior experience includes an appointment as Maryland State Senator as well as an elected term to the Williamsport Town Council. She served as adjunct faculty at Hagerstown Community College. Appointed Boards include the Maryland State Board of Education and the Maryland Human Relations Commission as well as two terms on the Board of Trustees of Hagerstown Community College.

Commissioner Cushwa co-founded Washington County’s Spouse Abuse Agency, CASA (Citizens’ Assisting and Sheltering the Abused). Governor Martin O’Malley (D-MD.) appointed her as Chair of the Washington County Judicial Nominating Commission for Trial Court Judges and she served as Chair for eight years on that Commission. A twenty-three year member of the Association of Paroling Authorities International, Commissioner Cushwa received the President’s Award in 2002 for “significant contributions as a trainer for the National Institute of Corrections.” Her parole initiatives include development of a risk assessment instrument for the Maryland Parole Commission and evidence-based programs for Washington D.C. and federal parole violators.

Patricia Cushwa earned a B.A. and an M.A. at Hood College in Frederick, Maryland and resides in Williamsport, Washington County, Maryland.

 

Jonathan J. Wroblewski

Ex officio member of the United States Sentencing Commission representing the Attorney General. Mr. Wroblewski serves as Director of the Office of Policy and Legislation in the Criminal Division of the United States Department of Justice. Previously, Mr. Wroblewski served as the Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the Office of Legal Policy for the United States Department of Justice. He also served as a trial attorney with the Civil Rights Division, and subsequently served at the United States Sentencing Commission as Deputy General Counsel and Director of Legislative and Public Affairs. He is a lecturer at the Harvard Law School and Director of the law school’s Semester in Washington Program. He has previously taught at The George Washington University National Law Center and George Mason University School of Law, and has studied at the University of Cambridge's Institute of Criminology as a recipient of the Atlantic Fellowship in Public Policy. Mr. Wroblewski received his B.A., magna cum laude from Duke University, and his J.D. from Stanford Law School.