{{short description|American judge}} {{Infobox officeholder |name = Kathryn Oberly |image = Hillary Clinton sworn in as SecState 1-21-09 clinton-SIC-1.21.09 600 1.jpg |caption = Oberly (right) swearing in Hillary Clinton as United States Secretary of State as Bill Clinton watches, 2009 |office = Associate Judge of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals |appointer = George W. Bush |term_start = May 8, 2009 |term_end = November 1, 2013 |predecessor = Michael W. Farrell |successor = ''Vacant'' |birth_name = Kathryn Anne Oberly |birth_date = {{birth date and age|1950|5|22}} |birth_place = Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |death_date = |death_place = |spouse = {{marriage|Haynes Johnson|June 29, 2002|May 24, 2013|end=died}} |children = 1 son |education = University of Wisconsin, Madison (BA, JD) }} '''Kathryn Anne Oberly''' (born May 22, 1950)<ref name=testimony>[https://archive.org/stream/gov.gpo.fdsys.CHRG-110shrg45585/CHRG-110shrg45585_djvu.txt Testimony of Kathryn Oberly, nominee for the District of Columbia Court of Appeals]</ref> is a former Associate Judge of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, the highest appellate court for the District of Columbia.
Oberly was born in Chicago, Illinois, and raised in Park Ridge, Illinois, where she attended the same Methodist church as a young Hillary Clinton.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.dccourts.gov/internet/documents/DCCA_Bio_Oberly.pdf |title=Official bio of Kathryn Oberly |access-date=2017-06-28 |archive-date=2017-02-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170203124856/http://www.dccourts.gov/internet/documents/DCCA_Bio_Oberly.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=testimony/> The two became lifelong friends, and then-Senator Clinton testified in favor of Oberly's judicial nomination in the United States Senate.<ref name=testimony/> After graduating from high school in 1967, Oberly attended Vassar College for two years before switching to the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She received her bachelor's and law degrees from the University of Wisconsin, where she was an articles editor for the Wisconsin Law Review. After law school she clerked for Donald P. Lay, a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, who would later officiate her wedding to Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Haynes Johnson.<ref>{{cite news |title=WEDDINGS; Kathryn Oberly, Haynes Johnson |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/30/style/weddings-kathryn-oberly-haynes-johnson.html |accessdate=28 June 2017 |work=The New York Times |date=June 30, 2002}}</ref>
Oberly's legal career began at the United States Department of Justice, where she worked first at the Land and Natural Resources Division and later in the Office of the Solicitor General.<ref name=testimony/> She left the Justice Department in 1986 to enter private practice. In 1991, she joined Ernst & Young, becoming general counsel in 1994.<ref name=testimony/>
In 2008, Oberly was nominated to the D.C. Court of Appeals by President George W. Bush. She joined the court in 2009 and retired in 2013.<ref>[http://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2013/05/dc-court-of-appeals-judge-oberly-to-retire.html D.C. Court of Appeals Judge Oberly to Retire], Blog of Legal Times, May 31, 2013</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{s-start}} {{s-legal}} {{s-bef|before=Michael W. Farrell}} {{s-ttl|title=Judge of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals|years=2009–2013}} {{s-vac}} {{s-end}} {{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oberly, Kathryn A.}} Category:1950 births Category:21st-century American judges Category:21st-century American women judges Category:American women lawyers Category:Judges of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals Category:Lawyers from Chicago Category:Lawyers from Washington, D.C. Category:Lawyers who have represented the United States government Category:Living people Category:People from Park Ridge, Illinois Category:University of Wisconsin Law School alumni