Judge Jerome Holmes of Oklahoma is the new chief judge of the federal appeals court based in Denver effective Saturday, succeeding Colorado’s Timothy Tymkovich.

The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals hears appeals in federal cases arising from Colorado, Oklahoma, Utah, Kansas, New Mexico and Wyoming. Tymkovich, a 2003 appointee of George W. Bush, is finishing a fixed, seven-year term as chief judge that began in October 2015.

“Judge Holmes will bring a fresh perspective and new energy as our incoming chief judge,” Tymkovich said in a statement.

Holmes is a fellow Bush appointee from 2006 and is the first Black judge to serve on the 10th Circuit. He will also be the court’s first Black chief judge.

Chief judges of the federal circuit courts handle administrative and budgetary matters in addition to their duties hearing cases. They also serve on the Judicial Conference of the United States, which is the policymaking body of the federal courts.

Circuit judges rotate into the chief judge’s position through a combination of age and seniority. The most senior judge in active service who has not yet turned 65 and has been a judge for at least one year is first in line for the seat. There is no obligation that the chief judge serve the entirety of the seven-year term.

Holmes, 60, has been involved in several consequential cases during his time on the 10th Circuit. Before the U.S. Supreme Court’s legalization of same-sex marriage nationwide, he joined the majority in a pair of 2-1 decisions striking down Utah’s and Oklahoma’s bans.

In 2012, Holmes wrote an opinion overturning the death sentence of a man with intellectual disabilities in Oklahoma after finding the defendant’s lawyer during sentencing was ineffective. More recently, in a rare all-judges case decided by a vote of 7-6, Holmes was the only Republican appointee to join six of his Democratic colleagues in a ruling favorable to the rights of workers with disabilities.

The court, Holmes wrote in October 2020, must avoid interpreting the Americans with Disabilities Act “in a manner that does not permit the statute to effectively ensure that all qualified disabled employees actually receive such an accommodation.”

Nima Mohebbi, a commercial litigator in Los Angeles who clerked for Holmes 201112, still remains close with his former boss. He recalled the judge had a meticulous focus on understanding the facts of cases and always acted professionally.

“The most important thing to him always, and it pervaded every part of his thinking, was: Are we getting it right?” said Mohebbi.

Other former clerks and attorneys familiar with Holmes agreed he brings a sharp intellect and work ethic to the job of judging. One lawyer who has argued frequently before Holmes, wishing to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation, was less enthusiastic about Holmes leading the 10th Circuit.

“Besides being quite smart, Judge Holmes is also mean-spirited and sometimes downright abusive toward the lawyers who appear before him,” the lawyer said.

Before his appointment to the 10th Circuit, Holmes graduated from Georgetown University Law Center and was an assistant U.S. attorney in the Western District of Oklahoma. He worked in private practice at the time of his nomination.