John Cruden: An Extraordinary Career and a Life of Service
By Tracy H. Scarrow
John Cruden has been a leading member of the environmental law bar for decades. A skilled and experienced litigator, Cruden successfully brought many groundbreaking environmental cases to the courts during his lengthy tenure at the Department of Justice. Cruden is perhaps best known for his work on the Deepwater Horizon and Volkswagen cases, but his career was much more than that. Cruden’s oral history is a glimpse into his humble beginnings, his love for his family, his dedication to his country through his military service, and his passion for protecting the natural environment. It reveals a man of deep integrity and honor, who constantly praises those who worked with him, and who felt deep gratitude for the experiences and opportunities he was given.
Cruden was born in Topeka, Kansas, in 1946 at a home for unwed mothers in Kansas but was soon adopted by a couple from Michigan. His “real parents,” as Cruden lovingly described them, were immigrants. His father was born in Scotland, and his mother was a first-generation American from Slovenia. Cruden’s father was a crane operator for Ford Motor Company and his mother also worked for Ford Motor Company in an administrative position. Cruden and his younger brother, also adopted, grew up in a blue-collar, middle-class environment outside of Detroit. In his oral history he describes an idyllic childhood with his closest friends on his block, walking to school, and mothers serving as crossing guards. Particularly important in Cruden’s young life were sports and Boy Scouts. Boy Scouts, leading to his Eagle Scout award, helped to give Cruden’s life direction and purpose and started him on the leadership track. Another pivotal moment in Cruden’s high school life was meeting his future wife.
Cruden attended West Point, after receiving two congressional appointments from his local congressman and the Michigan congressman-at-large. Cruden admitted that he had no idea what he was getting into. Not only was he the first member of his family to go to college, but he was unfamiliar with the military way of life other than what he had learned in Boy Scouts. Unsurprisingly, he excelled both physically and academically, and absorbed the principles of “duty, honor, and country.” While at West Point, he was selected to become the leader of a national conference of students, the XIX Student Conference on United States Affairs, drawing delegates from hundreds of colleges across the United States.
Upon graduation from West Point, Cruden married his high school sweetheart and after airborne, ranger, and jumpmaster schools they moved to Mainz, Germany, for his first assignment directing an airborne battalion in exercises across Germany. In early 1970, Cruden was assigned to Vietnam where he served in a ranger battalion before ultimately working in a clandestine unit of the Special Forces called the Studies and Operations Group, which had responsibility for intelligence gathering and cross-border operations into Laos, North Vietnam, and Cambodia. He received numerous service awards, including the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry with Silver Star for personal valor in a significant operation in Cambodia, the Bronze Star and Air Medals with oak leaf clusters.
While in Vietnam, Cruden took the LSAT in Saigon, and applied to law school, albeit after the application deadlines had passed. Nevertheless, Cruden was ultimately accepted to Santa Clara Law School where he was given a full scholarship. As with West Point, Cruden described going to law school as another turning point in his life. It was, however, a transition into a world of peace and education that took some time. Cruden thrived in the law school environment, had a wonderful clerkship experience on the California Supreme Court, gained influential mentors along the way, and published his first of many law review articles. At the same time, he and his wife welcomed their first daughter. Even with balancing law school, summers in uniform at the Office of the Judge Advocate, and a new baby, Cruden graduated at the top of his class and managed the law review.
Upon his law school graduation, Cruden first attended the Advanced Class of the Army’s Judge Advocate General School while getting his Masters in government and foreign relations through the University of Virginia. He was the first military attorney to do both simultaneously. He was the Outstanding Graduate of his class and then served as a JAG attorney in Germany, where he first served as a prosecutor and then moved to US Army Europe headquarters in Heidelberg where he was awarded the Legion of Merit, the highest peace time award, for his exceptional work as the Chief of Civil Litigation for Europe. Cruden’s second daughter was born while they were living in Germany. Cruden then returned to the United States with his family and worked in the Pentagon as a civil litigator. He then went on to serve as the General Counsel of the Defense Nuclear Agency, attended the Army Command and General Staff College, and then became the Director of Administrative and Civil Law at the Judge Advocate General school. He ultimately returned to Germany as the Staff Judge Advocate for the Third Armor Division, the largest legal jurisdiction in Germany, where he received his second Legion of Merit award. He was then one of the few military attorneys selected for the prestigious War College. He spent his War College year at the Department of Justice where he served as the special counsel for the Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Division and led civil litigation and national security litigation involving the military. It was in that capacity that he personally met with and briefed President Reagan. His last military assignment was in the Pentagon as the Chief Legislative Counsel of the Army. He ultimately retired from military service after 23 years to become the Chief of Environmental Enforcement at the Department of Justice.
Cruden then began his illustrious career at the Department of Justice, combining his passion for environmental improvement with his background in federal litigation. In that position, Cruden was instrumental in the settlement of environmental enforcement cases such as Exxon Valdez and Love Canal. Cruden personally argued cases before district and appellate courts, particularly in cases that were likely to result in making new laws. He was also involved in working with Congress on legislation such as Superfund Reauthorization and others.
Cruden was then selected to be the career Deputy Assistant Attorney General (DAAG) in the Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD), serving in that position for 16 years, making him the longest serving career DAAG in ENRD history. What is so remarkable is that his tenure as a senior DoJ leader bridged four different Presidents of both parties. He also twice served as the Acting Assistant Attorney General, once under President Bush and once under3President Obama. While serving as DAAG, Cruden was involved in creating, encouraging, and then leading administration wide environmental improvement initiatives, including the Mississippi River initiative, car and truck emissions cases, wetlands cases, Clear Air Act cases addressing coal fired power plants and oil refineries, and Clean Water Act case involving municipalities with significant sewer problems. Cruden was also instrumental in the environmental cleanup of World Trade Center destroyed on September 11, 2001, and was heavily involved in the defense of President Obama’s Clean Power Plan (which is still involved in litigation, albeit under a different plan name, to this day). Most notably, however, was Cruden’s work on the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill and later the Volkswagen “diesel gate” scandal. Both settlements were announced as the largest of their type in the history of the Department of Justice. What stands out as a testament to the incredible work that Cruden did while at DOJ, is the fact that during his tenure he received the highest government award, the Presidential Rank Award, from three different presidents of both parties.
Cruden, however, wasn’t simply satisfied with a job well done at the office. He also was the first government attorney to be elected and serve as the President of the D.C. Bar. There, Cruden spearheaded a program bringing government attorneys into the Bar’s pro bono program. He. He also served on the D.C. Circuit’s Judicial Conference Committee on Pro Bono Legal Services. Cruden’s work was so instrumental in encouraging government attorneys to do pro bono work, that the D.C. Bar named their award for government pro bono excellence the John C.Cruden Federal Agency Pro Bono Leadership Award. Later, he was selected to be the Chair of the ABA Section on Environment, Energy and Natural Resources and was elected to serve on the ABA House of Delegates.
Cruden left DOJ to become the President of the Environmental Law Institute, as he was particularly interested in their international responsibilities. He held that position for four years but was ultimately lured back to DOJ by then-Attorney General Eric Holder to serve as the presidentially appointed Senate confirmed Assistant Attorney General for ENRD. Beyond the casework, Cruden expanded the jurisdiction of the office, implemented a Fellows Program and an Academy to help his staff grow professionally, focused on environmental justice cases, brought together environmental leaders in the industry, collaborated with the states, and valued transparency in the division’s work through his own press person. While he led the Division, it was twice recognized as the Best Place to Work in the Federal Government. Cruden strongly believed that leadership, morale building, and good management were an important part of his position, and the Division was made better by his service. Cruden was also a prolific speaker, lecturing at over twenty law schools, writing over twenty columns and law review articles.
We are fortunate that Cruden’s commitment to environmental causes did not cease with the end of his tenure at DOJ. Cruden was promptly elected to be the President of the American College of Environmental Lawyers and ultimately joined Beveridge & Diamond as a principal. He now works primarily in environmental litigation but also provides strategic advice to companies on changes to the law and ways to improve performance and management. In addition, he is an adjunct professor at George Washington University where he teaches a masters’ class on environmental law. And, he has given the Distinguished Scholar lecture at University of4Maine law school, University of Maryland law school, Pace Law school, and is scheduled to give the Distinguished Lecture to Vanderbilt Law School this fall. He is also now enjoying more time with his four grandchildren, vacation travel, and his many extracurricular activities such biking, hiking, and kayaking, and serving as a Special Olympics swim coach.
