HONORABLE JUDGE JOHN A. TERRY
SENIOR JUDGE
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA COURT OF APPEALS
Judge John A. Terry was appointed to the District of Columbia Court of Appeals
in 1982 by President Ronald W. Reagan. He assumed Senior Judge status in February
2006.
Judge Terry was born in Utica, New York, and grew up in St. Louis, Missouri. He
received his undergraduate degree from Yale University and his law degree from
Georgetown University.
He was appointed as one of the original members of the Advisory Committee on
Procedures of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
when that body was established in the mid-1970s. Also, Judge Terry was elected twice to
the Board of Governors of the District of Columbia Bar and served as a member of that
Board from 1977 to 1982.
Before his appointment to the bench, Judge Terry spent thirteen years as Chief of
the Appellate Division of the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of
Columbia, where he was responsible for supervising all of the office’s litigation in both
the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and the District of
Columbia Court of Appeals.
