Rainey R. Brandt

Rainey R. Brandt was sworn in as a magistrate judge on November 7, 2012 by Chief Judge Lee F. Satterfield. Judge Brandt was born and raised in LaGrange, Georgia. She has a Ph.D. from American University (1993), where she was a member of Alpha Kappa Delta Honor Society. Her dissertation focused on the effects of incarceration on the father-child relationship. In addition, she attended The Columbus School of Law at the Catholic University of America, and received her JD in 1995. Prior to her work at the court, Judge Brandt was a full-time professor in the Department of Justice, Law and Criminology at American University. She is still an adjunct associate professor there. Her areas of expertise include the prison system and other justice related issues. Judge Brandt received the university’s Outstanding Adjunct Professor Award an unprecedented two times in just four years, 2006 and 2009. Judge Brandt began her tenure with the court in 1996, when she served as law clerk to Judge Michael Rankin and later Judge Stephanie Duncan-Peters. In 1998, Judge Brandt became the Special Counsel to the Chief Judge and served each of the last three chief judges. Prior to becoming a member of the bench, Judge Brandt was a long time board member with the D.C. Law Students in Court Program (program that assists the low income persons in DC with landlord tenant issues and misdemeanor arrests), and an executive board member of the Voices for Second Chance (a nonprofit that works to see that those released from jail reintegrate into their DC community). She remains a Trustee for the Bar Association of the District of Columbia, continues to mentor young lawyers via the Women’s Bar Mentoring Program and serves on several judicial committees within the Court. Judge Brandt moved to the District of Columbia in 1988, and is married to Robert W. Brandt, a Chief with the United States Marshals Service.