Denise Jefferson Casper

Denise Jefferson Casper (born January 9, 1968) is an American attorney serving as the chief United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. She used to be the Deputy District Attorney for the Middlesex District Attorney's Office in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Casper is the first black female judge to serve on the federal bench in Massachusetts. Casper is also notable for presiding over the criminal trial of Whitey Bulger.

Early life and education

Casper was born in East Patchogue, New York. She received her Bachelor of Arts from Wesleyan University in 1990 and her Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School in 1994.

Career

Casper started her professional career as a law clerk for Edith W. Fine and J. Harold Flannery of the Massachusetts Appeals Court. During the period of 1995 through 1998, she was an attorney with the firm of Bingham McCutchen, where she conducted civil litigation. In 1999, Casper became an Assistant United States Attorney in Boston and was the deputy chief of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force starting in 2004. She served as an assistant United States attorney in Boston from 1999 until 2005 and taught legal writing at Boston University School of Law from 2005 through 2007. Casper served as the deputy district attorney for the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office in Cambridge, Massachusetts from 2007 until her confirmation as a federal judge.

Notable cases In 2013, Casper presided over the trial, conviction, and sentencing of Boston's infamous organized crime boss, Whitey Bulger.

In 2020, Casper was assigned the Equal Means Equal et al. v. David Ferriero case, a lawsuit brought to require the Archivist of the United States to certify the Equal Rights Amendment as part of the U.S. Constitution. On August 6, 2020, Casper ruled that the Plaintiffs did not have standing to sue the Archivist to compel him to ratify the ERA and she therefore could not determine the merits of the case. Casper thereby granted the Defendants' Motion to Dismiss.

In 2026, Casper entered an order preventing the government from requiring proof of U.S. citizenship in order to vote.