Ted Stewart

Brian Theadore Stewart (born 1948) is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Utah.

Early life and education

Stewart was born in Logan, Utah. He received a Bachelor of Science degree from Utah State University in 1972 and a Juris Doctor from the S.J. Quinney College of Law at the University of Utah.

Career

From 1974 until 1980, Stewart worked in private legal practice in Salt Lake City. He then served as an assistant to Senator Orrin Hatch in 1980, and then worked as an administrative assistant to Congressman James V. Hansen from 1981 until 1985. From 1985 until 1992, Stewart was a commissioner on the Public Service Commission of Utah. From 1993 until 1998, Stewart served as the executive director of Utah's Department of Natural Resources.

Stewart was a visiting professor at Utah State University in 1991 and from 1994 to 1998. He was also a visiting professor at Weber State University in 1997. Clinton, a Democrat, nominated Stewart, a Republican, because Stewart was a friend of Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah, and Hatch at that time was the chairman of the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary. Clinton did so as a courtesy to Hatch, hoping the gesture would encourage Republican senators to act to confirm many of the president's languishing judicial nominees.

Two weeks later, Democratic and Republican senators announced a deal that paved the way for votes on the nominations of Stewart and two other judicial nominees. On October 5, 1999, the Senate confirmed Stewart by a 93–5 vote. Stewart received his judicial commission on November 11, 1999.

On August 1, 2023, Stewart dismissed a lawsuit brought by the Free Speech Coalition against the state of Utah. The lawsuit claimed that a Utah law requiring an age verification system on websites containing pornography violated the First Amendment. The Free Speech Coalition stated that it would appeal Judge Stewart's ruling.

Personal

Stewart is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. With his brother, Chris Stewart, he wrote the book Seven Miracles That Saved America: Why They Matter and Why We Should Have Hope, which was published in 2009, and the book The Miracle of Freedom: 7 Tipping Points that Saved the World, which was published in 2011. In 2017, he wrote the book Supreme Power: 7 Pivotal Supreme Court Decisions That Had a Major Impact on America.