Elizabeth A. Kessler
Immigration Judge, Baltimore Immigration Court. Appointed January 2006.
Asylum record, FY 2021-2026
TRAC source →- Decisions on the merits
- 333
- Asylum granted
- 209
- Other relief granted
- 7
- Denied
- 117
- Against own court
- -20.6 pts
| FY21 | FY22 | FY23 |
|---|---|---|
| 42% | 44% | 14% |
Docket
Respondents represented by counsel: 76% (nationally, 81% are represented).
Most common nationalities: El Salvador (30.9%), Guatemala (21.6%), Honduras (20.1%), Nicaragua (11.4%), Haiti (2.4%).
Official biography
Judge Kessler was appointed as an Immigration Judge in January 2006. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1987 from Columbia University; a Master of Arts degree in International Relations 1992 from Yale Graduate School ; and a Juris Doctorate in 1992 from Yale Law School. From November 2003 to January 2006, Judge Kessler served as a deputy associate attorney general at the Department of Justice (DOJ) in Washington, DC. She previously served as a deputy general counsel for the U.S. Department of Energy. Judge Kessler served as general counsel with the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Immigration, in Washington, DC, from January 1997 to 1999, and as counsel on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee from January 1995 to January 1979. From 1993 to 1994, she was an attorney with the Civil Division, Appellate staff, at DOJ, and a Bristow Fellow with the Office of the Solicitor General Judge Kessler served as a law clerk with Judge Richard J. Cardamone, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, from 1992 to 1993. She is a member of both the Maryland and District of Columbia Bars.
In the record
No published reporting or appellate decisions naming this judge have been collected yet.
Other judges at Baltimore
Court page →About these figures. Denial rates describe outcomes in the cases a judge happened to hear, which differ by detention, nationality and representation. They are not a measure of fairness or competence. Method and sources are on the judges index.