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Federal appellate judge to speak at CASA luncheon on Saturday

The 2nd Annual Champagne Brunch to raise funds for Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) in Grand County will take place from 10:30 a.m.-noon on Saturday, Aug. 21, at The Lodge at Sunspot, Winter Park Resort.Attendees will receive a nontransferable Resort Adventure Pass good for use on Aug. 21.Special guest speaker will be Federal Appellate Judge Deanell Reece Tacha. The event is presented in part by Winter Park Resort, Cheryl Akright, realtor, Rendezvuos Foundation and the Sky-Hi News.Tickets, which costs $45 apiece, are available by calling Kimberly at 970-531-6160 or emailing nwcasa@coloradocasa.org.About the speakerFormer President Ronald Reagan appointed Deanell Reece Tacha to the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in December 1985. Judge Tacha served as Chief Judge of the Tenth Circuit from Jan. 1, 2001, through Dec.31, 2007.Named a White House Fellow in 1971, she was assigned as special assistant to Secretary of Labor James D. Hodgson. The following year, at the conclusion of her fellowship, she joined the law firm of Hogan & Hartson as an associate in Washington, D.C. Two years later, she returned to Kansas to engage in private practice. In the fall of 1974, she joined the University of Kansas School of Law faculty and in 1981 was elevated to the university position of Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs.In 1992, Judge Tacha received the KU Alumni Association’s Fred Ellsworth Medallion for extraordinary service to the university and received its most prestigious award, the Distinguished Service Citation, in 1996.Judge Tacha was appointed as a United States Sentencing Commissioner from 1994 to 1998. She chaired the Judicial Division of the American Bar Association from 1995 to 1996. From 1990 to 1994 and again from 2001 to 2005, she served as chair of the United States Judicial Conference Committee on the Judicial Branch. She was also a member of the Executive Committee of the United States Judicial Conference from the Fall of 2006 through the Fall of 2007. Judge Tacha has been a national Trustee of the American Inns of Court Foundation since 2000 and served as the President of that organization from 2004-June of 2008.She is a past chair of the Appellate Judges Conference and a former member of the ABA’s Commission on Women in the Profession. Having served as national president of the Kansas University Alumni Association, Judge Tacha also served on the Board of Trustees for Saint Paul School of Theology in Kansas City and remains active in numerousprofessional and civic organizations.Judge Tacha is the 2008 recipient of the prestigious Edward J. Devitt Distinguished Service to Justice Award, administered by the American Judicature Society. The awardhonors Article III judges whose careers have been exemplary, as measured by their contributions to the administration of justice, to the rule of law, and to society as a whole. She is also the 2008 recipient of the American Bar Association’s John Marshall Award.A native of Scandia, Kan., she received her bachelor’s degree in American Studies from the University of Kansas and her law degree from the University of Michigan.She and her husband, John Tacha, have two sons and two daughters and reside in Lawrence, Kan.


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