| John C. Coughenour | |
| Office: | Senior Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington |
| Term Start: | July 27, 2006 |
| Office1: | Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington |
| Term Start1: | 1997 |
| Term End1: | 2004 |
| Predecessor1: | Carolyn R. Dimmick |
| Successor1: | Robert S. Lasnik |
| Office2: | Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington |
| Term Start2: | September 28, 1981 |
| Term End2: | July 27, 2006 |
| Appointer2: | Ronald Reagan |
| Predecessor2: | Morell Edward Sharp |
| Successor2: | Richard A. Jones |
| Birth Place: | Pittsburg, Kansas, U.S. |
| Education: | Pittsburg State University (BS) University of Iowa (JD) |
John C. Coughenour (born 1941) is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington.[1] Before being appointed as a judge, Coughenour was a leading litigator with Bogle and Gates and has taught trial and appellate practice at the University of Washington School of Law.[2]
Coughenour was born in Pittsburg, Kansas. He received a Bachelor of Science degree from Kansas State College of Pittsburg in 1963. He received a Juris Doctor from University of Iowa College of Law in 1966. Coughenour entered private practice in Seattle, Washington in 1966. He was an assistant professor of law at the University of Washington from 1970 to 1973.[3]
Coughenour was nominated by President Ronald Reagan on August 11, 1981, to a seat on the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington vacated by Judge Morell Edward Sharp. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on September 25, 1981, and received commission on September 28, 1981. He served as Chief Judge from 1997 to 2004. He assumed senior status on July 27, 2006.[3]
Coughenour testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on 7 April 2004 and 4 June 2008.[4] [5] [6]
Coughenour has opposed federal mandatory minimum sentences for a variety of crimes. He also frequently visited individuals in prison to better understand the system and effects of mandatory minimums.[7]
In 1995 Coughenour found Washington State's Sexually Violent Predator Law to be "criminal in nature".[8] He ruled the law unconstitutionally violated protections against post facto laws and double jeopardy.
Coughenour was the judge who first sentenced Ahmed Ressam, the "millennium bomber", who planned to blow up the Los Angeles International Airport on New Year's Eve 1999.[9]
Coughenour wrote an op-ed in The New York Times, entitled "How to Try a Terrorist", commenting on Michael B. Mukasey's nomination for Attorney General of the United States.[10] Coughenour compared his experience trying Ahmed Ressam with Michael B. Mukasey's trial of Omar Abdel Rahman for his role in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. He noted that Mukasey had complained about "the inadequacy of the current approach to terrorism prosecutions." He noted that Mukasey had complained about the limited number of terrorism convictions.[10] Coughenour paraphrased Mukasey: "Open prosecutions… potentially disclose to our enemies methods and sources of intelligence-gathering. Our Constitution does not adequately protect society from 'people who have cosmic goals that they are intent on achieving by cataclysmic means.'" Coughenour wrote that his experience:[10] "only strengthened my conviction that American courts, guided by the principles of our Constitution, are fully capable of trying suspected terrorists."
In 1995, Coughenour also presided over the civil trial of the Jason Scott case, which resulted in damages awarded against the Cult Awareness Network and deprogrammer Rick Ross.[14]