Introduction
Sarah Elizabeth Pitlyk (born 1977) is a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri.
Education
Pitlyk earned her Bachelor of Arts, summa cum laude, from Boston College. She received Master of Arts degrees from both Georgetown University and KU Leuven (Belgium), where she studied as a Fulbright Scholar. Pitlyk earned her Juris Doctor from Yale Law School.
Legal career
Upon graduation from law school, Pitlyk served as a law clerk to then-Judge Brett Kavanaugh of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. She worked at Clark & Sauer LLC, a civil litigation firm in St. Louis, Missouri, and was an associate at Covington & Burling in Washington, D.C. She was special counsel at the Thomas More Society, where her practice focused on constitutional and civil rights litigation.
In 2018, Pitlyk supported Brett Kavanaugh, whom she had clerked for, during his Supreme Court nomination.
Federal judicial service
On August 14, 2019, President Trump announced his intent to nominate Pitlyk to serve as a United States District Judge for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri. On September 9, 2019, her nomination was sent to the Senate. President Trump nominated Pitlyk to the seat vacated by Judge Catherine D. Perry, who took senior status on December 31, 2018.
On September 24, 2019, the American Bar Association (ABA) rated Pitlyk as "Not Qualified." The ABA said Pitlyk's rating was based on her lack of trial experience. The ABA's rating drew criticism and charges of ideological bias from several Republican Senators. Pitlyk said one reason she had never tried a case and never taken a deposition is that she has been a member of legal teams that have allowed her to arrange her schedule in order to spend more time with her children.
On September 25, 2019, a hearing on her nomination was held before the Senate Judiciary Committee. At the hearing, Democratic Senator Dick Durbin expressed concerns about Pitlyk's lack of trial experience, and other Democratic Senators including Richard Blumenthal asked her about her pro-life views; she responded that her personal views would not affect her work as a judge. As a lawyer, Pitlyk had argued that frozen embryos from in vitro fertilisation should legally be considered human beings, and she wrote an amicus brief stating that "surrogacy has grave effects on society." On October 31, 2019, her nomination was reported out of committee by a party-line 12–10 vote. On December 3, 2019, the Senate invoked cloture on her nomination by a vote of 50–43, with Maine senator Susan Collins casting the sole dissenting Republican vote. On December 4, 2019, her nomination was confirmed by the full Senate by a vote of 49–44. She received her judicial commission on December 5, 2019, and was sworn into office on December 6, 2019.
Memberships
She has been a member of the Federalist Society since 2006.