Catherine C. Blake, a U.S. District judge for the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, died March 4, 2026.
She built her legal career in Maryland through federal prosecution and public service. She served in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland from 1977 to 1987, including as court-appointed U.S. Attorney from 1985 to 1986.
Blake graduated magna cum laude from Radcliffe College in 1972 and earned a J.D. Cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1975. She entered private practice in Boston in 1975 as an associate at Palmer and Dodge before joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Maryland in 1977.
She was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on August 11, 1995, and commissioned on August 14, 1995, as a U.S. District Judge for the United States District Court for the District of Maryland.
Alongside her trial docket, she took on court administration duties, serving as Administrative Judge for the District of Maryland from April 1999 to January 3, 2003.
Blake became Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland on October 4, 2014, and returned to active service on October 6, 2017. Her work also extended beyond her courtroom: she served on the Judicial Conference Defender Services Committee from 2010 to 2016 and chaired it from 2012 to 2016, and she served on the Board of the Federal Judicial Center from 2012 to 2016.
Her role in major criminal matters included sentencings tied to public corruption cases. In reporting on Gun Trace Task Force-related cases, she is identified as the sentencing judge who sentenced former Baltimore Police Detective Marcus Taylor to 18 years in prison for robbery and overtime fraud.
She also sentenced Tony Williams to 12 years in prison for heroin distribution, with a sentence enhancement described as for a career offender. Colleagues in the District of Maryland awarded her a Pro Bono Service Award in 2002, reflecting a career marked by court leadership and decades of federal service in Maryland.