Former President Donald Trump and the Justice Department submitted names of two candidates each to serve as a court-appointed special master who would examine documents seized from Mar-a-Lago during a raid. 

Trump’s lawyers said they believe the so-called special master should review all documents seized by the FBI during its search last month of the former president’s Florida home, including records with classification markings, and filter out any that may be protected by claims of executive privilege.

However, the Justice Department has a different position on the scope of the potential review.

Trump’s legal team proposed two names – Raymond J. Dearie and Paul Huck Jr.

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Who is Raymond Joseph Dearie?

Dearie is a former federal judge nominated by former President Ronald Reagan. He is a Senior United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

He also served as a Judge of the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court from 2012–2019.

Born in Rockville Centre, New York, Dearie graduated from Fairfield University, receiving his Bachelor of Arts in 1966. He received his Juris Doctor from St. John’s University School of Law in 1969, where he was Editor-in-Chief of the St. John’s Law Review.

He received an Alumni Professional Achievement Award from Fairfield University in 1986. He received an honoris causa (honorary degree), specifically the degree of Doctor of Laws, from the St. John’s University School of Law and delivered the school’s Commencement speech to the graduating class in 2008.

The 78-year-old begin his legal career at Shearman & Sterling in 1969. He subsequently worked as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Eastern District of New York, where he served in the Appeals Division from 1971 to 1974, as the Chief of the General Crimes Section from 1974 to 1976, Head Chief of the Office’s Criminal Division from 1976-1977 and briefly as the Executive Assistant United States Attorney for the District in 1977. He worked in private practice until 1980 before serving as the Chief Assistant United States Attorney until 1982, when he was appointed the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York by President Ronald Reagan, serving from 1982 to 1986, before being appointed to the federal bench, by the recommendation of New York Senator Al D’Amato.

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He served as Chief Judge from 2007 until 2011. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts appointed Dearie to a seven-year term to the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, where he succeeded Malcolm Jones Howard. He took senior status on April 3, 2011, and was succeeded by Judge Pamela K. Chen in March 2013.