March 2016: She Became Chief Judge of D.D.C. The Grand Juries Ran Through That Chair.

The Federal Judicial Center states that Beryl Alaine Howell “Served as chief judge, 2016-2023.” The District of Columbia court biography is more precise on the end date: she served as Chief Judge “from March 2016 until March 17, 2023,” and during that period she was a member of the Judicial Conference of the United States.

In this district, the chief judge supervises grand-jury matters. That is an institutional assignment, not a secret appointment to a special counsel. Contemporaneous reporting treated her as the judge on Mueller-era grand-jury applications and, later, on 2020-election and January 6 investigative applications. Do not write that she “ran Mueller” or shook his hand. The court role is what the bio documents. The specific orders live in later posts.

James E. Boasberg succeeded her as chief judge on March 17, 2023. That succession is on both official bios. It is a crossover with jamesboasberg.com.