An official website of the United States government. 
News Release 22-025
Contact: Jennifer Andberg, 202-205-1819
Jason E. Kearns, Chair of the United States International Trade Commission (USITC or Commission), announced today that Judge Clark S. Cheney has been named the Chief Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) at the USITC.
As Chief ALJ, Cheney will provide administrative guidance and leadership to assure a thorough, yet expeditious, processing of the Commission’s investigations involving unfair practices in import trade under section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (“Section 337”). He will continue to preside in Section 337 investigations as well. The Commission’s ALJs manage an active litigation docket, preside over evidentiary hearings, and make initial determinations in Section 337 investigations, most of which involve allegations of patent and trademark infringement.
Cheney has served as Acting Chief ALJ since January 2022, following the retirement of former Chief ALJ Charles E. Bullock.
Cheney has served as an ALJ at the USITC since March 2018. Prior to his appointment, Judge Cheney served as an ALJ with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Social Security Administration. Before becoming an ALJ, he worked in the USITC’s Office of the General Counsel as a Section 337 attorney advisor for several years. In that role, he regularly argued appeals to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on behalf of the Commission. Prior to that, Cheney also served as an attorney advisor in the USITC’s Office of ALJs and was detailed to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
Cheney began his career as a patent examiner and served as a law clerk to Judge William Bryson at the Federal Circuit. During several years of private practice, he represented domestic and international clients in intellectual property litigation.
Cheney holds a juris doctor degree, cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center and a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from the University of Utah. Cheney is a member of the International Association of LGBTQ+ Judges and resides in Washington, DC, with his husband.
The USITC is an independent, nonpartisan, quasi-judicial federal agency that investigates and makes determinations in proceedings involving imports claimed to injure a domestic industry, violations of U.S. intellectual property rights, or other unfair methods of competition in connection with imported goods; provides independent analysis and information on tariffs, trade, and competitiveness to the President and the Congress; and maintains the U.S. Harmonized Tariff Schedule.