On Judge Brinkema

The Washington Post has this interesting profile of Judge Leonie Brinkema of the E.D. Va., who presides over the Moussaoui case in Alexandria.

The article says in part:

"Brinkema, 61, known to her friends as Dee Dee, was the first female judge named to the U.S. District Court in Alexandria. She was appointed by President Bill Clinton and has tightly controlled her courtroom from her first day on the bench. Friends say she has a wonderful sense of humor and is a superb soprano. She sings in a choir and has been known to break out in a line or two of song in her chambers.

Her commanding presence on the bench belies her diminutive appearance. She is maybe 5-foot-2. With eyeglasses perched halfway down her nose, and her long hair, graying around the temples, always, always pulled back in a tight bun, she looks like a schoolteacher or, more precisely, an old-fashioned librarian, which isn't too far-fetched given that she has a master's degree in library service from Rutgers University."