PHILADELPHIA – Yesterday, Attorney General Merrick B. Garland announced the recipients for the 69th Annual Attorney General’s Awards, recognizing Department of Justice employees and partners nationwide for extraordinary contributions to the enforcement of our nation’s laws. This year, 298 Justice Department employees received awards, while 54 non-department individuals are also being honored for their work.
United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania Jacqueline C. Romero was proud to note that one of the 2022 Attorney General’s Award recipients was EDPA Assistant United States Attorney and Chief of the Office’s Appeals Unit, Robert A. Zauzmer. Mr. Zauzmer received the Mary C. Lawton Lifetime Service Award, which recognizes employees who have served at least 20 years in the Department and who have demonstrated high standards of excellence and dedication throughout their careers. This award is presented only in exceptional circumstances to individuals of special merit and is not awarded to express general appreciation for tenure alone. Only two Mary C. Lawton Awards were presented this year.
“This year’s awardees have served selflessly to further the Department’s important work upholding the rule of law, keeping our country safe, and protecting civil rights,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “I am proud to recognize these individuals for their professionalism, skill, and leadership, and I am grateful for their service to our Department and our nation.”
“Our Office is incredibly fortunate to be able to call Bob Zauzmer a colleague and friend,” said U.S. Attorney Romero. “His unparalleled contributions to the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and the Department of Justice as an institution are certainly deserving of this recognition, but the Award alone does not go far enough in expressing how grateful we all are for his wisdom, integrity and masterful advocacy in the courtroom.”
During Mr. Zauzmer’s accomplished tenure with the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, which he joined in March 1990, he has prosecuted an array of federal crimes focusing on corruption and fraud matters, including several noteworthy public corruption matters in Philadelphia: the 2005 Philadelphia City Hall corruption case in which the City Treasurer and others were convicted of corrupt conduct in city government affairs; the 2009 corruption case against former State Senator Vincent J. Fumo; and the 2017 prosecution of former District Attorney R. Seth Williams who pleaded guilty during trial to bribery and fraud offenses.
In addition, since 1998, Mr. Zauzmer has served as Chief of the Office’s Appeals Unit, supervising all federal criminal appeals in the District, and appears frequently before the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in that capacity. He has also served in a variety of leadership positions with the Department of Justice, including as the national chair of the committee of appellate chiefs from 2012 to 2014 during which he advised the Attorney General on appellate matters, and as the Pardon Attorney in the Department of Justice from 2016 to 2017 to assist President Obama’s initiative to extend executive clemency to nonviolent drug offenders serving exceptionally long sentences.
This year’s Attorney General’s Award is not the first time Mr. Zauzmer has been recognized for his service to the Department. He has twice received the John Marshall Award, the DOJ’s highest award for litigation activities: in 1992 for the prosecution of a drug organization that terrorized a Philadelphia neighborhood, and again in 2008 for his participation on the team of DOJ attorneys which oversaw the response to amendments to the Sentencing Guidelines for certain drug offenses which required the resentencing for thousands of defendants nationally.
A complete list of the 69thAnnual Attorney General’s Awards and recipients can be found here.