Raymond Joseph Dearie

(born 1944 in Rockville Centre, New York) is the Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. He was nominated by President Reagan on February 3, 1986, to a new seat created by 98 Stat. 333; confirmed by the United States Senate on March 14, 1986, and received his commission on March 19, 1986.

Dearie began his legal career at Shearman & Sterling in 1969. Dearie 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, then as Chief of the General Crimes Section from 1974 to 1976, and Chief of the Office's Criminal Division from 1976-1977. Before being appointed to the federal bench, Dearie was United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York from 1982 to 1986, when he was nominated for the bench. He was the judge that accepted Najibullah Zazi's plea bargain.

Dearie graduated from Fairfield University in 1966 and received his law degree from St. John's University School of Law in 1969. He was Editor-in-Chief of the St. John's Law Review. Dearie received an Alumni Professional Achievement Award from Fairfield University in 1986. And he received an honoris causa, 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.