---
title: "Cheryl M. Long | KnowJudges"
canonical: "https://knowjudges.com/kyj/judge/cheryl-m-long-dc-superior-court-senior-judge"
page_type: "judge_profile"
updated: "2026-10-07"
---

# Cheryl M. Long

Superior Court of the District of Columbia · Senior Judge

## Profile

- Court: Superior Court of the District of Columbia
- State: District of Columbia
- Role: Senior Judge
- Service status: senior
- Last verified: 2026-07-29

## Summary

Official statewide and applicable court procedural guidance applies to this judge.

## Before you appear

- Read the judge-specific standing order first when one is listed.
- Check the docket and case orders for requirements that supersede broader guidance.
- Confirm current remote-access and courtroom technology arrangements before the proceeding.

## Courtroom Rules

### recording and rebroadcasting

Scope: courtwide

Recording, photographing, or rebroadcasting a remote Superior Court hearing is not allowed.

Evidence excerpt: Audio and video recording, taking pictures of remote hearings, and sharing the live or recorded remote hearing by rebroadcasting, live-streaming, or otherwise are not allowed.

[Hearing Information](https://www.dccourts.gov/superior-court/hearing-information)
Source checked: 2026-07-27


## Sources

- [Official profile](https://www.dccourts.gov/superior-court/superior-court-judges/long-cheryl-m)
- [Official roster](https://www.dccourts.gov/superior-court/superior-court-judges/long-cheryl-m)
- [District of Columbia Courts official judicial roster](https://www.dccourts.gov/superior-court/superior-court-judges/long-cheryl-m)
- [Hearing Information](https://www.dccourts.gov/superior-court/hearing-information)

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## Biography

### Professional career

- Senior Judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1987/1988 to serve as an Associate Judge, and granted senior status in 2009
- 1985–1988: Director, Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia — the first African-American woman to lead a major U.S. city’s public defender office
- 1982–1985: Trial attorney, Division of Land and Natural Resources, U.S. Department of Justice, litigating environmental enforcement cases under the Superfund Act and Clean Water Act
- 1980–1982: Trial attorney, Civil Division, U.S. Attorney’s Office
- 1975–1979: Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, prosecuting federal and local cases
- 1974–1975: Law clerk to Hon. Spottswood W. Robinson III, U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
- Notably, she was the first woman judge to serve on all three of the court’s most complex calendars: Felony I, Civil I, and Domestic Relations I

### Education

- Georgetown University Law Center — J.D. (1974)
- F.S., Georgetown University School of Foreign Service — B.S. (1971)

### Additional information

- Years as Presiding Judge of the Probate Division and the Tax Division
- Life Member of the Washington Bar Association and the National Association of Women Judges