Patricia Broderick, former D.C. Superior Court judge, dies at 75

Paralyzed in an automobile accident during college, she overcame her disability to become a Justice Department lawyer and serve for more than two decades on the bench.

during college and overcame her disability to attend law school, become a Justice Department lawyer and serve for more than two decades as a D.C. Superior Court judge, died June 17 at a care facility in the District. She was 75.

She had respiratory infections complicated by pulmonary weakness stemming from her paralysis, said her executor, Elizabeth Francis.

In 1970, shortly before the start of her senior year at what is now Trinity Washington University, Ms. Broderick was in Pennsylvania on a road trip with friends when she suffered a spinal cord injury in a crash.

The accident left her paralyzed from the chest down. After a period of rehabilitation, she returned to her university studies and eventually pursued a legal career.

Ms. Broderick prosecuted murder, sexual assault and other felony cases as an assistant U.S. attorney in the District before moving in 1989 to the Justice Department’s money laundering section. She was serving as a special counsel to the Department’s office on violence against women when President Bill Clinton nominated her to the D.C. Superior Court.

Ms. Broderick assumed her seat in 1998 and remained on the bench until taking senior status in 2020, presiding over criminal, civil and family court cases.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2025/06/20/judge-patricia-broderick-dead/