Roy DeCaro of Raynes Lawn Hehmeyer presents Judge Cynthia M. Rufe with an award on behalf of the Lawyers' Club of Philadelphia. Courtesy photo.

A group of federal judges led by a George W. Bush appointee will hold an emergency meeting Wednesday in response to the Trump administration's interference in politically sensitive cases.

U.S. District Judge Cynthia Rufe of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania is the current president of the independent Federal Judges Association, which will hold the emergency meeting over the fallout from Main Justice's intervention in Roger Stone's sentencing.

Rufe told USA Today that the group "could not wait" until its scheduled spring conference to discuss potential DOJ political motivation behind its handling of the case.

The meeting comes after the U.S. Department of Justice announced last week it would rescind its original sentencing recommendation over the objections of the prosecutors who handled the case. Those prosecutors recommended Stone serve between seven to nine years in prison.

At a scheduling phone conference for Stone's case held in D.C. federal court Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson made no reference to the allegations of political interference or the dropping out of the original prosecutors. She only confirmed with one of the new DOJ attorneys, J.P Cooney, that he was not a lawyer with a similar name she previously worked with in private practice.

The Justice Department's changed stance on sentencing came after the president took to Twitter to criticize the recommendation, but U.S. Attorney General William Barr said the decision was made before the president got on social media.

Barr's comments did little to alleviate the specter of political bias seeping into Stone's case, and the decision was widely criticized. The entire team that prosecuted Stone ultimately withdrew from the case, with one career attorney resigning from the DOJ entirely.

The National Association of Assistant U.S. Attorneys came forward last week to say the career prosecutors handling Stone's case "properly exercised their discretion," and U.S. District Chief Judge Beryl Howell of the District of Columbia issued a rare public statement defending Jackson after the president criticized Jackson's handling of Stone's case.

Stone was found guilty last year of obstructing a congressional investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, along with lying to federal agents and intimidating a witness. His sentencing is scheduled for Thursday.

Here's what you need to know about Rufe:

>> She was appointed by George W. Bush in 2002: Rufe was tapped for her current seat in Pennsylvania by the Republican administration in January 2002, and was confirmed by the Senate in April, on a 98-0 vote.

Rufe was a Bucks County Court of Common Pleas judge when she was nominated to the federal bench. During her Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing, Rufe said her experience as a prosecutor and judge prepared her for the federal bench: "I know how to manage a caseload and have no backlog."

Rufe also thanked her husband, Judge John J. Rufe, during her opening statements, whom she met while serving on the Bucks County Court of Common Pleas. She also thanked other family members, including her two daughters. John Rufe retired in 2018, and one of their daughters, Tiffany, is also an attorney.

>> She previously worked as a public defender: Before entering private practice, Cynthia Rufe worked at the Bucks County Public Defender office from 1977 until 1982. She then joined the Bucks County Children and Youth Social Services Agency, where she worked as a solicitor until 1988.

Some of Rufe's time at the public defender's office focused on working with children, as coordinator of the juvenile division.

She told The Legal Intelligencer in 2011 that the experience had a lasting impact, including her work in helping to create a pro bono system while she was on the Bucks County court.

"They were very dear and precious to me: to take a young life and try to steer" it away from the criminal justice system, Rufe said at the time.

>> She has been honored for her work in the legal profession: Rufe received the Sandra Day O'Connor Award in 2011 from the Philadelphia Bar Association, which is given to those who have shown superior legal talent, have significant legal accomplishments and have helped advance women in the legal profession and community.

That year, she told The Legal Intelligencer about her motivation in wanting more children to have a civics education, and learn more about the courts. She said some of that interest dates back to her time as a public defender, as well as wanting civics to be more prominently included in public school curriculum.

"We want them to be good citizens," Rufe said at the time. "We want them to lead a good life."

>> She hasn't been shy about pushing for gender diversity in the legal field: Rufe has used her position on the bench to push for gender diversity when appointing lead counsel and liaison counsel in antitrust and multidistrict litigation. While speaking at a Reed Smith event in 2018, Rufe said diversity ensures law firms can provide clients with the best attorneys, a view that carried over into how she appoints MDL leadership.

"I would hesitate to interfere in the inner workings of your law firm, but what I must do is get the best qualified persons—be they male, female, or persons of color—to work with the court on appointments, and I would hope you would want to do the same for your client," she said.

In late 2016, Rufe made the extremely rare move of appointing two women to co-lead a federal antitrust MDL. In a similarly unusual move, Rufe's order announcing the leadership roles encouraged younger attorneys to also participate in the MDL process.

"The court expects that the leadership will provide opportunities for attorneys not named to the plaintiff's steering committee, particularly less-senior attorneys, to participate meaningfully and efficiently in the MDL, including through participation in any committees within the plaintiff's steering committee and in determining which counsel will argue any motions before the court," Rufe said at the time.

Max Mitchell contributed to this report from Pennsylvania.

Read more:

'A Loss to the Pursuit of Justice': Praise for Roger Stone Prosecutor Who Resigned

'Nothing Wrong or Improper': Roger Stone Prosecutors Defended by Advocate for Career DOJ Lawyers

Chief DC Judge Defends Amy Berman Jackson Ahead of Stone Sentencing: Public Criticism 'Is Not a Factor'

DOJ's Roger Stone Debacle Puts New Focus on Judge Amy Berman Jackson