Ricardo M. Urbina

Ricardo M. Urbina
Senior Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia
In office January 31, 2011 – May 31, 2012
Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia
In office June 16, 1994 – January 31, 2011
Appointed by	Bill Clinton
Preceded by	Aubrey Eugene Robinson, Jr.
Succeeded by	Rudolph Contreras
Personal details
Born	1946 (age 70–71) New York City, New York, U.S.
Alma mater	Georgetown University B.A. Georgetown University Law Center J.D.
Profession	lawyer

Ricardo M. Urbina (born 1946 ) is a former United States District Judge for the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.

Urbina earned a B.A. from Georgetown University in 1967. He received his law degree from the Law Center at Georgetown University in 1970. He began his legal career as a public defender. He worked for D.C. Public Defender Service from 1970 to 1972 and was in private practice of law in Washington, DC from 1972 to 1974. He was on the faculty of Howard University Law School from 1974 to 1981. In 1981 he became Associate Judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, and in 1994 President Bill Clinton appointed him to the United States district court to a seat vacated by Aubrey E. Robinson, Jr..

He retired from the Court on May 31, 2012.

Omar v. Harvey dealt with a petition for a writ of habeas corpus filed on behalf of Shawqi Ahmad Omar, an American citizen, captured and detained in Iraq by United States military forces operating as part of the Multi-National Force-Iraq. Omar has been held under the control of United States forces for over two years, allegedly without legal process and with no meaningful access to counsel. When the district court learned of Omar's imminent transfer to Iraqi authorities for trial on terrorism charges, it issued a preliminary injunction barring transfer in order to preserve its jurisdiction to entertain the habeas petition.

In late October 2004, United States military forces operating in Iraq arrested appellee Shawqi Ahmad Omar, a dual American/Jordanian citizen, at his Baghdad home. Born in Kuwait, Omar became a naturalized American citizen following his marriage to the former Sandra Kay Sulzle. According to Omar, after the overthrow of the Saddam Hussein government, he traveled to Iraq seeking reconstruction-related work and would have left by November 2004 but for his arrest and detention. The government paints a very different picture of Omar's presence in Iraq. According to the government, U.S. military forces, operating in Iraq pursuant to U.N. Security Council Resolutions 1546 (2003) and 1637 (2004) as part of the Multi-National Force-Iraq (MNF-I), captured Omar during a raid on associates of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. The government concluded that Omar was part of Zarqawi's network and that he facilitated terrorist activities both in and outside of Iraq. Four Jordanian foreign fighters and an Iraqi insurgent were captured along with Omar, and that weapons and improvised explosive device making materials were found in Omar's home.

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