The U.S. Supreme Court has appointed Williams & Connolly partner Luke McCloud to argue Barrett v. United States, a closely-watched double jeopardy case concerning whether a defendant can be sentenced for both carrying a gun and murdering someone with it during a crime of violence. In a one-sentence order on March 19, 2025, the justices invited Luke to argue in support of a federal appellate court ruling finding that Dwayne Barrett could be sentenced for two different crimes involving the same robbery. During recent interviews, Lisa Blatt, chair of the firm’s appellate practice, described Luke as “a once-in-a-generation talent” who is as “smooth as butter” and uses his “signature clear and calm demeanor to handle even the toughest questions.”

Luke has argued three times before the U.S. Supreme Court and in multiple federal courts of appeals, and has filed dozens of briefs in high-stakes cases throughout the federal system. In the October Term 2014, Luke served as a law clerk to Justice Sonia M. Sotomayor on the Supreme Court of the United States. He previously clerked for then Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and Judge Paul V. Niemeyer of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. In 2023, Luke was honored with the Attorney General’s Distinguished Service Award for his work on Food and Drug Administration v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine.

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