[5] Messitte received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Amherst College in 1963 and a Juris Doctor from the University of Chicago Law School in 1966.

[4] On the state court, Messitte issued an order in 1989 that temporarily halted a shopping mall proposal in Silver Spring.

He also presided over the bench trial of Montgomery County police officer Christopher J. Albrecht, who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter.

[5] Messitte also wrote many articles on the impact of AIDS on the criminal justice system, and participated in a reform of Maryland's adoption laws.

[12][13] In a May 2020 decision, the full Fourth Circuit rejected Trump's attempt to have the case dismissed on the grounds of "presidential immunity" by a 9-to-6 majority, reviving the lawsuit.

Messitte also ruled that the executive order "does not appear to serve the overall public interest" but "granting the preliminary injunctive relief Plaintiffs seek does.

[19] Messitte spent decades working on judicial reform activities internationally, principally in Brazil, but also in other Latin American countries and in Turkey, Thailand, and Yemen.