Jeffrey Sutton
Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
Assumed office
May 1, 2021
Preceded byR. Guy Cole Jr.
Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
Assumed office
May 5, 2003
Appointed byGeorge W. Bush
Preceded byDavid Aldrich Nelson
2nd Solicitor General of Ohio
In office
1995–1998
Attorney GeneralBetty Montgomery
Preceded byRichard Cordray
Succeeded byEdward B. Foley
Personal details
Born
Jeffrey Stuart Sutton

(1960-10-31) October 31, 1960
Dhahran, Saudi Arabia
EducationWilliams College (BA)
Ohio State University (JD)

Jeffrey Stuart Sutton (born October 31, 1960) is an American lawyer and jurist serving as the Chief United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

Early life and career

Sutton received a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from Williams College in 1983.[1] Sutton worked as a paralegal in Washington, D.C., and spent a summer at an archaeological dig site in Jordan as part of a United States Department of State cultural exchange program, then returned to Ohio to be a high school history teacher and varsity soccer coach at the Columbus Academy, a private school in Gahanna, Ohio.[1]

Sutton received his Juris Doctor from Ohio State University's Moritz College of Law in 1990. He then clerked for Judge Thomas Meskill of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from 1990 to 1991. Next he clerked at the United States Supreme Court from 1991 to 1992, primarily working under Antonin Scalia, who later said Sutton was "one of the very best law clerks [he] ever had",[2] as well as for Lewis F. Powell Jr., who had assumed senior status.

Sutton was in private practice in Columbus from 1992 to 1995 and 1998 to 2003, serving as Solicitor General of Ohio from 1995 to 1998. He has also served as an adjunct professor of law at the Ohio State University Moritz College of Law[3] since 1994 and more recently as a visiting lecturer at Harvard Law School.[4] He teaches state constitutional law, a subject in which he is particularly interested and about which he has written extensively.[5]

Federal judicial service

Sutton was first nominated by President George W. Bush on May 9, 2001, to a seat on the Sixth Circuit vacated by David A. Nelson, who assumed senior status on October 1, 1999. That nomination, made during the 107th United States Congress, never received a floor vote in the United States Senate. Sutton was not confirmed until almost two years later, on April 29, 2003, when the Senate of the 108th United States Congress confirmed him by a 52–41 vote.[6] He received his commission on May 5, 2003.[7] He became Chief Judge on May 1, 2021.[8]

Notable opinions

In 2007, Sutton dissented in part when the Sixth Circuit held that a police officer did not have qualified immunity for arresting a speaker for using foul language at a town meeting.[9] In June 2011, Sutton became the first judge appointed by a Republican to rule in favor of the health care mandate in President Barack Obama's Health Care law.[10]

In November 2014, Sutton authored the 2–1 opinion ruling upholding same-sex marriage bans in Michigan, Kentucky, Ohio, and Tennessee in the Sixth Circuit reversing six previous federal district court rulings. The ruling was the second federal court ruling and the only Federal Court of Appeals ruling[11] to uphold same-sex marriage bans after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a portion of the Defense of Marriage Act in United States v. Windsor in June 2013. This ran counter to rulings by the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the 4th, 7th, 9th and 10th circuits, which then led the U.S. Supreme Court to grant writ of certiorari to review same-sex marriage bans when it previously declined to do so.[12][13] In Obergefell v. Hodges the Supreme Court reversed the decision of the Sixth Circuit.

On July 8, 2023, Sutton temporarily halted a lower court injunction[14] on Tennessee's law banning gender affirming care for minors.[15][16][17][18][19] Sutton reasoned that there is no "deeply rooted" historical or traditional evidence that the treatment is allowed.[20][21] He did note that the current ruling allowing the ban on gender-affirming care to go into effect is temporary, saying, "We may be wrong."[22] He has currently set forth a tentative date of September 30, 2023 to have a final judgement on the matter.[23]

Feeder Judge

Since joining the bench, Judge Sutton has been one of the most prolific feeder judges, sending a number of his law clerks to the Supreme Court.[24]

Other

Sutton chaired the Advisory Committee on Appellate Rules of the Judicial Conference of the United States from 2009 to 2012, and served on the committee beginning in 2005. He went on to chair the Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure from 2012 to 2015.[25]

Other views

On a podcast with Harvard Law School professor Noah Feldman, Judge Sutton, a conservative originalist, expressed the view that the United States Supreme Court's December 2000 decision in Bush v. Gore was wrongly decided.[26]

Published works

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "1983, Jeff Sutton – Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit". Williams College History Majors, Past and Present. Retrieved April 9, 2022.
  2. ↑ Dish, The Daily (August 31, 2010). "Justice Scalia and How Elites Are Hired". The Atlantic. Retrieved May 20, 2022.
  3. ↑ Moritz College of Law – Faculty: The Honorable Jeffrey S. Sutton Archived February 22, 2012, at the Wayback Machine. Moritzlaw.osu.edu. Retrieved on June 25, 2012.
  4. ↑ Harvard Law School - Faculty: Jeffrey S. Sutton. Law.harvard.edu. Retrieved January 14, 2013.
  5. ↑ See, e.g., Holland, McAllister, Shaman, and Sutton, State Constitutional Law: The Modern Experience (2010); What Does—and Does Not—Ail State Constitutional Law, 59 U. Kan. L. Rev. 687 (2011).
  6. ↑ "On the Nomination (Confirmation Jeffrey S. Sutton, of Ohio, to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the Sixth Circuit.)".
  7. ↑ Jeffrey Sutton at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
  8. ↑ "The Honorable Jeffrey S. Sutton assumed the position of Chief Judge". www.ca6.uscourts.gov. May 3, 2021. Retrieved May 3, 2021.
  9. ↑ Recent Case: Sixth Circuit Denies Qualified Immunity to Police Officer for Arrest for Speech at Public Meeting, 120 Harv. L. Rev. 2238 (2007)
  10. ↑ 6th Circuit Court of Appeals panel upholds individual mandate – Jennifer Haberkorn. Politico.Com. Retrieved on June 25, 2012.
  11. ↑ Denniston, Lyle (October 21, 2014). "Puerto Rico ban on same-sex marriage upheld". SCOTUSblog. Retrieved November 12, 2014.
  12. ↑ Wolf, Richard (November 7, 2014). "Gay marriage bans in four states upheld, Supreme Court review likely". USA Today. Gannett. Retrieved November 7, 2014.
  13. ↑ Wolf, Richard (January 16, 2015). "Supreme Court agrees to rule on Gay Marriage". USA Today. Retrieved May 7, 2015.
  14. ↑ Brown, Melissa (June 28, 2023). "Court halts Tennessee's ban on gender affirming care, at least for now". The Tennessean. Retrieved July 27, 2023.
  15. ↑ "Case No. 3:23-cv-00376" (PDF). July 8, 2023. Retrieved July 27, 2023.
  16. ↑ Barakat, Matthew (July 9, 2023). "Tennessee can enforce ban on transgender care for minors, court says". Williamson Herald. Associated Press. Retrieved July 16, 2023.
  17. ↑ Rummler, Orion (July 10, 2023). "Trans youth in Tennessee can no longer access gender-affirming care after court ruling". The 19th. Retrieved July 27, 2023.
  18. ↑ Hodgman, Lucy (July 8, 2023). "Tennessee ban on gender-affirming care for minors to go into effect for now". Politico. Retrieved July 27, 2023.
  19. ↑ Riess, Rebekah; Jordan, Jessica; Sottile, Zoe (July 8, 2023). "Federal appeals court allows Tennessee ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors to take effect". CNN. Retrieved July 27, 2023.
  20. ↑ Bacallao, Marianna (July 10, 2023). "Tennessee's ban on gender-affirming care for minors takes effect, after court ruling". NPR. Retrieved July 27, 2023.
  21. ↑ "Court Allows Tennessee Ban on Gender-Affirming Care for Minors to Take Effect Immediately". Mother Jones. July 8, 2023. Retrieved July 27, 2023.
  22. ↑ Heath, Brad (July 10, 2023). "Court reinstates Tennessee ban on care for transgender youth". Reuters. Retrieved July 27, 2023.
  23. ↑ Bakarat, Matthew (July 8, 2023). "Tennessee can enforce ban on transgender care for minors, court says". Associated Press. Retrieved July 27, 2023.
  24. ↑ "Supreme Court Clerk Hiring Watch: Is October Term 2014 Filled Up? Plus A List Of Top Feeder Judges". Above the Law. May 5, 2014. Retrieved October 10, 2015.
  25. ↑ "Past Members of the Rules Committees". Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. October 12, 2017. Retrieved March 22, 2018.
  26. ↑ "Fareed Zakaria: Let's avoid another Bush v. Gore". November 1, 2020.
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