Judge Donald, who currently sits as a distrit court judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee was nominated last December to fill the vacancy created when Judge Ronald Lee Gilman took senior status. Judge Donald's nomination, confirmation hearing, and the first delay of consideration of her nomation are reported previously on this blog here.

Bouie Donald has been nominated to fill the seat left vacant by Judge Ronald Lee Gilman, who recently took senior status.  Judge Donald currently sits as a district court judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee, to which she was appointed in 1995 by President Clinton.  More information on Judge Donald was reported previously here, and here and here.  We will continue to keep you updated on the status of her confirmation.

The hearing lasted a remarkably short 20 minutes, with Senator Chuck Schumer  the only Senator to question Judge Donald.  As reported in the Memphis Commercial Appeal (PDF), Judge Donald answered questions relating to her "experience on the bench, whether her race influences her decisions, and her ruling in a local schools case that was later overturned by the appeals court on which she soon may sit."  A webcast of Judge Donald's complete confirmation hearing is available here.

The Committee usually votes on judicial nominations a few days or weeks after the nominee's hearing at which point approved nominations will be sent to the full Senate for approval.

President Obama originally nominated Judge Donald on December 1, 2010, but the Senate Judiciary Committee was unable to conduct a hearing on Judge Donald’s nomination before the 111th Congress adjourned.  President Obama re-nominated Judge Donald on January 5, 2011.    

As we previously reported back in December when she was first nominated, Judge Donald currently sits as a district court judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee, to which she was appointed in 1995 by President Clinton.  Judge Donald is a graduate of the University of Memphis Law School and has more than 28 years of judicial experience.  

A very detailed public questionnaire for Judge Donald is available here.

Judge Donald is President Obama's second nominee to the Sixth Circuit.  His first nominee, Judge Jane Branstetter Stranch, was commissioned as a circuit judge on September 15, 2010.

In announcing the nomination, President Obama stated: "Judge Donald has shown an outstanding commitment to public service throughout her career and as a District Judge in Tennessee.  I am proud to nominate her today for a seat on the United States Court of Appeals and I am confident she will serve the American people with distinction."

Born and raised in Mississippi, Judge Donald graduated in 1974 from Memphis State University (now the University of Memphis) and received her law degree in 1979 from the Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law at Memphis State University.
 
After graduating from law school, Judge Donald worked variously as sole practitioner, a staff attorney at Memphis Area Legal Services, and an attorney for the Shelby County Public Defender's Office.  In 1982, Judge Donald was elected to serve as a judge on the Court of General Sessions in Shelby County, making her the first female African-American judge in the history of Tennessee.  Similarly, Judge Donald became the first female African-American federal bankruptcy judge in the United States when she was appointed in 1988 to that position by the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

Judge Donald is President Obama's second nominee to the Sixth Circuit.  She follows Judge Jane Branstetter Stranch, who was nominated by the President in August 2009 and was commissioned as a circuit judge on September 15, 2010.

After a record-breaking wait of more than one year, Jane Branstetter Stranch has been confirmed by the U.S. Senate to the Sixth Circuit vacancy left when Judge Daughtrey assumed senior status.   The Senate voted 71 to 21 in favor of  Stranch, who has waited longer than any other Obama nominee for confirmation from the Senate, the Nashville Post reports.

Stranch was born on Sept. 17, 1953 in Nashville and received her undergraduate and law degree from Vanderbilt University and Vanderbilt School of Law, respectively.

Her law practice centered around labor and employment law, specializing in ERISA litigation. For more on Stranch's background, click here. (PDF)

With the confirmation of Judge Stranch, the Sixth Circuit once again has a full complement of 16 active judges. In recent years, the Sixth Circuit has had close to 16, but about a decade ago, it was down in the single digits. With the Circuit again at full strength, practitioners can expect cases to move a bit faster than in some prior years.

Ryan has been on the Sixth Circuit since 1985 when he was nominated by President Ronald Reagan.  Before that, Ryan spent ten years as an associate justice on the Michigan Suprme Court, and nine years as a county judge in Michigan.  Ryan began his judicial career as a justice of the peace in 1963. 

As Ryan admits to LegalNews.com, “I write a lot of dissents. . . . It’s not unusual.” 

One of Ryan’s most notable dissents came in Poletown Neighborhood Council v. Detroit, where the Michigan Supreme Court greatly expanded the scope of the eminent domain power by upholding the City of Detroit’s authority to seize land for the benefit of a private corporation--in that case, General Motors. 

The year was 1981, when the U.S. was in the grips of its last major recession.  Unemployment in Detroit hovered at a horrendous 28 percent, and there was immense political pressure on the city to create jobs (which GM promised). 

Although he was an elected judge at the time, Ryan nevertheless took the bold step of dissenting, concluding that the majority had subordinated a constitutional right to private corporate interests.

More than two decades later, in 2004, Ryan’s dissenting position was vindicated when the Michigan Supreme Court in Wayne County v. Hathcock overruled Poletown.  The court in Hathcock adopted Ryan’s Poletown rationale and held that economic development was not a valid public use to authorize the state to transfer property from one private party to another.

Will Judge Ryan issue a last great dissent during his final weeks on the bench?  We'll keep you posted.

View Judge Ryan's full bio, after the jump.

• Born in Detroit, Michigan.
• Bachelor of Laws degree, Detroit Mercy Law (1956).
• Bachelor's degree, University of Detroit Mercy (1992).
• Captain Judge Advocate in the United States Navy Reserves Judge Advocate General Corps (1957 to 1992).
• Active duty as a Lieutenant Law Specialist (1957 to 1960).
• Private practice attorney in the State of Michigan (1960 to 1966).
• Justice of the Peace for Redford, Michigan (1963 to 1966).
• Circuit Court Judge for the Third Judicial Circuit of Michigan (1966 to 1975).
• State Supreme Court Justice for the Michigan Supreme Court (1975 to 1985).
• Military Court Justice (1980 to 1992).
• Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law (since 1974).
• Adjunct Professor of Law at Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Lansing, Michigan (1979 to 1985).
• United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (1985 to present) (nominated by President Ronald Reagan).

Though Senator Leahy has a point, things have been far worse for the Sixth Circuit.  Judge Kethledge’s seat was empty from 2000 to 2008, and Judge Griffin was confirmed in 2005 to a seat that had sat empty since 1995.  Many other seats were empty during those years, leaving the Sixth Circuit famously shorthanded.  As Judge Gilman has announced his intention to take senior status in November, we can hope that the Senate will act before then.