Sixth Circuit Appellate Blog

After our post yesterday regarding the Sixth Circuit confirmation process, a reader alerted me to an article in the Memphis Commercial Appeal that indicates that Judge Donald will receive a confirmation vote by the Senate on September 6.  Judge Donald was unanimously reported out favorably by the Senate Judiciary Committee in early May and has been waiting since then for the full confirmation vote.  It appears that she’s one step closer to that and we will continue to monitor any developments.

On May 5, 2011, a vote on Judge Bouie Donald's confirmation to a seat on Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals was held over -- again -- because a quorum of the Senate Judiciary Committee was not present. 

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.

On Wednesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee considered the nomination of Judge Bernice Bouie Donald to fill the vacancy created on the Sixth Circuit when Judge Ronald Lee Gilman 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.

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.

On December 1, 2010, President Obama nominated Judge Bernice Bouie Donald to replace retiring Judge Ronald Lee Gilman on the Sixth Circuit.  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.

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.

Senior Judge James L. Ryan, known for his numerous dissents, announced that he is retiring from the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in September 2010. 

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.

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