List of University of Michigan Law and Government Alumni - Judiciary

Judiciary

• Jackson Leroy Adair, (LAW: JD 1911) a Congressional Representative from Illinois; member of the State senate 1928-1932; elected as a Democrat to the Seventy-third and Seventy-fourth Congresses (March 4, 1933-January 3, 1937); appointed United States district judge for the southern district of Illinois in 1937 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and served until his death in Quincy, Ill., January 19, 1956;
• Prudence Carter Beatty, US Bankruptcy Judge for the Southern District of New York Prudence Carter Beatty
• George G. Bingham (LLB 1880), judge in Oregon, dean of Willamette University College of Law.
• Brian Blanchard (BA 1980), Judge of the Wisconsin Court of Appeals.
• William L. Carpenter, (LAW:1877?), elected Third Judicial Circuit of Michigan in 1894 and member of the Michigan Supreme Court from 1902 until 1904.
• Jackson Burton Chase, (LAW: LLB 1913) a Congressional Representative from Nebraska; assistant attorney general of Nebraska in 1921 and 1922; member of the State house of representatives in 1933 and 1934; served as a major, Judge Advocate General’s Department, 1942–1945; chairman of Nebraska Liquor Control Commission in 1945 and 1946; judge of the fourth judicial district court of Nebraska, 1946–1954; elected as a Republican to the Eighty-fourth Congress (January 3, 1955-January 3, 1957); again elected judge of the fourth judicial district court of Nebraska 1956-1960;
• John Logan Chipman (1843–1845) a Congressional Representative from Michigan; attorney of the police board of Detroit 1867-1879; elected judge of the superior court of Detroit May 1, 1879; reelected in 1885 and served until 1887, when he resigned, having been elected to Congress; elected as a Democrat to the Fiftieth and to the three succeeding Congresses and served from March 4, 1887, until his death in Detroit, Mich., on August 17, 1893; interment in Elmwood Cemetery, Detroit, Mich.
• George Pierre Codd, (AB 1891) a Congressional Representative from Michigan; mayor of Detroit in 1905 and 1906; circuit judge of Wayne County 1911-1921; regent of the University of Michigan in 1910 and 1911; elected as a Republican to the Sixty-seventh Congress (March 4, 1921-March 3, 1923); again elected circuit judge of Wayne County in 1924 and served until his death in Detroit, Mich., on February 16, 1927.
• Avern Cohn (LAW: JD 1949) - Appointed a district judge for the United States District Court, Eastern District of Michigan, by President Jimmy Carter in 1979.
• Louis Convers Cramton, (LAW: JD 1899) a Congressional Representative from Michigan; law clerk of the State senate three terms; deputy commissioner of railroads of Michigan in 1907; secretary of the Michigan Railroad Commission from September 1907 to January 1, 1909; member of the State house of representatives in 1909 and 1910; elected as a Republican to the Sixty-third and to the eight succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1913-March 3, 1931); circuit judge of the fortieth judicial circuit from November 21, 1934, to December 31, 1941;
• Irene Cortes, (LL.M, S.J.D.) an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines from 1987–1990 and the first female dean of the University of the Philippines College of Law;
• Shepard J. Crumpacker, Jr., (LAW: JD 1941) a Congressional Representative from Indiana; elected as a Republican to the Eighty-second, Eighty-third, and Eighty-fourth Congresses (January 3, 1951-January 3, 1957); appointed judge of the St. Joseph Superior Court and served from 1977–1985;
• Marc Dann (B.A. 1984) 47th attorney general of Ohio
• Harry Micajah Daugherty (LAW: LL.B) was an American politician. A key Ohio Republican political insider, Daugherty is best remembered for his service as Attorney General of the United States under Presidents Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge.
• Cristobal C. Duenas (LAW: JD 1952), appointed judge of the U.S. District Court of Guam. Duenas was judge of the Island Court of Guam, and was previously director of the Department of Land Management.
• Robert Emory Evans, (LAW: JD 1886) a Congressional Representative from Nebraska; prosecuting attorney of Dakota County in 1895; resigned to become judge of the eighth judicial district, in which capacity he served from 1895 to 1899; president of the Nebraska State Bar Association in 1919; elected as a Republican to the Sixty-sixth and Sixty-seventh Congresses (March 4, 1919-March 3, 1923); elected judge of the supreme court from the third district of Nebraska in 1924;
• Homer Samuel Ferguson, (AB 1913) a Senator from Michigan; circuit judge of the circuit court for Wayne County, Mich., 1929–1942; elected as a Republican to the United States Senate in 1942; reelected in 1948 and served from January 3, 1943, to January 3, 1955; Ambassador to the Philippines 1955-1956; judge of the United States Court of Military Appeals at Washington, D.C., 1956–1971.
• George Ford, (LAW: JD 1869) a Congressional Representative from Indiana; elected as a Democrat to the Forty-ninth Congress (March 4, 1885-March 3, 1887); elected judge of the superior court of St. Joseph County in 1914;
• Ralph McKenzie Freeman (LAW: LL.B. 1926) was a Judge in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. Judge Freeman was nominated by U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower on May 10, 1954, to a newly-created seat and was confirmed by the United States Senate on June 8, 1954. He received his commission on June 10, 1954. Freeman served as chief judge from 1967 to 1972 and assumed senior status on July 1, 1973.
• Ronald Murray Gould (LAW: 1973) is a federal appeals judge who has served on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals since 1999. Gould was nominated by President Bill Clinton. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on November 17 and received his commission on November 22.
• Byron Berry Harlan, (LAW: JD 1909; LS&A: 1911a Congressional Representative from Ohio; elected as a Democrat to the Seventy-second and to the three succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1931-January 3, 1939); chairman, Committee on Revision of the Laws (Seventy-second and Seventy-third Congresses); appointed judge of the Tax Court of the United States in 1946 to his death in Williamsport, Pa., November 11, 1949;
• James Harvey, (LAW: LLB 1948) a Congressional Representative from Michigan; elected as a Republican to the Eighty-seventh and to the six succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1961-January 31, 1974); appointed by President Richard Nixon as a United States District Court judge for the Eastern District, Michigan, 1974–1984; United States Senior District judge, 1984–2002;
• Guy Tresillian Helvering, (LAW: JD 1906) a Congressional Representative from Kansas; elected as a Democrat to the Sixty-third, Sixty-fourth, and Sixty-fifth Congresses (March 4, 1913-March 3, 1919); Democratic State chairman 1930-1934; mayor of Salina, Kans., from February 15, 1926, until his resignation on December 8, 1930; State highway director in 1931 and 1932; appointed Commissioner of Internal Revenue by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933 and served until his appointment as a Federal district judge for Kansas in 1943, in which capacity he was serving at the time of his death in Washington, D.C., on July 4, 1946.
• Douglas Woodruff Hillman (LAW: JD 1948), practiced law in Grand Rapids for 30 years before President Carter appointed him to the federal court in 1979. He retired from the bench in 2002.
• Jay Abel Hubbell, (AB 1853) a Congressional Representative from Michigan; prosecuting attorney of Houghton County 1861-1867; elected as a Republican to the Forty-third and to the four succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1873-March 3, 1883); chairman, Committee on Expenditures in the Department of the Interior (Forty-seventh Congress); member of the State senate 1885-1887; served as circuit judge of the twelfth judicial circuit from January 1, 1894, to December 31, 1899, when he resigned;
• William Leonard Hungate, (MDNG) a Congressional Representative from Missouri; born in Benton, Franklin County, Ill., December 14, 1922; special assistant attorney general, 1958–1964; elected simultaneously as a Democrat to the Eighty-eighth and to the Eighty-ninth Congress by special election, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of United States Representative Clarence Cannon, and reelected to the five succeeding Congresses (November 3, 1964-January 3, 1977); professor, University of Missouri, St. Louis, Mo., 1977–1979; justice, United States district judge for the eastern district of Missouri, 1979–1992; president, American Bar Association’s National Conference of Federal Trial Judges, 1985–1986;
• Edwin William Keightley, (LAW: JD 1865) a Congressional Representative from Michigan; appointed and subsequently elected judge of the fifteenth judicial circuit of Michigan in 1876 and served until 1877, having been elected to Congress; elected as a Republican to the Forty-fifth Congress (March 4, 1877-March 3, 1879); appointed by President Hayes Third Auditor of the United States Treasury Department and served from April 30, 1879, to April 30, 1885, when he resigned;
• Mary Beth Kelly (B.A.) is a justice on the Michigan Supreme Court, elected in November, 2010.
• Moses Pierce Kinkaid, (LAW: JD 1876) a Congressional Representative from Nebraska; member of the State senate in 1883; district judge 1887-1900; elected as a Republican to the Fifty-eighth and to the nine succeeding Congresses and served from March 4, 1903, until his death in Washington, D.C., July 6, 1922; chairman, Committee on Irrigation of Arid Lands (Sixty-sixth and Sixty-seventh Congresses);
• William Lewis, (MDNG) a Congressional Representative from Kentucky; studied law at the University of Kentucky at Lexington and at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor; member of State house of representatives in 1900 and 1901; Commonwealth attorney 1904-1909; circuit judge of the twenty-seventh judicial district of Kentucky 1909-1922 and 1928–1934; elected as a Republican to the Eightieth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of John Marshall Robsion and served from April 24, 1948, to January 3, 1949;
• George A. Malcolm, (LAW: JD 1906) an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines from 1917–1936 and founder of the University of the Philippines College of Law;
• David Mills, (LAW: LLB 1867), was a Canadian Supreme Court judge. He served as Minister of the Interior in the Cabinet of Alexander Mackenzie from 1876 to 1878. Sir Wilfrid Laurier appointed Mills to the Canadian Senate after he lost his Commons seat in 1896, and appointed him to Cabinet as Minister of Justice and Leader of the Government in the Canadian Senate. He resigned from the Senate and Cabinet in 1902. He was appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada on February 8, 1902, and served on the Court for one year until his death in 1903. He published The Present and Future Political Aspects of Canada in 1860 and The Blunders of the Dominion Government in connection with the North-West Territory in 1871.
• US Attorney General & US Supreme Court Justice Frank Murphy (LL.B. 1914)
• Gordon Myse, (LAW: LLB 1960), Judge of the Wisconsin Court of Appeals.
• James Carson Needham, (LAW: JD 1889) a Congressional Representative from California; elected as a Republican to the Fifty-sixth and to the six succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1899-March 3, 1913); appointed judge of the superior court of California January 1, 1919; elected to the same office in 1920 to fill an unexpired term; reelected in 1922 and again in 1926, and served until January 1, 1935;
• Darleen Ortega, (LAW: JD 1989) judge on the Oregon Court of Appeals.
• Samuel Ritter Peters, (LAW: JD 1867) a Congressional Representative from Kansas; mayor of Memphis in 1873; elected a member of the State senate in 1874 and served until his resignation in March 1875; appointed and subsequently elected judge of the ninth judicial district and served from 1875 until 1883, when he resigned; elected as a Republican to the Forty-eighth and to the three succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1883-March 3, 1891); postmaster of Newton 1898-1910; editor of the Newton Daily Kansas-Republican in 1899;
• Rosemary S. Pooler (LAW: JD) (born 1938), is a U.S. federal judge. In 1990, she was appointed as a Justice for the Fifth Judicial District Supreme Court. Four years later, she was appointed to the federal bench by President Bill Clinton, serving from 1994 to 1998, as federal district judge in the Northern District of New York. She received her current appointment as a Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in 1998.
• Joseph Very Quarles, (AB 1966; LAW: JD 1867) a Senator from Wisconsin; mayor of Kenosha 1876; member, State assembly 1879; member, State senate 1880-1882; elected as a Republican to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1899, to March 3, 1905; chairman, Committee on Transportation Routes to the Seaboard (Fifty-sixth Congress), Committee on the Census (Fifty-seventh and Fifty-eighth Congresses); appointed United States district judge for the eastern district of Wisconsin by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1905, and served until his death in Milwaukee, Wis., October 7, 1911;
• Ozora P. Stearns, (AB 1858, LAW: JD 1860) a Senator from Minnesota; mayor of Rochester 1866-1868; served in the Union Army during the Civil War as a lieutenant, and then colonel; elected as a Republican to the United States Senate on January 18, 1871, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Daniel S. Norton and served from January 23 to March 3, 1871; judge of the eleventh judicial district of Minnesota 1874-1895; regent of the University of Minnesota at Minneapolis 1890-1895;
• Justice George Sutherland, United States Supreme Court
• Clifford Taylor (BA 1964) the Chief Justice of Michigan's Supreme Court. Taylor was appointed to the Court in 1997 by Republican Gov. John Engler and was re-elected in 2000 to serve an eight-year term. In 2004, he was first chosen by the justices to serve as Chief Justice. In 1992, Gov. Engler appointed him to the Michigan Court of Appeals where he served until his appointment to the Michigan Supreme Court. Taylor was also the co-author of West Publishing's Michigan Practice Guide on Torts.
• Larry D. Tompson (LAW: 1974), Deputy United States Attorney General.
• Martha Lee Walters (BA 1972), Justice, Oregon Supreme Court
• Carl May Weideman, (MDNG) a Congressional Representative from Michigan; attended the public schools and the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor from 1914 until the outbreak of the First World War; delegate to the Democratic State conventions 1932-1944 and to the Democratic National Convention in 1940; elected as a Democrat to the Seventy-third Congress (March 4, 1933-January 3, 1935); circuit judge for the third judicial circuit of the State of Michigan May 1, 1950-September 15, 1968;