Jeffrey Stuart Sutton (born October 31, 1960) is an American lawyer and jurist serving as the
chief circuit judge of the
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (in case citations, 6th Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:
* Eastern District of Kentucky
* Western District of ...
.
Early life and career
Sutton received a
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...
degree in
history
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...
from
Williams College
Williams College is a private liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams, a colonist from the Province of Massachusetts Bay who was kill ...
in 1983.
Sutton worked as a
paralegal in
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
and spent a summer at an archaeological dig site in
Jordan
Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...
as part of a
U.S. Department of State
The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other ...
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
Gahanna ( ) is a city situated in northeast Franklin County, Ohio, Franklin County, Ohio, United States. It is a suburb of Columbus, Ohio, Columbus. The population was 35,726 at the United States Census 2020, 2020 census. It was founded in 1849. ...
.
Sutton received his
Juris Doctor from
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...
's
Moritz College of Law
The Michael E. Moritz College of Law is the professional graduate law school of the Ohio State University, a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. Founded in 1891, the school is located in Drinko Hall on the main campus of the ...
in 1990. He then
clerked for judge
Thomas Meskill
Thomas Joseph Meskill Jr. (January 30, 1928 – October 29, 2007) was a longtime United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He previously served as the 82nd governor of Connecticut, as a United St ...
of the
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (in case citations, 2d Cir.) is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. Its territory comprises the states of Connecticut, New York and Vermont. The court has appellate juri ...
from 1990 to 1991. Next he clerked at the
United States Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
from 1991 to 1992, primarily working under
Antonin Scalia, who later said Sutton was "one of the very best law clerks
eever had", as well as for
Lewis F. Powell Jr.
Lewis Franklin Powell Jr. (September 19, 1907 – August 25, 1998) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1972 to 1987.
Born in Suffolk, Virginia, he graduat ...
, 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
The Solicitor General of Ohio, Ohio Solicitor General, State Solicitor of Ohio, or Ohio State Solicitor is the top appellate solicitor or lawyer for the U.S. State of Ohio. It is an appointed position in the Office of the Ohio Attorney General ...
from 1995 to 1998. He has also served as an adjunct professor of law at the
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...
Moritz College of Law
The Michael E. Moritz College of Law is the professional graduate law school of the Ohio State University, a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. Founded in 1891, the school is located in Drinko Hall on the main campus of the ...
since 1994 and more recently as a visiting lecturer at
Harvard Law School. He teaches state constitutional law, a subject in which he is particularly interested and about which he has written extensively.
Federal judicial service
Sutton was first nominated by President
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
on May 9, 2001, to a seat on the Sixth Circuit vacated by
David A. Nelson, who assumed
senior status
Senior status is a form of semi- retirement for United States federal judges. To qualify, a judge in the federal court system must be at least 65 years old, and the sum of the judge's age and years of service as a federal judge must be at leas ...
on October 1, 1999. That nomination, made during the
107th United States Congress, never received a floor vote in the
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and pow ...
. Sutton was not confirmed until almost two years later, on April 29, 2003, when the Senate of the
108th United States Congress
The 108th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives from January 3, 2003 to January 3, 2005, during ...
voted 52–41 in favor of his confirmation to the Sixth Circuit. He received his commission on May 5, 2003. He became Chief Judge on May 1, 2021.
Notable opinions
In 2007, Sutton dissented in part when the Sixth Circuit held that a police officer did not have
qualified immunity
In the United States, qualified immunity is a legal principle that grants government officials performing discretionary (optional) functions immunity from civil suits unless the plaintiff shows that the official violated "clearly established statu ...
for arresting a speaker for using foul language at a town meeting. 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
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...
's
Health Care law.
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
to uphold same-sex marriage bans after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a portion of the
Defense of Marriage Act
The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was a United States federal law passed by the 104th United States Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton. It banned federal recognition of same-sex marriage by limiting the definition of marr ...
in ''
United States v. Windsor
''United States v. Windsor'', 570 U.S. 744 (2013), is a landmark United States Supreme Court civil rights case concerning same-sex marriage. The Court held that Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which denied federal recognition o ...
'' 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
In law, ''certiorari'' is a court process to seek judicial review of a decision of a lower court or government agency. ''Certiorari'' comes from the name of an English prerogative writ, issued by a superior court to direct that the record of ...
to review same-sex marriage bans when it previously declined to do so. In ''
Obergefell v. Hodges
''Obergefell v. Hodges'', ( ), is a landmark LGBT rights case in which the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the fundamental right to marry is guaranteed to same-sex couples by both the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protect ...
'' the Supreme Court reversed the decision of the Sixth Circuit.
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.
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.
Other views
On a
podcast
A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosin ...
with
Harvard Law School professor
Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...
Noah Feldman
Noah R. Feldman (born May 22, 1970) is an American academic and legal scholar. He is the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and chairman of the Society of Fellows at Harvard University. He is the author of 10 books, host of ...
, Judge Sutton, a
conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
originalist
In the context of United States law, originalism is a theory of constitutional interpretation that asserts that all statements in the Constitution must be interpreted based on the original understanding "at the time it was adopted". This conc ...
, expressed the view that the
United States Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
's December 2000 decision in ''
Bush v. Gore
''Bush v. Gore'', 531 U.S. 98 (2000), was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court on December 12, 2000, that settled a recount dispute in Florida's 2000 presidential election between George W. Bush and Al Gore. On December 8, th ...
'' was wrongly decided.
Published works
*''51 Imperfect Solutions: States and the Making of American Constitutional Law'' (Oxford Univ. Press 2018).
''The Certiorari Process and State Court Decisions'' 131 Harv. L. Rev. F. 167 (2018) (with Brittany Jones).
''Courts as Change Agents: Do We Want More — Or Less?'' 127 Harv. L. Rev. 1419 (2014).
Barnette'', Frankfurter, and Judicial Review'' 96 Marq. L. Rev. 133 (2012).
''What Does—and Does Not—Ail State Constitutional Law'' 59 U. Kan. L. Rev. 687 (2011).
*State Constitutional Law: The Modern Experience (2010) (with Randy J. Holland, Stephen R. McAllister, and Jeffrey M. Shaman).
''A Review of Richard A. Posner ''How Judges Think'' (2008)'' 108 Mich. L. Rev. 859 (2010).
''The Role of History in Judging Disputes About the Meaning of the Constitution'' 41 Tex. Tech L. Rev. 1173 (2009).
*''Why Teach—And Why Study—State Constitutional Law'', 34 Okla. City U. L. Rev. 165 (2009).
San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez ''and its Aftermath'' 94 Va. L. Rev. 1963 (2008).
''An Appellate Perspective on Federal Sentencing After'' Booker ''and'' Rita 85 Denv. U. L. Rev. 79 (2007).
See also
*
*
References
External links
*
Appearances at the U.S. Supreme Courtfrom the
Oyez Project
The Oyez Project at the Illinois Institute of Technology's Chicago-Kent College of Law is an unofficial online multimedia archive of the Supreme Court of the United States, especially audio of oral arguments. The website "aims to be a complete a ...
, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sutton, Jeffrey
1960 births
Living people
20th-century American lawyers
21st-century American lawyers
21st-century American judges
Jones Day people
Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
Law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States
Ohio State University Moritz College of Law alumni
People from Dhahran
Solicitors General of Ohio
United States court of appeals judges appointed by George W. Bush
Williams College alumni