Michael John Streit (born 1950) is former justice of the

Iowa Supreme Court The Iowa Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of Iowa. The Court is composed of a Chief Justice and six Associate Justices. The Court holds its regular sessions in Des Moines in the Iowa Judicial Branch Building located at 1111 E ...

Education

Streit was born and raised in Sheldon, Iowa. He received his

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in economics from the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is org ...

in 1972, and his

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

degree from the

University of San Diego School of Law The University of San Diego School of Law (USD Law) is the law school of the University of San Diego, a private Roman Catholic research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1954, the law school has held ABA approval since 1961. It ...

in 1975. In law school, he was the editor in chief of the

San Diego Law Review The University of San Diego School of Law (USD Law) is the law school of the University of San Diego, a private Roman Catholic research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1954, the law school has held ABA approval since 1961. It j ...

Legal and judicial career

After graduating from law school, Streit practiced law at Moore & Shelton in Chariton, Iowa until 1983. In that time, Streit also served as the Lucas County attorney. 1983, Streit was appointed to the Iowa District Court by

Terry Branstad Terry Edward Branstad (born November 17, 1946) is an American politician and former diplomat. A member of the Republican Party, he served three terms in the Iowa House of Representatives from 1973 to 1979 before serving as governor of Iowa fro ...

. Branstad then appointed Streit to the

Iowa Court of Appeals The Iowa Court of Appeals is the intermediate-level appellate court of the state of Iowa. Its purpose is to review appeals from trial court decisions which are referred to the court by the Iowa Supreme Court. The court decides the vast majority of ...

in 1986. In 2001,

Tom Vilsack Thomas James Vilsack (; born December 13, 1950) is an American politician serving as the 32nd United States Secretary of Agriculture in the Biden administration. He previously served in the role from 2009 to 2017 during the Obama administration. ...

appointed Streit to the Iowa Supreme Court. In 1992, Streit founded the Iowa Judicial Institute. In 2010, Streit lost a retention vote along with

David L. Baker David L. Baker was a justice of the Iowa Supreme Court from 2008 to December 31, 2010. Justice Baker attended undergraduate and law school at the University of Iowa, receiving his bachelor's degree in 1975 with Honors in Sociology and his Juris Do ...

and

Marsha Ternus Marsha K. Ternus is an American lawyer who served as a justice of the Iowa Supreme Court from September 7, 1993, to December 31, 2010. As a Justice, Ternus was part of the unanimous Iowa Supreme Court ruling legally recognizing same-sex marriage i ...

after a campaign against the Iowa Supreme Court's decision in ''

Varnum v. Brien ''Varnum v. Brien'', 763 N.W.2d 862 (Iowa 2009), was an Iowa Supreme Court case in which the Court unanimously held that the state's limitation of marriage to opposite-sex couples violated the equal protection clause of the Iowa Constitution. The ...

'', which struck down a statutory

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same Legal sex and gender, sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being ...

ban as unconstitutional. In 2012, Streit received a

Profile in Courage Award The Profile in Courage Award is a private award given to recognize displays of courage similar to those John F. Kennedy originally described in his book of the same name. It is given to individuals (often elected officials) who, by acting in acco ...

from the

John F. Kennedy Library Foundation The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum is the presidential library and museum of John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917–1963), the 35th president of the United States (1961–1963). It is located on Columbia Point in the Dorchester neighb ...

. He has also received the Distinguished Alumni Award from the

University of San Diego The University of San Diego (USD) is a private Roman Catholic research university in San Diego, California. Chartered in July 1949 as the independent San Diego College for Women and San Diego University (comprising the College for Men and Schoo ...

and served on the Board of Counselors of Drake University Law School. After leaving the bench, Streit practiced law at Ahlers & Cooney in

Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines, ...

from 2011 to 2018, then at Sullivan & Ward P.C. in

West Des Moines West Des Moines is a city in Polk, Dallas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the ...

from 2018 to the present. He practices

mediation Mediation is a structured, interactive process where an impartial third party neutral assists disputing parties in resolving conflict through the use of specialized communication and negotiation techniques. All participants in mediation are ...

arbitration Arbitration is a form of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) that resolves disputes outside the judiciary courts. The dispute will be decided by one or more persons (the 'arbitrators', 'arbiters' or 'arbitral tribunal'), which renders the ' ...

, and

litigation - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil actio ...

. Justice Streit is married and has one son.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Streit, Michael Living people Iowa state court judges Justices of the Iowa Supreme Court University of San Diego School of Law alumni University of Iowa alumni People from Sheldon, Iowa 1950 births People from Johnston, Iowa People from Chariton, Iowa