Michael Stephen Kanne (December 21, 1938 – June 16, 2022) was a
United States circuit judge
In the United States, federal judges are judges who serve on courts established under Article Three of the U.S. Constitution. They include the chief justice and the associate justices of the U.S. Supreme Court, the circuit judges of the U.S. ...
of the
United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit (in case citations, 7th Cir.) is the U.S. federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the courts in the following districts:
* Central District of Illinois
* Northern District of ...
and a former United States District Judge of the
.
Education and career
Born in
Rensselaer,
Indiana
Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...
, Kanne received a
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years.
The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...
degree from
Indiana University Bloomington
Indiana University Bloomington (IU Bloomington, Indiana University, IU, or simply Indiana) is a public research university in Bloomington, Indiana. It is the flagship campus of Indiana University and, with over 40,000 students, its largest ca ...
in 1962. He served as a lieutenant in the
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...
from 1962 to 1965. He then received a
Juris Doctor from
Indiana University Maurer School of Law in 1968.
He was in private practice in Rensselaer, Indiana from 1968 to 1972, working as a city attorney for the City of Rensselaer in 1972. He was a judge on the 30th Judicial Circuit of Indiana from 1972 to 1982, and was a lecturer at
St. Joseph's College from 1976 to 1989, and at
St. Francis College in
Fort Wayne, Indiana, from 1990 to 1991.
Federal judicial service
On December 4, 1981, Kanne was nominated by
President
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*President (corporate title)
* President (education), a leader of a college or university
* President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
Ronald Reagan to a seat on the
vacated by Judge
Phil McClellan McNagny Jr. Kanne was confirmed by 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 ...
on February 8, 1982, and received his commission on February 9, 1982.
During a prosecution of the
New Chicago Chief of Police
Chief may refer to:
Title or rank
Military and law enforcement
* Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force
* Chief of police, the head of a police department
* Chief of the b ...
in Kanne's court, he quipped that New Chicago is the "most corrupt square mile in America." His service terminated on May 21, 1987, due to elevation to the court of appeals.
On February 2, 1987, Reagan nominated Kanne to a seat on the
United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit (in case citations, 7th Cir.) is the U.S. federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the courts in the following districts:
* Central District of Illinois
* Northern District of ...
vacated by Judge
Jesse E. Eschbach. Kanne was confirmed by the United States Senate on May 19, 1987, and received his commission on May 20, 1987.
On June 7, 2017, Representative
Louie Gohmert
Louis Buller Gohmert Jr. (; born August 18, 1953) is an American attorney, politician, and former jurist serving as the U.S. representative from Texas's 1st congressional district since 2005. Gohmert is a Republican and was part of the Tea P ...
(Texas Dist. 1) noted Kanne's conservative judicial philosophy, stating that: "There are only two reliable
originalists on the court, Michael Kanne and
Diane S. Sykes."
In February 2018, Kanne announced his intention to assume senior status upon the confirmation of a successor, provided that said successor would be one of his former
law clerks, Indiana
Solicitor General Tom Fisher. However, President
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...
ultimately declined to nominate Fisher following internal opposition from
Vice President
A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on ...
Mike Pence; as a result, Kanne rescinded his decision to assume senior status in May 2018, instead opting to remain as an active judge.
Kanne remained in active service until his death on June 16, 2022.
Notable cases
In December 2017, Kanne supported the 4–3 en banc decision to reverse an earlier federal magistrate judgement that a confession had been unlawfully coerced from 16-year-old
Brendan Dassey. The dissenting opinion described this decision as 'a travesty of justice'.
On August 27, 2019, Kanne dissented when
David F. Hamilton and
Ilana Rovner
Ilana Kara Diamond Rovner (born August 21, 1938) is a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Rovner was the first woman appointed to the Seventh Circuit. She was previously a United States distr ...
blocked a parental notification requirement for abortions in Indiana. The 7th circuit denied rehearing 6–5 on November 1, 2019, with Kanne dissenting again, joined by
Joel Flaum,
Amy Coney Barrett
Amy Vivian Coney Barrett (born January 28, 1972) is an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. The fifth woman to serve on the court, she was nominated by President Donald Trump and has served since October 27, 2020. ...
,
Michael B. Brennan
Michael Brian Brennan (born 1963) is a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. He was first nominated on August 3, 2017, by President Donald Trump, and was re-nominated in 2018. He was confir ...
, and
Michael Y. Scudder.
Frank Easterbrook
Frank Hoover Easterbrook (born September 3, 1948) is an American lawyer, jurist, and legal scholar who has served as a United States circuit judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit since 1985. He was the Seventh Circuit's chief ...
wrote a concurrence calling on the Supreme Court to take up the case.
References
External links
*
* Kanne, Michael (October 10, 1995)
Architecture. A room with a view to do justice ''The Lawyer (UK)''.
Oral argument before Michael Kanne(video 1:09 mins), in ''USA v. Randy Johnson''. November 30, 2016. C-Span.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kanne, Michael Stephen
1938 births
2022 deaths
20th-century American judges
Indiana state court judges
Indiana University Bloomington alumni
Indiana University Maurer School of Law alumni
Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
Judges of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana
Military personnel from Indiana
People from Rensselaer, Indiana
United States Air Force officers
United States court of appeals judges appointed by Ronald Reagan
United States district court judges appointed by Ronald Reagan