Richard Lee Young (born January 3, 1953) is a

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...

of the

United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana The United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana (in case citations, S.D. Ind.) is a federal district court in Indiana. It was created in 1928 by an act of Congress that split Indiana into two separate districts, northern an ...

Education and career

Born in Davenport,

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to th ...

, Young 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 from

Drake University Drake University is a private university in Des Moines, Iowa. It offers undergraduate and graduate programs, including professional programs in business, law, and pharmacy. Drake's law school is among the 25 oldest in the United States. His ...

in 1975 and a Juris Doctor from

George Mason University School of Law The Antonin Scalia Law School (previously George Mason University School of Law) is the law school of George Mason University, a public research university in Virginia. It is located in Arlington, Virginia, roughly west of Washington, D.C., a ...

in 1980. He was in private practice in

Evansville Evansville is a city in, and the county seat of, Vanderburgh County, Indiana, United States. The population was 118,414 at the 2020 census, making it the state's third-most populous city after Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, the largest city in ...

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 ...

from 1980 to 1990, also serving as a public defender (part-time) for the Vanderburgh Circuit Court from 1983 to 1985, and as corporation counsel to the City of Evansville, from 1985 to 1987. He was a circuit judge of the Vanderburgh Circuit Court from 1990 to 1998.

Federal judicial service

On July 15, 1997, Young was nominated by President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

to a seat on the

vacated by Gene Edward Brooks. Young 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 ...

in an 81-0 vote on March 2, 1998, and received his commission on March 6, 1998. He served as Chief Judge from 2009 to 2016. On June 25, 2014, Judge Young struck down Indiana's ban on same-sex marriage without issuing a stay of his ruling. This ruling was affirmed by 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 review was denied by 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 ...

. In 2021, Judge Young ruled in favor of Roncalli High School after they dismissed a guidance counselor in a same-sex marriage ruling that guidance counselors at a religious school fall under the "

ministerial exception The ministerial exception, sometimes known as the "ecclesiastical exception," is a legal doctrine in the United States barring the application of anti-discrimination laws to religious institutions' employment relationships with its "ministers." As ...

" from discrimination based on

sexual orientation Sexual orientation is an enduring pattern of romantic or sexual attraction (or a combination of these) to persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or to both sexes or more than one gender. These attractions are generall ...

in employment cases.

References

Sources

* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Young, Richard L. 1953 births 20th-century American judges 21st-century American judges Antonin Scalia Law School alumni Drake University alumni Judges of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana Living people People from Davenport, Iowa Public defenders United States district court judges appointed by Bill Clinton