Stephen John Roth (April 21, 1908 – July 11, 1974) was 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 Eastern District of Michigan The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan (in case citations, E.D. Mich.) is the federal district court with jurisdiction over of the eastern half of the Lower Peninsula of the State of Michigan. The Court is based ...

Education and career

Born on April 21, 1908, in

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

, Roth received a

Bachelor of Philosophy Bachelor of Philosophy (BPhil, BPh, or PhB; la, Baccalaureus Philosophiae or ) is the title of an academic degree that usually involves considerable research, either through a thesis or supervised research projects. Unlike many other bachelor's d ...

degree in 1931 from the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic university, Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend, Indiana, South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin fo ...

and a

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Ch ...

in 1935 from the

University of Michigan Law School The University of Michigan Law School (Michigan Law) is the law school of the University of Michigan, a public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Founded in 1859, the school offers Master of Laws (LLM), Master of Comparative Law (MCL ...

. He entered private practice in

Flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and sta ...

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

from 1935 to 1937, and would subsequently return to private practice in Flint from 1939 to 1941, in 1943, from 1945 to 1948, and from 1950 to 1952. He was an assistant prosecutor in Genesee County, Michigan from 1937 to 1938. He was the prosecutor for Genesee County from 1941 to 1942. He served as a second lieutenant in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

from 1942 to 1945. He was the

Attorney General of Michigan The Attorney General of the State of Michigan is the fourth-ranking official in the U.S. state of Michigan. The officeholder is elected statewide in the November general election alongside the governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, m ...

from 1949 to 1950. He was a Judge of the

Michigan Circuit Court The judiciary of Michigan is defined under the Michigan Constitution, law, and regulations as part of the Government of Michigan. The court system consists of the Michigan Supreme Court, the Michigan Court of Appeals as the intermediate appellate c ...

from 1952 to 1962.

Federal judicial service

Roth was nominated by President

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...

on April 19, 1962, to a seat on the

vacated by Judge

John Feikens John Feikens (December 3, 1917 – May 15, 2011) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. Education and career Born December 3, 1917, in Clifton, New Jersey, Feikens received ...

. He 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 May 1, 1962, and received his commission on May 7, 1962. His service ended on July 11, 1974, due to his death.

Milliken v. Bradley

Milliken v. Bradley, 418 U.S. 717 (1974) was a significant case heard by Roth. A suit by the NAACP charging that the

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

, Michigan public school system was racially segregated as a result of official policies was filed against

Michigan Governor The governor of Michigan, is the head of government of Michigan and serves as the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor has a duty to enforce state laws; the power to either approve or veto appropriation bills passed b ...

William Milliken William Grawn Milliken (March 26, 1922 – October 18, 2019) was an American businessman and politician who served as the 44th governor of Michigan. A member of the Republican Party, he is the longest-serving governor in Michigan history, servin ...

. After reviewing the case and concluding the system was segregated, Roth ordered the adoption of a desegregation plan that encompassed eighty-five outlying school districts. The

United States 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 ...

affirmed the metropolitan plan. Decision located at Milliken v. Bradley.

References

Sources

* 1908 births 1974 deaths Michigan state court judges Michigan Attorneys General Judges of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan United States district court judges appointed by John F. Kennedy 20th-century American judges University of Notre Dame alumni University of Michigan Law School alumni United States Army officers Hungarian emigrants to the United States {{US-federal-judge-stub