Bernice Bouie Donald (born September 17, 1951) is an American lawyer and former judge who served as 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. Cou ...

of 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 ...

from 2011 to 2023. She previously served as a United States district judge of the

United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee The United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee (in case citations, W.D. Tenn.) is the federal district court covering the western part of the state of Tennessee. Appeals from the Western District of Tennessee are taken to ...

from 1995 to 2011.

Biography

Donald was born in

DeSoto County, Mississippi DeSoto County is a county located on the northwestern border of the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2010 census, the population was 161,252, making it the third-most populous county in Mississippi. Its county seat is Hernando. DeSoto Cou ...

. She 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 years ...

degree from

University of Memphis } The University of Memphis (UofM) is a public university, public research university in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 1912, the university has an enrollment of more than 22,000 students. The university maintains the Herff College of Engineering ...

in 1974 and a

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 ...

from

University of Memphis School of Law The University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law is an American Bar Association accredited law school and is the only law school in Memphis, Tennessee. The school has been associated with the University of Memphis since the law school's ...

in 1979. She was in private practice in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

from 1979 to 1980, then became a staff attorney of the Employment Law & Economic Development Unit, Memphis Area Legal Services, Tennessee in 1980. Donald was an assistant

public defender A public defender is a lawyer appointed to represent people who otherwise cannot reasonably afford to hire a lawyer to defend themselves in a trial. Several countries provide people with public defenders, including the UK, Hungary and Singapore, ...

for the Shelby County Public Defender's Office, Tennessee from 1980 to 1982. From 1985 to 1988, she was an

adjunct professor An adjunct professor is a type of academic appointment in higher education who does not work at the establishment full-time. The terms of this appointment and the job security of the tenure vary in different parts of the world, however the genera ...

at Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law.

Judicial career

State judicial service

Donald was a judge on Tennessee's General Sessions Criminal Court from 1982 to 1988, also teaching as an

Southwest Tennessee Community College Southwest Tennessee Community College is a public community college in Memphis, Tennessee. As the product of a merger between two colleges in 2000, the school has two campuses in Memphis and several satellite centers. It is operated by the Ten ...

from 1984 to 1989. Donald became a member of

Zeta Phi Beta Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. () is a historically African American sorority. In 1920, five women from Howard University envisioned a sorority that would raise the consciousness of their people, encourage the highest standards of scholastic achie ...

sorority Alpha Eta Zeta chapter (Memphis, Tennessee) in 1983. From 1988 to 1995, she was a United States bankruptcy judge in the Western District of Tennessee.

Federal judicial service

District court service

On December 7, 1995, Donald 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

Odell Horton Odell Horton (May 13, 1929 – February 22, 2006) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee. Education and career Born in Bolivar, Tennessee, Horton served in the United State ...

. She 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 December 22, 1995, and received her commission on December 26, 1995. Her service as a district court judge was terminated on September 8, 2011 when she was elevated to the court of appeals.

Court of appeals service

On December 1, 2010, 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 U ...

nominated Donald for a judgeship on the

to replace Judge

Ronald Lee Gilman Ronald Lee Gilman (born October 16, 1942 in Memphis, Tennessee) is a Senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Education and career Gilman attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology ...

who assumed senior status on November 21, 2010.President Obama Nominates Judge Bernice Bouie Donald for United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
''

whitehouse.gov whitehouse.gov (also simply known as wh.gov) is the official website of the White House and is managed by the Office of Digital Strategy. It was launched on July 29, 1994 by the Clinton administration. The content of the website is in the ...

'' (December 1, 2010). The Senate confirmed Donald on September 6, 2011 by a 96–2 vote.On the Nomination (Confirmation Bernice Bouie Donald, of Tennessee, to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the Sixth Circuit)
''

'' September 6, 2011. She received her commission on September 8, 2011. On September 8, 2022, her successor,

Andre Mathis Andre Bernard Mathis (born 1980) is an American lawyer who is serving as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Education Mathis earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Memphis in 2 ...

, was confirmed by the Senate. Donald assumed

senior status Senior status is a form of semi-retirement for United States federal judges. To qualify, a judge in the Federal judiciary of the United States, federal court system must be at least 65 years old, and the sum of the judge's age and years of servi ...

on September 27, 2022, and retired from active service on January 20, 2023.

Notes

References

* * , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Donald, Bernice B. 1951 births Living people 20th-century American judges 20th-century American women judges 21st-century American judges 21st-century American women judges African-American judges Judges of the United States bankruptcy courts Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit Judges of the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee People from DeSoto County, Mississippi Public defenders Tennessee state court judges United States court of appeals judges appointed by Barack Obama United States district court judges appointed by Bill Clinton University of Memphis faculty University of Memphis alumni