Joan Louise Larsen (born December 1, 1968) is an American attorney serving 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. ...

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 ...

. She previously was an associate justice of the

Michigan Supreme Court The Michigan Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is Michigan's court of last resort and consists of seven justices. The Court is located in the Michigan Hall of Justice at 925 Ottawa Street in Lansing, the sta ...

from 2015 to 2017.

Early life and education

Larsen was born on December 1, 1968, in

Waterloo, Iowa Waterloo is a city in and the county seat of Black Hawk County, Iowa, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census the population was 67,314, making it the eighth-largest city in the state. The city is part of the Waterloo – Cedar Falls ...

. She earned her

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 ...

from the

University of Northern Iowa The University of Northern Iowa (UNI) is a public university in Cedar Falls, Iowa. UNI offers more than 90 majors across the colleges of Business Administration, Education, Humanities, Arts, and Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences and gr ...

and received her Juris Doctor from the

Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law is the law school of Northwestern University, a private research university. It is located on the university's Chicago campus. Northwestern Law has been ranked among the top 14, or "T14" law scho ...

, where she graduated first in her class in 1993. While at Northwestern, she served as articles editor of the ''

Northwestern University Law Review The ''Northwestern University Law Review'' is a law review and student organization at Northwestern University School of Law. The ''Law Review''s primary purpose is to publish a journal of broad legal scholarship. The ''Law Review'' publishes s ...

''.

Career

Larsen became a professor at 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 ...

in 1998. She clerked for Judge David B. Sentelle of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and for Justice Antonin Scalia of the

U.S. 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 ...

during the 1994 term. She served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the

U.S. Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United State ...

Office of Legal Counsel The Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) is an office in the United States Department of Justice that assists the Attorney General's position as legal adviser to the President and all executive branch agencies. It drafts legal opinions of the Attorney ...

from January 2002 to May 2003 in the administration of President

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

. Larsen did not contribute to the OLC's

Torture Memos A set of legal memoranda known as the "Torture Memos" (officially the Memorandum Regarding Military Interrogation of Alien Unlawful Combatants Held Outside The United States) were drafted by John Yoo as Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the ...

, and in March 2002 she authored a memo addressing detainee court access.

Michigan Supreme Court

On October 1, 2015, Larsen was appointed to the

by Governor Rick Snyder to replace Justice

Mary Beth Kelly Mary Beth Kelly is a lawyer and former justice of the Michigan Supreme Court. She was elected on November 2, 2010 and took office on January 1, 2011 for an eight-year term that ended on January 1, 2019.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 ...

's May 2016 list of potential Supreme Court justices. Her service was terminated due to her appointment to the

Federal judicial service

On May 8, 2017, 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 ...

nominated Larsen to serve as a United States Circuit Judge of the

, to the seat soon to be vacated by Judge David McKeague. Larsen's nomination was held up for months by Michigan's Senators,

Debbie Stabenow Deborah Ann Stabenow ( ; née Greer, born April 29, 1950) is an American politician serving as the senior United States senator from Michigan, a seat she has held since 2001. A member of the Democratic Party, she became the state's first female ...

and

Gary Peters Gary Charles Peters Sr. (born December 1, 1958) is an American lawyer, politician, and former military officer serving as the junior United States senator from Michigan since 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the U.S. representa ...

. The two Democrats initially refused to return their

blue slip Blue slip or blue-slipping refers to two distinct legislative procedures in the United States Congress. In the House of Representatives, it is the rejection slip given to tax and spending bills sent to it by the Senate that did not originate in ...

s for Larsen, an informal

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 ...

practice that essentially gives Senators veto power over federal judicial nominees from their home state. Larsen met separately with Peters and Stabenow on July 26, 2017. Stabenow and Peters both returned blue slips in August 2017, allowing Larsen's hearing to move forward. A hearing on Larsen's nomination before the

Senate Judiciary Committee The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, informally the Senate Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of 22 U.S. senators whose role is to oversee the Department of Justice (DOJ), consider executive and judicial nominations ...

was held on September 6, 2017. On October 5, 2017, the Judiciary Committee voted on an 11–9 vote to recommend her to the full Senate for a confirmation vote. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell filed a

cloture Cloture (, also ), closure or, informally, a guillotine, is a motion or process in parliamentary procedure aimed at bringing debate to a quick end. The cloture procedure originated in the French National Assembly, from which the name is taken. ' ...

motion to limit debate on Larsen's nomination on October 26, 2017, clearing the path for the full Senate to vote on Larsen's nomination in the first week of November 2017. On October 31, 2017, the Senate voted to invoke cloture on Larsen's nomination by a 60–38 vote, with Stabenow and Peters voting to proceed with the nomination and give Larsen a final up-or-down vote. On November 1, 2017, Larsen was confirmed by a 60–38 vote. Both Stabenow and Peters, along with six other Senate Democrats, joined all 52 Senate Republicans voting to confirm Larsen. She received her commission on November 2, 2017.

Electoral history

;2016

References

External links

* * *
Questionnaire for Judicial Nominees
for the

United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, informally the Senate Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of 22 U.S. senators whose role is to oversee the Department of Justice (DOJ), consider executive and judicial nominations ...

Contributor profile
from the

Federalist Society The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies (abbreviated as FedSoc) is an American conservative and libertarian legal organization that advocates for a textualist and originalist interpretation of the U.S. Constitution. Headquarter ...

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Larsen, Joan 1968 births Living people 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century American lawyers 21st-century American judges Federalist Society members Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit Law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States Michigan lawyers Michigan Republicans Justices of the Michigan Supreme Court Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law alumni People from Cedar Falls, Iowa People from Waterloo, Iowa American scholars of constitutional law United States court of appeals judges appointed by Donald Trump United States Department of Justice lawyers University of Michigan faculty University of Northern Iowa alumni Women legal scholars 20th-century American women lawyers 21st-century American women lawyers 21st-century American women judges