William C. Griesbach (born January 24, 1954) is a senior judge and former chief judge of the

United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin (in case citations, E.D. Wis.) is a federal trial court of limited jurisdiction. The court is under the auspices of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, ...

. He was appointed to the federal court in 2002, by 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 ...

, after having served seven years as a

Wisconsin circuit court The Wisconsin circuit courts are the general trial courts in the state of Wisconsin. There are currently 69 circuits in the state, divided into 10 judicial administrative districts. Circuit court judges hear and decide both civil and criminal cas ...

judge in Brown County.

Education and career

Born in

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

, Griesbach 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

Marquette University Marquette University () is a private Jesuit research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Established by the Society of Jesus as Marquette College on August 28, 1881, it was founded by John Martin Henni, the first Bishop of the diocese of M ...

in 1976 and a Juris Doctor from

Marquette University Law School Marquette University Law School is the professional graduate law school of Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It is one of two law schools in Wisconsin and the only private law school in the state. Founded in 1892 as the Milwaukee Law ...

in 1979. He was a law clerk to Judge Bruce F. Beilfuss,

Wisconsin Supreme Court The Wisconsin Supreme Court is the highest appellate court in Wisconsin. The Supreme Court has jurisdiction over original actions, appeals from lower courts, and regulation or administration of the practice of law in Wisconsin. Location The Wi ...

from 1979 to 1980. He was a staff attorney of

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 ...

from 1980 to 1982, thereafter entering private practice in

from 1982 to 1987. He was an assistant district attorney in Brown County, Wisconsin, from 1987 to 1995, and a judge on the Brown County Circuit Court from 1995 to 2002.

District court service

On January 23, 2002, Griesbach was nominated by President

to a seat on the

. This was a new seat created by . 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 April 25, 2002, and received his commission on May 1, 2002. He became Chief Judge on October 31, 2012, and served a 7-year term until October 31, 2019. He assumed

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

on December 31, 2019.

Notable case

In November 2016, Griesbach dissented when Circuit Judge

Kenneth Francis Ripple Kenneth Francis Ripple (born May 19, 1943) is a Senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Education and career Ripple was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He received an Artium Baccalaure ...

, joined by District Judge

Barbara Brandriff Crabb Barbara Brandriff Crabb (born March 17, 1939) is a Senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin. Education and career Born in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Crabb received a Bachelor of A ...

, found that the high number of

wasted vote In electoral systems, a wasted vote is any vote which is not for an elected candidate or, more broadly, a vote that does not help to elect a candidate. The narrower meaning includes ''lost votes'', being only those votes which are for a losing candi ...

s created by the 2011

Wisconsin State Assembly The Wisconsin State Assembly is the lower house of the Wisconsin Legislature. Together with the smaller Wisconsin Senate, the two constitute the legislative branch of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Representatives are elected for two-year terms, ...

redistricting was unconstitutional partisan

gerrymandering In representative democracies, gerrymandering (, originally ) is the political manipulation of electoral district boundaries with the intent to create undue advantage for a party, group, or socioeconomic class within the constituency. The m ...

. The opinion was vacated and remanded by the United States Supreme Court on June 18, 2018.

References

External links

* * * , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Griesbach, William C. 1954 births Living people Lawyers from Milwaukee Marquette University alumni Marquette University Law School alumni Wisconsin state court judges Judges of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin United States district court judges appointed by George W. Bush 21st-century American judges