Alice M. Moore Batchelder (born August 15, 1944) is an American attorney and jurist. She is currently a senior

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 served as chief judge from 2009 until 2014. She also was considered 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 ...

as a potential nominee for a

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 ...

seat that ultimately went to Justice Samuel Alito. Her husband William G. Batchelder was a former state Court of Appeals judge and a state legislator, who had served more than 30 years in the

Ohio House of Representatives The Ohio House of Representatives is the lower house of the Ohio General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio; the other house of the bicameral legislature being the Ohio Senate. The House of Representatives first met in Ch ...

and served as Speaker of the House from 2011 until 2014.

Education and early career

Batchelder was born Alice Moore in Wilmington,

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

. She graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University in 1964, where she met her future husband, William G. Batchelder. Batchelder received her Juris Doctor degree from the

University of Akron School of Law The University of Akron School of Law is the law school at the University of Akron in Akron, Ohio, USA. Offering both the J.D. and LL.M. degrees, it was founded in 1921 as the Akron School of Law and merged with the University of Akron in 195 ...

in 1971, and her

Master of Laws A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is an advanced postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in a related subject. In mos ...

(LL.M.) degree from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1988. Batchelder briefly taught

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

and had a private legal practice from 1971 to 1983 in

Medina Medina,, ', "the radiant city"; or , ', (), "the city" officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (, , Turkish: Medine-i Münevvere) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (, ), is the second-holiest city in Islam, and the capital of the ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

, near

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

Federal judicial service

Bankruptcy court service

In 1983, Batchelder was appointed a Judge of the

United States bankruptcy court United States bankruptcy courts are courts created under Article I of the United States Constitution. The current system of bankruptcy courts was created by the United States Congress in 1978, effective April 1, 1984. United States bankruptcy c ...

for the Northern District of Ohio. Her service as a bankruptcy judge ended on April 4, 1985 when she was elevated to district judge.

District court service

On February 28, 1985, President Ronald Reagan nominated Batchelder to a seat, created by 98 Stat. 333, on the

United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two f ...

. 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 April 3, 1985. She received her commission on April 4, 1985. Batchelder's service on the district court position was officially terminated on January 4, 1992, due to her elevation to the Sixth Circuit Court.

Court of appeals service

On June 12, 1991, President George H. W. Bush nominated Batchelder to the

to the seat vacated by

Pierce Lively Franklin Pierce Lively (August 17, 1921 – March 12, 2016) was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Education and career Born in Louisville, Kentucky, Lively received an Artium Baccalaureus ...

. She was confirmed by the Senate on November 27, 1991. She received her commission on December 2, 1991. On August 14, 2009, she became Chief Judge of the Sixth Circuit. She stepped down as chief judge on August 15, 2014, upon turning 70. On September 19, 2017, she announced that she intended to assume

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 ...

upon confirmation of a successor. She assumed senior status on March 7, 2019 when her successor, Eric E. Murphy, was confirmed by the

References

External links

* * , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Batchelder, Alice Moore 1944 births 20th-century 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 Northern District of Ohio Living people Ohio lawyers Ohio Wesleyan University alumni People from Wilmington, Delaware United States court of appeals judges appointed by George H. W. Bush United States district court judges appointed by Ronald Reagan University of Akron alumni University of Virginia School of Law alumni 20th-century American women judges