Richard Fred Suhrheinrich (born August 15, 1936) is a Senior United States circuit judge 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 ...

serving in

Lansing Lansing () is the capital of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is mostly in Ingham County, although portions of the city extend west into Eaton County and north into Clinton County. The 2020 census placed the city's population at 112,644, maki ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and t ...

He had been a United States district judge 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 in

Lincoln City, Indiana Lincoln City is an unincorporated community in Carter Township, Spencer County in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Indiana. It lies five minutes south of Interstate 64, northeast of Evansville, and approximately twenty miles north of t ...

, Suhrheinrich earned his

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...

degree in 1960 from

Wayne State University Wayne State University (WSU) is a public research university in Detroit, Michigan. It is Michigan's third-largest university. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 350 programs to nearly 25,000 ...

, his

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 l ...

with honors in 1963 from the Detroit College of Law (now Michigan State University College of Law) and his

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 mo ...

in 1990 from the

University of Virginia School of Law The University of Virginia School of Law (Virginia Law or UVA Law) is the law school of the University of Virginia, a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson as part of his "academical v ...

. Suhrheinrich was an assistant

prosecutor A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the case in a criminal tria ...

for

Macomb County, Michigan Macomb County ( ) is a county located in the eastern portion of the U.S. state of Michigan, bordering Lake St. Clair, and is part of northern Metro Detroit. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 881,217, making it the third-most populous c ...

in 1967 and was an associate

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professo ...

of law at the Detroit College of Law from 1975-85. He co-founded, with Richard Kitch, the law firm Kitch & Suhrheinrich. The firm originally specialized in

medical malpractice Medical malpractice is a legal cause of action that occurs when a medical or health care professional, through a negligent act or omission, deviates from standards in their profession, thereby causing injury or death to a patient. The neglige ...

defense. Now the Kitch firm, the firm has since grown into a full-service law firm with seven offices throughout Michigan, Ohio, and Illinois. Currently, Suhrheinrich is a Distinguished Jurist & Professor at the

Western Michigan University Cooley Law School Western Michigan University Cooley Law School ("Cooley") is a private law school in Lansing, Michigan and Riverview, Florida. It was established in 1972. At its peak in 2010, Cooley had over 3,900 students and was the largest US law school by en ...

teaching various legal courses.

Federal judicial service

Suhrheinrich was nominated by President

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

on September 6, 1984, to a seat on the

vacated by Judge R. James Harvey. 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 po ...

on October 3, 1984, and received commission on October 4, 1984. His service terminated on July 13, 1990, due to elevation to the Sixth Circuit. He was succeeded by Judge

Nancy Garlock Edmunds Nancy Garlock Edmunds (born 1947) is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. Education and career Born in Detroit, Michigan, Edmunds received a Bachelor of Arts degree fro ...

. Suhrheinrich was nominated by President George H. W. Bush on April 18, 1990, to a seat on the

vacated by Judge Albert J. Engel Jr. He was confirmed by the Senate on June 28, 1990, and received commission on July 10, 1990. 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 August 15, 2001 and was succeeded by Judge

David McKeague David William McKeague (born November 5, 1946) is a Senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Education and career McKeague received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Mic ...

Notable case

He made national news on December 22, 2005, when he authored ''ACLU v. Mercer County'', in which an appeals panel of the Sixth Circuit unanimously upheld the continued display of the

Ten Commandments The Ten Commandments (Biblical Hebrew עשרת הדברים \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים, ''aséret ha-dvarím'', lit. The Decalogue, The Ten Words, cf. Mishnaic Hebrew עשרת הדיברות \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדִּבְ ...

in a

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

courthouse. In his opinion, Suhrheinrich stated that the

United States Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven articles, it delineates the natio ...

does not demand "a wall of

separation between church and state The separation of church and state is a philosophical and jurisprudential concept for defining political distance in the relationship between religious organizations and the state. Conceptually, the term refers to the creation of a secular stat ...

," denying a claim by the

ACLU The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". ...

. In addition, he criticized the ACLU's "repeated references to the 'separation of church and state'", stating that "this extra-constitutional construct has grown tiresome." Judge

Alice M. Batchelder Alice M. Moore Batchelder (born August 15, 1944) is an American attorney and jurist. She is currently a senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. She served as chief judge from 2009 until 20 ...

joined in the opinion, while District Judge Walter Herbert Rice merely concurred in the decision but not the opinion.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Suhrheinrich, Richard Fred 1936 births 20th-century American judges 20th-century American lawyers American prosecutors Detroit College of Law alumni Detroit College of Law faculty Indiana lawyers Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit Judges of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan Living people People from Spencer County, Indiana United States court of appeals judges appointed by George H. W. Bush United States district court judges appointed by Ronald Reagan University of Virginia School of Law alumni Wayne State University alumni