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

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

United States circuit judge In the United States, a federal judge is a judge who serves on a court established under Article Three of the U.S. Constitution. Often called "Article III judges", federal judges include the chief justice and associate justices of the U.S. Su ...

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 K ...

. 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 and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

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 turn on question ...

seat that ultimately went to

Justice Samuel Alito Samuel Anthony Alito Jr. ( ; born April 1, 1950) is an American jurist who serves as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was Samuel Alito Supreme Court ...

. 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 ...

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

Education and early career

Batchelder was born Alice Moore in

Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington is the List of municipalities in Delaware, most populous city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish colonization of the Americas, Swedish settlement in North America. It lie ...

. She graduated from

Ohio Wesleyan University Ohio Wesleyan University (abbrevriated OWU) is a private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Delaware, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1842 by Methodist leaders and Ohio Valley, Centra ...

in 1964, where she met her future husband, William G. Batchelder. Batchelder received her

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

degree from the

University of Akron School of Law University of Akron School of Law is the law school at the University of Akron in Akron, Ohio. Offering both Juris Doctor and Master of Laws degrees, it was founded in 1921 as the Akron School of Law and merged with the University of Akron in ...

in 1971, and her

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

(LL.M.) degree from the

University of Virginia School of Law The University of Virginia School of Law (Virginia Law) is the law school of the University of Virginia, a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded by Thomas Jefferson in 1819 as part of his "academical village", and now ...

in 1988. Batchelder briefly taught

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

and had a private legal practice from 1971 to 1983 in

Medina Medina, officially al-Madinah al-Munawwarah (, ), also known as Taybah () and known in pre-Islamic times as Yathrib (), is the capital of Medina Province (Saudi Arabia), Medina Province in the Hejaz region of western Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

, near

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

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 ...

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 Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

nominated Batchelder to a seat, created by 98 Stat. 333, on the

United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio (in case citations, N.D. Ohio) is the federal trial court for the northern half of Ohio, encompassing most territories north of the city of Columbus, Ohio, Columbus. The court has courthou ...

. She was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

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 court of appeals.

Court of appeals service

On June 12, 1991, President

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushBefore the outcome of the 2000 United States presidential election, he was usually referred to simply as "George Bush" but became more commonly known as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush Senior," "Bush 41," and even "Bush th ...

nominated Batchelder to the

to the seat vacated by

Pierce Lively Frederick 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 Baccalaureu ...

. 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 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 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 Lawyers 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