Michael Joseph Juneau (June 29, 1962 – May 12, 2023) was an American lawyer who served as a

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district. Each district covers one U.S. state or a portion of a state. There is at least one feder ...

of the

United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana The United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana (in case citations, W.D. La.) is a United States federal court with jurisdiction over approximately two thirds of the state of Louisiana, with courts in Alexandria, Lafayette ...

from 2018 to 2023.

Biography

Juneau was born on June 29, 1962, in

Monroe, Louisiana Monroe is the ninth-largest city in the U.S. state of Louisiana, and is the parish seat and largest city of Ouachita Parish. With a 2020 census-tabulated population of 47,702, it is the principal city of the Monroe metropolitan statistical ...

. He received a

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

, ''

magna cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

'', from

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

and a

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 ...

, ''cum laude'', from

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

where he was selected as the best oralist in the

Ames Moot Court Competition The Ames Moot Court Competition is the annual upper level moot court competition at Harvard Law School. It is designed and administered by the HLS Board of Student Advisers and has been in existence since 1911, when it was founded by a bequest in h ...

. As a lawyer at his Lafayette-based litigation firm Juneau David, he handled a broad range of

civil litigation Civil law is a major "branch of the law", in common law legal systems such as those in England and Wales and in the United States, where it stands in contrast to criminal law. Glanville Williams. ''Learning the Law''. Eleventh Edition. Stevens. 1 ...

in state and federal courts across

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

. He also had extensive experience administering mass

tort A tort is a civil wrong, other than breach of contract, that causes a claimant to suffer loss or harm, resulting in legal liability for the person who commits the tortious act. Tort law can be contrasted with criminal law, which deals with cri ...

settlements as a court-appointed neutral in significant mass tort and nationwide

class action A class action is a form of lawsuit. Class Action may also refer to: * ''Class Action'' (film), 1991, starring Gene Hackman and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio * Class Action (band), a garage house band * "Class Action" (''Teenage Robot''), a 2002 e ...

matters. In this capacity, he managed some of the largest multi-district litigation in the United States, including ''In re: Vioxx Products Liability Litigation'' and ''In re: Oil Spill by the Rig "Deepwater Horizon" in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, 2010''.

Federal judicial service

On August 3, 2017, President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

nominated Juneau to serve as a United States district judge of the

to the seat vacated by Judge Richard T. Haik, who assumed senior status on March 6, 2015. Juneau's nomination carried the support of U.S. Senators

Bill Cassidy William Morgan Cassidy (born September 28, 1957) is an American physician and politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States senator from Louisiana, a seat he has held since 2015. A member of the Republic ...

and

John Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the first Roman Catholic and youngest person elected p ...

. On October 4, 2017, a hearing on his nomination was held before the

Senate Judiciary Committee The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, informally known as the Senate Judiciary Committee, is a Standing committee (United States Congress), standing committee of 22 U.S. senators whose role is to oversee the United States Departm ...

. On October 26, 2017, his nomination was reported out of committee by an 11–9 vote. On January 3, 2018, his nomination was returned to the president under Rule XXXI, Paragraph 6, of 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 January 5, 2018, Trump announced his intent to re-nominate Juneau to a federal judgeship. On January 8, 2018, his re-nomination was sent to the Senate. On January 18, 2018, his nomination was reported out of committee by an 11–10 vote. On October 11, 2018, the Senate confirmed his nomination by a 54–41 vote. He received his judicial commission on October 17, 2018. He assumed senior status on February 1, 2022, due to a certified disability. Juneau died at his home in Lafayette on May 12, 2023, at age 60.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Juneau, Michael J. 1962 births 2023 deaths 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century American lawyers Alliance Defending Freedom people Harvard Law School alumni Judges of the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana Louisiana lawyers Louisiana Republicans Louisiana State University alumni People from Lafayette, Louisiana People from Monroe, Louisiana United States district court judges appointed by Donald Trump