Michael J. McShane (born 1961) is an American lawyer serving as the chief United States district judge of the

United States District Court for the District of Oregon The United States District Court for the District of Oregon (in case citations, D. Ore. or D. Or.) is the federal district court whose jurisdiction comprises the state of Oregon. It was created in 1859 when the state was admitted to the Union. ...

. He previously served as a state court judge on the Oregon

Multnomah County Multnomah County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the county's population was 815,428. Multnomah County is part of the Portland metropolitan area. The state's smallest and most populous county, it ...

Circuit Court from 2001 to 2013.

Early life, education and career

McShane was born in 1961 in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

, in a conservative

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

family. He grew up in

Kennewick, Washington Kennewick () is a city in Benton County, Washington, Benton County in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. It is located along the southwest bank of the Columbia River, just southeast of the confluence of the Columbia and Yakima ...

, where he attended high school. McShane graduated from

Gonzaga University Gonzaga University (GU) ( ) is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit university in Spokane, Washington, United States. It is Higher education accreditation in the United States, accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges ...

in 1983 with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree ''

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 ...

''. He then joined the

Jesuit Volunteer Corps The Jesuit Volunteer Corps (JVC) is an organization of lay volunteers who volunteer one year or more to community service with poor communities. JVC works in inner city neighborhoods and rural communities in about 36 different cities throughou ...

and spent two years in

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

, as a corrections counselor. He left the Jesuit Volunteer Corps in 1985 to attend

Lewis & Clark Law School The Northwestern School of Law of Lewis and Clark College (also known as Lewis & Clark Law School), is an American Bar Association#Accreditation of U.S. law schools since 1923, American Bar Association-approved private law school in the United ...

, graduating in 1988 with 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''.Senate Judiciary Committee Questionnaire
/ref> He had worked for the

Clark County Clark County may refer to: *Clark County, Arkansas *Clark County, Idaho *Clark County, Illinois *Clark County, Indiana *Clark County, Kansas *Clark County, Kentucky *Clark County, Missouri *Clark County, Nevada, containing Las Vegas *Clark County, ...

District Attorney's office during law school but, on graduating, McShane joined the Office of the Metropolitan

Public Defender A public defender is a lawyer appointed to represent people who otherwise cannot reasonably afford to hire a lawyer to defend themselves in a trial. Several countries provide people with public defenders, including the UK, Belgium, Hungary and Si ...

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...

, where he worked from 1988 to 1997.

Judicial service

State judicial service

He served as a full-time Judge Pro Tempore on the

Circuit Court Circuit courts are court systems in several common law jurisdictions. It may refer to: * Courts that literally sit 'on circuit', i.e., judges move around a region or country to different towns or cities where they will hear cases; * Courts that s ...

from 1997 to 2001 and as a Judge on the same court from 2001 to 2013. He handled civil, criminal and family court cases. He received the Oregon State Bar President's Public Service Award in 2012.

Federal judicial service

On September 19, 2012, President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

nominated McShane to serve as a United States District Judge for the United States District Court for the District of Oregon, to the seat vacated by Judge Michael R. Hogan who assumed senior status on September 24, 2011. On January 2, 2013, his nomination was returned to the President, due to the sine die adjournment of the Senate. On January 3, 2013, he was renominated to the same office. His nomination was reported by 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 March 7, 2013, by

voice vote In parliamentary procedure, a voice vote (from the Latin ''viva voce'', meaning "by live voice") or acclamation is a voting method in deliberative assemblies (such as legislatures) in which a group vote is taken on a topic or motion by respondin ...

. The Senate confirmed his nomination on May 20, 2013, by

. He received his commission on May 30, 2013. He became chief judge on January 1, 2024.

Same-sex marriage ruling

On May 19, 2014, McShane struck down Oregon's same-sex marriage ban in '' Geiger v. Kitzhaber''. He ordered that the state immediately issue licenses to same-sex couples. The State of Oregon did not appeal (

Oregon Attorney General The Oregon attorney general is a statutory officer within the executive branch of the U.S. state, state of Oregon, and serves as the chief legal officer of the state, heading its Oregon Department of Justice, Department of Justice with its six op ...

Ellen Rosenblum Ellen F. Rosenblum (born January 6, 1951) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 17th Oregon Attorney General from June 2012 to December 2024. She is the first female state attorney general in Oregon's history, and previously wa ...

declined to defend the state's ban on same-sex marriage);

same-sex marriage in Oregon Same-sex marriage has been legally recognized in Oregon since May 19, 2014, when Judge Michael J. McShane of the United States District Court for the District of Oregon, U.S. District Court for the District Court of Oregon ruled in ''Geiger v. K ...

was legalized as a result.

Public defense crisis

On August 15, 2023, McShane ordered the Washington County sheriff to release all defendants from jail if they had been held for 10 days without a lawyer. This was amidst a long-standing crisis in the state's unique public defender system whereby the state and not the county paid for and contracted for public defense services via third party nonprofits creating a shortage of public defenders.

Personal

McShane is

openly gay Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBTQ people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. This is often framed and debated as a privacy issue, ...

, and he is the first openly gay federal judge in Oregon. His partner is Gregory Ford, and they have a son. McShane sits on the boards of The Wayne Morse Center for Law and Politics at the University of Oregon and the Jesuit Volunteer Corps Northwest. He previously sat on the board of St. Andrew Nativity School, an inner city middle school in Portland for disadvantaged youth. He taught criminal practice and trial advocacy at Lewis & Clark Law School and is a frequent lecturer at law schools and bar associations in Oregon.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:McShane, Michael Jerome 1961 births Living people American gay men Gonzaga University alumni Judges of the United States District Court for the District of Oregon Lawyers from Pittsburgh Lewis & Clark Law School alumni LGBTQ judges American LGBTQ lawyers LGBTQ people from Pennsylvania LGBTQ people from Oregon LGBTQ appointed officials in the United States Oregon state court judges People from Kennewick, Washington Public defenders United States district court judges appointed by Barack Obama 21st-century American LGBTQ people