Michael Thomas Sauer (born 1937)(died 2021) is a

Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, with 9,861,224 residents estimated as of 2022. It is the ...

Superior Court In common law systems, a superior court is a court of general jurisdiction over civil and criminal legal cases. A superior court is "superior" in relation to a court with limited jurisdiction (see small claims court), which is restricted to civil ...

judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...

. He is best known for sentencing socialite Paris Hilton to 45 days in jail for violating the terms of her probation. He was previously a Deputy City Attorney for Los Angeles, California and unsuccessfully argued the famous ''

Cohen v. California ''Cohen v. California'', 403 U.S. 15 (1971), was a landmark decision of the US Supreme Court holding that the First Amendment prevented the conviction of Paul Robert Cohen for the crime of disturbing the peace by wearing a jacket displaying "Fu ...

'' case before the United States Supreme Court.

Early life

Sauer grew up in the

Windsor Square Windsor Square is a small, historic neighborhood in the Wilshire region of Los Angeles, California. It is highly diverse in ethnic makeup, with an older population than the city as a whole. It is the site of the official residence of the mayor of ...

neighborhood of Los Angeles. He attended Loyola Law School and later worked for eight years for the city attorney's office. In 1971, as deputy city attorney in charge of appellate cases, he unsuccessfully argued before the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of

(arguing against famed first amendment attorney

Melville B. Nimmer Melville Bernard Nimmer (June 6, 1923 – November 23, 1985) was an American lawyer and law professor, renowned as an expert in freedom of speech and United States copyright law. Nimmer graduated from UCLA, UC Berkeley, and Harvard Law School. He w ...

) — an obscenity case stemming from a defendant who appeared in a county courtroom wearing a jacket decrying the draft. Appointed to Los Angeles Municipal Court in 1972 by Governor

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 ...

, Sauer was elevated to the Superior Court bench in 2000 when the two courts combined. While on the bench in May 1993, Sauer was responsible for removing the

MCA MCA may refer to: Astronomy * Mars-crossing asteroid, an asteroid whose orbit crosses that of Mars Aviation * Minimum crossing altitude, a minimum obstacle crossing altitude for fixes on published airways * Medium Combat Aircraft, a 5th gene ...

World Headquarters shooting by John Brian Jarvis to California Superior Court. In 2003, he was moved from criminal court cases to misdemeanor arraignments — a posting heavy on traffic violations and DUIs.

Paris Hilton

In May 2007 Sauer sentenced socialite Paris Hilton to 45 days in jail for violating her probation. Following the sentencing, Sauer reportedly received a standing ovation from his church in Los Angeles. However, the judge stated that this incident did not occur, and was also surprised at the amount of

publicity In marketing, publicity is the public visibility or awareness for any product, service, person or organization (company, charity, etc.). It may also refer to the movement of information from its source to the general public, often (but not always) ...

surrounding the jail sentence. On Thursday, June 7, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department officials released Hilton because of an undisclosed medical condition and sent her home under

house arrest In justice and law, house arrest (also called home confinement, home detention, or, in modern times, electronic monitoring) is a measure by which a person is confined by the authorities to their residence. Travel is usually restricted, if all ...

. She had been in jail for only three days. Hilton was fitted with an ankle monitor and was expected to finish her 45-day sentence at home. City attorney

Rocky Delgadillo Rockard John Delgadillo (born July 15, 1960), known as Rocky Delgadillo, is an American lawyer and politician. He is the former City Attorney of Los Angeles (2001–09). Career *Teacher/Coach, Los Angeles Unified School District, Franklin *Att ...

filed a petition late Thursday afternoon questioning whether

Sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly transla ...

Lee Baca should be held in contempt of court for releasing Hilton on Thursday morning. Sauer himself had expressed his unhappiness with Hilton's release before Delgadillo asked him to return her to court. When Sauer sentenced Hilton to jail, he ruled specifically that she could not serve her sentence at home under electronic monitoring (house arrest). The day after her release, June 8, Sauer ordered Hilton to report immediately to court, and then ordered her to return to jail to serve out her entire sentence.

References

External links

Photo of Judge Michael T SauerOral Argument in Cohen v. California
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sauer, Michael T. 1937 births Living people California lawyers California state court judges Loyola Law School alumni Superior court judges in the United States