Ronald Murray Gould (born October 17, 1946) is an American lawyer and jurist serving as a U.S. circuit judge of the

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (in case citations, 9th Cir.) is the U.S. federal court of appeals that has appellate jurisdiction over the U.S. district courts for the following federal judicial districts: * District ...

since 1999.

Education

Gould was born in 1946 in

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

. He graduated from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

with 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 ...

. He attended the

University of Michigan Law School The University of Michigan Law School (branded as Michigan Law) is the law school of the University of Michigan, a public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Founded in 1859, the school offers Master of Laws (LLM), Master of Comparati ...

, graduating in 1973 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 ...

Legal career

After graduating from law school, Gould clerked for Judge Wade H. McCree 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 ...

from 1973 to 1974 and for Justice

Potter Stewart Potter Stewart (January 23, 1915 – December 7, 1985) was an American lawyer and judge who was an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1958 to 1981. During his tenure, he made major contributions to criminal justice reform ...

of the

U.S. 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 ...

from 1974 to 1975. Gould was in private practice for

Perkins Coie Perkins Coie LLP ( ) is an American law firm based in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1912, it is recognized by The American Lawyer as being one of the top 50 firms in the US. It is the largest law firm headquartered in the Pacific Northwest and ...

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

from 1975 to 1999 and served as an

adjunct professor An adjunct professor is a type of academic appointment in higher education who does not work at the establishment full-time. The terms of this appointment and the job security of the tenure vary in different parts of the world, but the term is gen ...

at the University of Washington Law School from 1986 to 1989. He was a partner at

at the time of his appeals court nomination. He also was president of the Washington State Bar Association.

Federal judicial service

Gould was nominated by

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

for a seat vacated by Judge

Robert Beezer Robert Renaut Beezer (July 21, 1928 – March 30, 2012) was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Education and career Born in Seattle, Washington, Beezer received a Bachelor of Arts degree f ...

of the

United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (in case citations, 9th Cir.) is the U.S. federal court of appeals that has appellate jurisdiction over the U.S. district courts for the following federal judicial districts: * Distric ...

on January 26, 1999. He 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 November 17, 1999, in a voice vote and received his commission on November 22, 1999.

Notable cases

On July 13, 2013, Gould dissented from a denial of ''

en banc In law, an ''en banc'' (; alternatively ''in banc'', ''in banco'' or ''in bank''; ) session is when all the judges of a court sit to hear a case, not just one judge or a smaller panel of judges. For courts like the United States Courts of Appeal ...

'' rehearing when the Ninth Circuit upheld a ban on

Greenpeace Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by a group of Environmental movement, environmental activists. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth to nurture life in all its biod ...

's protest against shell drilling. Gould, who was joined by Pregerson, Reinhardt, Wardlaw, Fletcher, and Milan Smith, saw this as a violation of First Amendment rights, writing "The panel majority's contrary conclusion will undermine the freedom of an organization to "stimulate tsaudience with spontaneous and emotional appeals for unity and action in a common cause."" On August 23, 2019, Gould was one of three judges to rule that a prisoner with

gender dysphoria Gender dysphoria (GD) is the distress a person experiences due to inconsistency between their gender identitytheir personal sense of their own genderand their sex assigned at birth. The term replaced the previous diagnostic label of gender i ...

had a right to sex reassignment surgery under the Eighth Amendment. Judge

Margaret McKeown Mary Margaret McKeown (born May 11, 1951) is a senior status, senior United States federal judge, United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit based in San Diego. McKeown has served on the Ninth Circui ...

and district judge Robert Lasnik, sitting by designation, joined the opinion. The full

Ninth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (in case citations, 9th Cir.) is the U.S. federal court of appeals that has appellate jurisdiction over the U.S. district courts for the following federal judicial districts: * District ...

refused to rehear the case en banc, although eight judges, all Republican appointees, dissented from the denial of rehearing. On September 18, 2019, Gould dissented from a 9th circuit ruling holding that the government could not exert its state secrets privilege over a pair of subpoenas. The Supreme Court reversed the 9th circuit in '' United States v. Zubaydah'', affirming Gould's position. On September 6, 2022, Gould wrote the 9th Circuit decision upholding Washington's ban on

conversion therapy Conversion therapy is the pseudoscientific practice of attempting to change an individual's sexual orientation, romantic orientation, gender identity, or gender expression to align with heterosexual and cisgender norms. Methods that have ...

for minors. The Supreme Court denied ''certiorari'' on December 11, 2023. On October 30, 2023, Gould revived a lawsuit over an Arizona abortion law banning abortions of fetuses with "fetal abnormalities". Although

Roe v. Wade ''Roe v. Wade'', 410 U.S. 113 (1973),. was a List of landmark court decisions in the United States, landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States protected the right to have an ...

has been overturned, the healthcare providers' lawsuit focused on both the vagueness of the law (forcing them to err on the side of not providing abortions) and economic loss from not being able to perform abortions. On November 13, 2023, Gould was in a 7-4 majority that temporarily blocked Idaho's abortion ban due to its lack of exceptions for medical emergencies. On January 5, 2024, the Supreme Court said it would take up the case and dissolved the 9th circuit's temporary injunction. Then, in June 2024, the Supreme Court reinstated the 9th circuit's injunction in '' Moyle v. United States''. On February 25, 2025, Gould (joined by Wardlaw) struck down two proof-of-citizenship laws in Arizona. One would have prohibited voters who don't prove citizenship from voting for president, and the other would have prohibited them from voting by mail.

Personal life

While still in private practice, Gould was diagnosed with

multiple sclerosis Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease resulting in damage to myelinthe insulating covers of nerve cellsin the brain and spinal cord. As a demyelinating disease, MS disrupts the nervous system's ability to Action potential, transmit ...

. During his time on the bench, he lost the use of his arms and legs; he now relies on a wheelchair for mobility, and with the aid of other technologies and of assistants and clerks is able to "get a good result in the work I'm doing." Gould is

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gould, Ronald M. 1946 births Living people 20th-century American judges 21st-century American judges Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States Lawyers from St. Louis People associated with Perkins Coie People with multiple sclerosis United States court of appeals judges appointed by Bill Clinton University of Michigan Law School alumni University of Pennsylvania alumni University of Washington School of Law faculty 20th-century American Jews American lawyers American lawyers with disabilities 21st-century American Jews