Susan Marie Ritchie Bolton (born September 1, 1951) is 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 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 District of Arizona The United States District Court for the District of Arizona (in case citations, D. Ariz.) is the U.S. district court that covers the state of Arizona. It is under the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The District was esta ...

Early life, education, and early career

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Bolton received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (U of I, UIowa, or Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized int ...

in 1973 and a Juris Doctor from the

University of Iowa College of Law The University of Iowa College of Law is the law school of the University of Iowa, located in Iowa City, Iowa. It was founded in 1865. History The law school was founded in 1865 by George Grover Wright and Chester C. Cole as an independent la ...

in 1975. She was a law clerk for Judge Laurance T. Wren of the

Arizona Court of Appeals The Arizona Court of Appeals is the intermediate appellate court for the state of Arizona. It is divided into two divisions, with a total of twenty-eight judges on the court: nineteen in Division 1, based in Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, and nine in ...

from 1975 to 1977. She was then in private practice in Phoenix, Arizona from 1977 to 1989. Bolton served on the Arizona Superior Court for Maricopa County, from 1989 to 2000.

Federal judicial service

On July 21, 2000, based upon the recommendation of United States Senator

Jon Kyl Jon Llewellyn Kyl ( ; born April 25, 1942) is an American politician and lobbyist who served as a United States Senator for Arizona from 1995 to 2013. Following the death of John McCain in 2018, Kyl briefly returned to the Senate; his resignatio ...

from Arizona, Bolton was nominated by President

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, ...

to a seat on the

vacated by Robert C. Broomfield. 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 October 3, 2000. She received her commission on October 13, 2000. She is a registered Independent. Bolton assumed senior status on September 1, 2016.

2010 Arizona immigration law cases

In July 2010, Bolton heard arguments on three of seven lawsuits related to the Arizona SB 1070 immigration law, including '' United States v. Arizona''. On Wednesday, July 28, 2010, Bolton issued a ruling blocking small portions of SB 1070, writing that "requiring police to check the immigration status of those they arrest or whom they stop and suspect are in the country illegally would overwhelm the federal government's ability to respond, and could mean legal immigrants are wrongly arrested." Judge Bolton wrote: "Federal resources will be taxed and diverted from federal enforcement priorities as a result of the increase in requests for immigration status determination that will flow from Arizona." On September 5, 2012, Judge Bolton cleared the way for police to carry out the 2010 law's requirement that officers, while enforcing other laws, may question the immigration status of those they suspect are in the country illegally. This part of the law has been called the "show me your papers" provision. On July 31, 2017, Judge Bolton filed her "Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law" holding former Maricopa County sheriff

Joe Arpaio Joseph Michael Arpaio (; born June 14, 1932) is an American former law enforcement officer and politician. He was the Sheriffs in the United States, Sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona, Maricopa County, Arizona for 24 years, from 1993 to 2017, ...

in criminal contempt of court for violating an injunction. President Trump pardoned Arpaio on August 25, 2017, though Judge Bolton declined to erase the conviction, ruling that the pardon spared Arpaio from sentencing but did not change the facts or the record of the case. This ruling was upheld on appeal.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bolton, Susan Ritchie 1951 births Living people Arizona state court judges Lawyers from Phoenix, Arizona Judges of the United States District Court for the District of Arizona United States district court judges appointed by Bill Clinton University of Iowa alumni University of Iowa College of Law alumni Lawyers from Philadelphia 20th-century American judges 21st-century American judges 20th-century American women judges 21st-century American women judges