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, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...

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 (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a 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 into 12 coll ...

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. Iowa is ranked the 28th-best law school in the United States by the '' U.S. News & World Report'' "Best Law Sch ...

in 1975. She was a law clerk for Judge Laurance T. Wren of the Arizona Court of Appeals 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 and again in 2018. A Republican, he held both of Arizona's Senate seats at different times, ...

from Arizona, Bolton was nominated by President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (Birth name, né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 ...

to a seat on the

vacated by

Robert C. Broomfield Robert Cameron Broomfield (June 18, 1933 – July 10, 2014) was a United States federal judge, United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Arizona. Education and career Broomfield was born on June 18, 19 ...

. She was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and ...

on October 3, 2000. She received her commission on October 13, 2000. She is a registered Independent. Bolton assumed

senior status Senior status is a form of semi- retirement for United States federal judges. To qualify, a judge in the federal court system must be at least 65 years old, and the sum of the judge's age and years of service as a federal judge must be at leas ...

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 The Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act (introduced as Arizona Senate Bill 1070 and commonly referred to as Arizona SB 1070) is a 2010 legislative Act in the U.S. state of Arizona that was the broadest and strictest a ...

, including ''

United States v. Arizona ''Arizona v. United States'', 567 U.S. 387 (2012), was a United States Supreme Court case involving Arizona's SB 1070, a state law intended to increase the powers of local law enforcement that wished to enforce federal immigration laws. The iss ...

. 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 served as the 36th Sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona for 24 years, from 1993 to 2017, losing reelection to Democrat Paul Penzone i ...

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