Bernard Friedman
2009 - Present
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Bernard A. Friedman is an Article III federal judge for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. He joined the court in 1988 after being nominated by President Ronald Reagan. Friedman assumed senior status on January 1, 2009.
Early life and education
A native of Detroit, Friedman graduated with his law degree from Detroit Mercy College of Law in 1968.[1]
Military service
Before entering the legal profession, Friedman served as a U.S. Army Lieutenant in the Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps from 1967 to 1968 on active duty, and continued for five more years as a U.S. Army Reserve Lieutenant in the JAG Corps from 1968 to 1973.[1]
Professional career
After serving in active duty, Friedman was a felony trial attorney in the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office from 1969 to 1970 before working for 12 years in private practice in Detroit and Southfield from 1974 to 1982. Friedman then served as a state judge in Michigan's 48th District from 1982 to 1988.[1]
Judicial career
Eastern District of Michigan
Friedman was nominated by President Ronald Reagan on February 2, 1988, to a seat vacated by Robert DeMascio as DeMasico applied for senior status. Friedman was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on April 19, 1988, on a full Senate vote and received commission on April 20, 1988. In 2004, Friedman became the chief judge of the Eastern District of Michigan before assuming senior status in 2009.[1] He was succeeded to this post by Gershwin Drain.
Noteworthy cases
Judge rules female genital mutilation ban unconstitutional (2018)
On November 20, 2018, Judge Friedman ruled that a federal law banning female genital mutilation was unconstitutional. The ruling came in a case against two doctors and several mothers who prosecutors accused of having the medical procedure performed on nine girls at a clinic in Michigan. According to Michigan Radio, the practice of female genital mutilation is considered a religious rite by the Dawoodi Bohra, a sect of Islam originating in India of which the accused are members.
In his decision, Judge Friedman wrote that “Congress had no authority to pass this statute under either the Necessary and Proper Clause or the Commerce Clause." The statute criminalizing female genital mutilation was passed in 1996 by Congress, but this case is the first where prosecutors tried individuals under the law.
Articles:
| • Michigan's ban on same-sex marriage challenged (2014) Judge(s):Bernard Friedman (DeBoer v. Snyder, 12-CV-10285) | Click for summary→ | |||
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On February 25, 2014, a case challenging Michigan's same-sex marriage ban was brought in the Eastern District of Michigan. Judge Bernard Friedman presided over the case, which was brought by April DeBoer and Jayne Rowse, two women in the state. They challenged Michigan's Marriage Amendment, Proposal 2, a constitutional amendment approved by 58.6 percent of voters in 2004.[2] The case was initiated in 2012 after DeBoer and Rowse were denied the ability to adopt one another's children under state law.[3] Judge Friedman allowed the plaintiffs to amend their complaint to challenge the state's ban on same-sex marriage in August 2012. The law was defended in court by the Michigan State Attorney General's Office. On March 21, 2014, after a two-week trial Judge Friedman struck down Michigan's ban on same-sex marriage as an unconstitutional violation of the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause, writing:[3]
Judge Friedman further noted that his decision "affirmed the enduring principle that . . . the guarantee of equal protection must prevail." Since the federal ruling in U.S. v. Windsor, federal judges have struck down same-sex marriage bans in a number of states, including Virginia, Utah, and Oklahoma.[6] In those cases, judges have opted to stay their rulings pending appeal. Here, Judge Friedman notably made no mention of such a delay, meaning that same-sex couples in Michigan could potentially obtain marriage licenses on the next business day.[4] On the same day Judge Friedman's ruling was announced publicly, Michigan's attorney general filed an emergency appeal with the Sixth Circuit, requesting that the ruling be stayed and reconsidered.[3][4] The Sixth Circuit issued a temporary injunction against Friedman's decision on the following day, after about 300 same-sex couples had already been married.[7] | ||||
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Federal Judicial Center, "Biography of Bernard A. Friedman"
- ↑ Michigan Marriage Amendment, Proposal 2 (2004)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 New York Times, "Federal Judge Strikes Down Michigan’s Ban on Same-Sex Marriage," March 21, 2014
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 DeBoer v. Snyder, "Conclusion"
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Same-sex marriage in the federal courts
- ↑ New York Times, "For Gay Couples in Michigan, a Day of Joy Ends in Legal Uncertainty," March 22, 2014
| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by: Robert DeMascio |
Eastern District of Michigan 1988–2009 Seat #3 |
Succeeded by: Gershwin Drain
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| 1981 |
Bartlett • Beam • Becker • Bork • Cacheris • Cardamone • Chapman • Coughenour • Cox • Crow • Cyr • Doumar • Eschbach • Forrester • Garwood • Gibson • Glasser • Hall • Hamilton • Head • Jones • Kiser • Krenzler • Lee • Magnuson • McLaughlin • Miner • Moore • Nowlin • O'Connor • Pierce • Posner • Potter • Russell • Ryan • Shabaz • Sprizzo • Stevens • Waters • Wilhoit • Wilkins • Winter | ||
| 1982 |
Acker • Acosta • Altimari • Bell • Bissell • Black • Bullock • Caldwell • Coffey • Contie • Coyle • Dowd • Fagg • Fong • Fox • Gadbois • Gibson • Ginsburg • Hart • Higginbotham • Hogan • Irving • Jackson • Jolly • Kanne • Kovachevich • Krupansky • Lynch • Mansmann • McNamara • Mencer • Mentz • Mihm • Moody • Nordberg • Paul • Pieras • Plunkett • Porfilio • Potter • Pratt • Rafeedie • Restani • Roberts • Scalia • Selya • Telesca • Wellford | ||
| 1983 |
Baldock • Barbour • Barry • Bowman • Carman • Carter • Curran • Davis • Dorsey • Feldman • Fish • Flaum • Gibbons • Hallanan • Harris • Hinojosa • Hull • Hupp • Katz • Keenan • Kelly • Kram • Laffitte • Limbaugh, Sr. • Limbaugh, Sr. • Milburn • Nesbitt • Nevas • O'Neill • Rymer • Sharp • Starr • Vinson • Vukasin • Wexler • Woods | ||
| 1984 |
Barker • Beezer • Biggers • Billings • Bissell • Boyle • Brewster • Browning • DiCarlo • Duhe • Garcia • George • Hall • Hargrove • Higgins • Hill • Holland • Ideman • Jarvis • Keller • Leavy • Lee • Legge • Leisure • Little • Livaudais • Longobardi • McKibben • Milburn • Newman • Norgle • Prado • Rea • Rosenblatt • Rovner • Scirica • Smith, Jr. • Sneeden • Stotler • Suhrheinrich • Torruella • Wiggins • Wilkinson | ||
| 1985 |
Alley • Altimari • Anderson • Aquilino • Archer • Arnold • Baldock • Batchelder • Battey • Broomfield • Brown • Brown • Brunetti • Buckley • Cobb • Conmy • Cowen • Davidson • Dimmick • Duff • Easterbrook • Edgar • Farnan • Fernandez • Fitzpatrick • Fuste • Greene • Gunn • Guy • Hall • Hilton • Holderman • Hughes • Johnson • Jones • Korman • Kozinski • La Plata • Leinenweber • Letts • Lovell • Ludwig • Maloney • Mansmann • Marcus • McDonald • Meredith • Miller • Mills • Miner • Motz • Nelson • Noonan • Porfilio • Revercomb • Rhoades • Ripple • Rodriguez • Rosenbaum • Roth • Ryan • Sam • Scott • Sentelle • Silberman • Sporkin • Stanton • Stapleton • Strand • Strom • Tacha • Tevrizian • Thompson • Todd • Tsoucalas • Walker • Walter • Weber • Williams • Wilson • Wingate • Wolf • Wollman • Young • Zloch | ||
| 1986 |
Anderson • Boggs • Bryan • Cedarbaum • Cholakis • Conway • Davies • Dearie • Dubina • Duggan • Edmondson • Fawsett • Fitzwater • Gex • Graham • Hackett • Hansen • Henderson • Hittner • Howard • Jensen • Kay • Kleinfeld • Kosik • Lagueux • Lechner • Magill • Mahoney • Manion • McAvoy • McQuade • Norris • O'Scannlain • Rehnquist • Ryskamp • Scalia • Selya • Simpson • Smalkin • Spencer • Stiehl • Wilkins • Williams • Woodlock • Zatkoff | ||
| 1987 |
Alesia • Beam • Bell • Conboy • Cowen • Cummings • Daronco • Doty • Dwyer • Ebel • Ellis • Gadola • Gawthrop • Greenberg • Harrington • Howard • Hoyt • Hutchinson • Kanne • Kelly • Larimer • Leavy • Lew • Marsh • Mayer • McKinney • Michel • Mukasey • Musgrave • Niemeyer • Parker • Phillips • Politan • Pro • Raggi • Reasoner • Reed • Scirica • Sentelle • Smith • Smith • Stadtmueller • Standish • Tinder • Torres • Trott • Turner • Van Antwerpen • Voorhees • Webb • Whipple • Wolin • Wolle • Wood • Zagel | ||
| 1988 |
Arcara • Babcock • Brorby • Butler • Cambridge • Camp • Conlon • Cox • Dubois • Duhe • Ezra • Forester • Friedman • Garza • Hutton • Jordan • Kennedy • Lake • Lamberth • Lifland • Lozano • Marovich • Nygaard • Patterson • Schell • Smith • Smith • Tilley • Waldman • Zilly | ||
Federal courts:
Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: Eastern District of Michigan, Western District of Michigan • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: Eastern District of Michigan, Western District of Michigan
State courts:
Michigan Supreme Court • Michigan Court of Appeals • Michigan Circuit Court • Michigan Court of Claims • Michigan District Courts • Michigan Municipal Courts • Michigan Probate Courts
State resources:
Courts in Michigan • Michigan judicial elections • Judicial selection in Michigan