District Court · Sixth Circuit
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan
The federal trial court. Juries sit here, evidence is heard here, and almost every federal case begins here.
The bench
Who sits on this court?
Judges in active service, when they were confirmed, and who nominated each.
| Judge | Since | Nominated by | Seat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bernard A. Friedman Senior | 1988 | Ronald Reagan | MIED0304 |
| Robert Hardy Cleland Senior | 1990 | George H.W. Bush | MIED0112 |
| Nancy Garlock Edmunds Senior | 1992 | George H.W. Bush | MIED0604 |
| Denise Page Hood Senior | 1994 | William J. Clinton | MIED0406 |
| Paul D. Borman Senior | 1994 | William J. Clinton | MIED1202 |
| George Caram Steeh III Senior | 1998 | William J. Clinton | MIED0704 |
| David M. Lawson Senior | 2000 | William J. Clinton | MIED1102 |
| Thomas Lamson Ludington | 2006 | George W. Bush | MIED0903 |
| Stephen Joseph Murphy III | 2008 | George W. Bush | MIED1502 |
| Mark Allan Goldsmith | 2010 | Barack Obama | MIED0506 |
| Gershwin Allen Drain Senior | 2012 | Barack Obama | MIED0305 |
| Terrence George Berg | 2012 | Barack Obama | MIED0805 |
| Matthew Frederick Leitman | 2014 | Barack Obama | MIED1303 |
| Judith Ellen Levy | 2014 | Barack Obama | MIED0605 |
| Laurie Jill Michelson | 2014 | Barack Obama | MIED0705 |
| Linda Vivienne Parker | 2014 | Barack Obama | MIED0113 |
| Shalina Deborah Kumar | 2021 | Joseph R. Biden | MIED1403 |
| Frances Kay Behm | 2022 | Joseph R. Biden | MIED1103 |
| Jonathan James Canada Grey | 2023 | Joseph R. Biden | MIED0407 |
| Susan Kim DeClercq | 2023 | Joseph R. Biden | MIED1004 |
| Brandy Renée McMillion | 2023 | Joseph R. Biden | MIED0306 |
| Robert Jerome White | 2024 | Joseph R. Biden | MIED1203 |
| Michael Craig Martin | 2026 | Donald J. Trump | MIED0207 |
Source · Federal Judicial Center, Biographical Directory of Article III Federal Judges, 1789–present (public domain)
What seats does this court have?
Each seat on this court, who holds it, and how many judges have held it before.
- Judges seated now
- 23
- Seat numbers on record
- 75
| Seat | Held by | Since | Holders to date |
|---|---|---|---|
| MIED0112 | Robert Hardy Cleland | 1990 | 1 |
| MIED0113 | Linda Vivienne Parker | 2014 | 1 |
| MIED0207 | Michael Craig Martin | 2026 | 1 |
| MIED0304 | Bernard A. Friedman | 1988 | 1 |
| MIED0305 | Gershwin Allen Drain | 2012 | 1 |
| MIED0306 | Brandy Renée McMillion | 2023 | 1 |
| MIED0406 | Denise Page Hood | 1994 | 1 |
| MIED0407 | Jonathan James Canada Grey | 2023 | 1 |
| MIED0506 | Mark Allan Goldsmith | 2010 | 1 |
| MIED0604 | Nancy Garlock Edmunds | 1992 | 1 |
| MIED0605 | Judith Ellen Levy | 2014 | 1 |
| MIED0704 | George Caram Steeh III | 1998 | 1 |
| MIED0705 | Laurie Jill Michelson | 2014 | 1 |
| MIED0805 | Terrence George Berg | 2012 | 1 |
| MIED0903 | Thomas Lamson Ludington | 2006 | 1 |
| MIED1004 | Susan Kim DeClercq | 2023 | 1 |
| MIED1102 | David M. Lawson | 2000 | 1 |
| MIED1103 | Frances Kay Behm | 2022 | 1 |
| MIED1202 | Paul D. Borman | 1994 | 1 |
| MIED1203 | Robert Jerome White | 2024 | 1 |
| MIED1303 | Matthew Frederick Leitman | 2014 | 1 |
| MIED1403 | Shalina Deborah Kumar | 2021 | 1 |
| MIED1502 | Stephen Joseph Murphy III | 2008 | 1 |
52 seat numbers with no sitting judge
These are seat numbers in the historical record with nobody currently in them. That usually means the seat was abolished or renumbered, not that it is open today — Congress has changed the size of federal courts many times. Do not read this as a vacancy list.
| Seat | Last held by | Until | Holders |
|---|---|---|---|
| MIED0101 | Ross Wilkins | 1870 | 1 |
| MIED0102 | John Wesley Longyear | 1875 | 1 |
| MIED0103 | Henry Billings Brown | 1890 | 1 |
| MIED0104 | Henry Harrison Swan | 1911 | 1 |
| MIED0105 | Alexis Caswell Angell | 1912 | 1 |
| MIED0106 | Arthur J. Tuttle | 1944 | 1 |
| MIED0107 | Arthur A. Koscinski | 1957 | 1 |
| MIED0108 | Clifford Patrick O'Sullivan | 1960 | 1 |
| MIED0109 | John Feikens | 1961 | 1 |
| MIED0110 | Stephen John Roth | 1974 | 1 |
| MIED0111 | James Paul Churchill | 2020 | 1 |
| MIED0201 | Charles Casper Simons | 1932 | 1 |
| MIED0202 | Arthur F. Lederle | 1972 | 1 |
| MIED0203 | Frederick William Kaess | 1979 | 1 |
| MIED0204 | Ralph B. Guy Jr. | 1985 | 1 |
| MIED0205 | Lawrence Paul Zatkoff | 2015 | 1 |
| MIED0206 | Sean Francis Cox | 2025 | 1 |
| MIED0301 | Edward Julien Moinet | 1952 | 1 |
| MIED0302 | Theodore Levin | 1970 | 1 |
| MIED0303 | Robert Edward DeMascio | 1999 | 1 |
| MIED0401 | Ernest Aloysius O'Brien | 1948 | 1 |
| MIED0402 | Thomas Patrick Thornton | 1985 | 1 |
| MIED0403 | Damon Jerome Keith | 1977 | 1 |
| MIED0404 | Patricia Jean Ehrhardt Pernick Boyle | 1983 | 1 |
| MIED0405 | George E. Woods | 2004 | 1 |
| MIED0501 | Frank Albert Picard | 1963 | 1 |
| MIED0502 | Thaddeus M. Machrowicz | 1970 | 1 |
| MIED0503 | Cornelia Groefsema Kennedy | 1979 | 1 |
| MIED0504 | Horace Weldon Gilmore | 2010 | 1 |
| MIED0505 | John Corbett O'Meara | 2024 | 1 |
| MIED0601 | Ralph McKenzie Freeman | 1990 | 1 |
| MIED0602 | James Harvey | 2019 | 1 |
| MIED0603 | Richard Fred Suhrheinrich | 1990 | 1 |
| MIED0701 | Talbot Smith | 1978 | 1 |
| MIED0702 | Charles Wycliffe Joiner | 2017 | 1 |
| MIED0703 | Barbara Kloka Hackett | 2000 | 1 |
| MIED0801 | Wade Hampton McCree Jr. | 1966 | 1 |
| MIED0802 | Lawrence Gubow | 1978 | 1 |
| MIED0803 | Julian Abele Cook Jr. | 2017 | 1 |
| MIED0804 | Arthur J. Tarnow | 2022 | 1 |
| MIED0901 | John Feikens | 2011 | 1 |
| MIED0902 | Paul Gadola V. | 2014 | 1 |
| MIED1001 | Philip Pratt | 1989 | 1 |
| MIED1002 | Gerald Ellis Rosen | 2017 | 1 |
| MIED1003 | Stephanie Dawkins Davis | 2022 | 1 |
| MIED1101 | Avern Levin Cohn | 2022 | 1 |
| MIED1201 | Stewart Albert Newblatt | 2022 | 1 |
| MIED1301 | Anna Katherine Johnston Diggs Taylor | 2017 | 1 |
| MIED1302 | Marianne O. Battani | 2021 | 1 |
| MIED1401 | George La Plata | 1996 | 1 |
| MIED1402 | Victoria A. Roberts | 2023 | 1 |
| MIED1501 | Patrick J. Duggan | 2020 | 1 |
This site does not publish a vacancy count. Seat identifiers are not stable across court renamings and reorganisations, so a seat that was vacated and refilled can appear empty when it is not. The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts publishes the authoritative list of current judicial vacancies: uscourts.gov.
Seats are created by Congress and filled by the President with the Senate's consent. For current vacancies, use the Administrative Office's published list rather than inferring them from this table.
Source · Federal Judicial Center, Biographical Directory of Article III Federal Judges, 1789–present (public domain)
How this bench was built
Who appointed them?
The tally of presidents who placed the sitting judges on this court.
- Democratic
- 17
- Republican
- 6
| President | Judges |
|---|---|
| Barack Obama | 7 |
| Joseph R. Biden | 6 |
| William J. Clinton | 4 |
| George H.W. Bush | 2 |
| George W. Bush | 2 |
| Ronald Reagan | 1 |
| Donald J. Trump | 1 |
The party of the president who appointed a judge is a matter of record. How that judge will rule is not, and this site draws no inference from one to the other.
Source · Federal Judicial Center, Biographical Directory of Article III Federal Judges, 1789–present (public domain)