Sixth Circuit Judge Julia Smith Gibbons plans to take senior status, opening an opportunity for President Joe Biden to flip a seat on an appellate court dominated by Republican appointees.
Sixth Circuit Clerk Deborah Hunt confirmed Friday the judge’s decision to seek semi-retirement, which allows for a reduced workload.
Gibbons is a 21-year veteran of the court and was elevated to the circuit by George W. Bush in 2002.
She was originally appointed by Ronald Reagan in 1983 to the US District Court for the Western District of Tennessee. She was the youngest district court judge in the country at the time at 32.
Republicans have appointed 10 of the active judges on the court. Biden has so far placed three judges on the Cincinnati, Ohio-based court, including Rachel Bloomekatz, who was confirmed in July.
Gibbons was part of a 2-1 panel majority that allowed Biden’s Covid-19 vaccine mandate for larger private employers to move forward in 2021.
She also dissented from the majority on the full circuit that upheld an Ohio law that prohibits abortions because of fetal Down syndrome in 2021. The case produced five separate opinions and six dissents.
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