Judge Justin Reed Walker
Western Kentucky U.S. District Court
Justin Reed Walker was born in 1982 in Louisville, Kentucky. He earned an undergraduate degree from Duke University and received his Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School. He clerked at the District of Columbia U.S. Court of Appeals and with Justice Anthony Kennedy at the U.S. Supreme Court. He became a speechwriter for Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in the Bush Administration.
Walker spent four years as an associate professor at the University of Louisville School of Law, teaching legal writing.
He was nominated by President Donald Trump to serve as a United States District Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky. After the invocation of cloture, the Senate voted 50-39 to approve his nomination. He received his commission in October 2019.
He is married to Anne and they have one child. He is a Christian.
In the News…
District court Judge Justin Reed Walker ruled that it is constitutional for a Louisville, Kentucky, Christian photographer to refuse service to same-sex couples even though the city has an ordinance prohibiting LGBTQ discrimination, and even though no gay couples have actually asked the photographer to take pictures of anything for them.
In his ruling, the judge wrote that Christian photographer Chelsey Walker cannot be compelled to take photos of same-sex weddings, even though she offers her photography as a public business, because her photos are “art” and art is a form of “speech.” Therefore, no government can force people to make any speech against their will. The judge said that requiring her to take photos of gay weddings would also go against her religious beliefs.
“Just as gay and lesbian Americans ‘cannot be treated as social outcasts or as inferior in dignity and worth,’ ” the judge wrote, “neither can Americans ‘with a deep faith that requires them to do things passing legislative majorities might find unseemly or uncouth.’ ”
The case might ultimately reach the United States Supreme Court.
Contact this Leader…
Did you pray for Judge Walker today? You can let him know at:
The Honorable Judge Justin Reed Walker
U.S. District Court for Western Kentucky
Gene Snyder United States Courthouse
601 West Broadway
Louisville, KY 40202
