Judge Michael Mosman
Oregon U.S. District Court
Michael Wise Mosman was born in December 1956 in Eugene, Oregon, but grew up in Idaho. He attended Ricks College in Idaho, which is now Brigham Young University-Idaho, before transferring to Utah State University-Logan where he earned his undergraduate degree. He went to law school at Brigham Young University’s Reuben Clark Law School, where he received his Juris Doctor. He clerked for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, then entered into private practice. Later, he clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell.
Returning to Oregon, Mosman was an assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon for three years. He served two years as the U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon.
President George W. Bush nominated Mosman to serve as judge for the United States District Court for the District of Oregon. He was confirmed by the Senate and received his commission in September 2003. He was chief judge from 2015 through 2019.
Mosman is married to the former Suzanne Cannon Hogan and they have five children. He is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
In the News…
Just ahead of the election, U.S. District Judge Michael W. Mosman granted a preliminary injunction on a First Amendment claim in a case against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security filed by two Oregon state lawmakers, the Portland-based Western States Center, a church, and a legal observer. However, the judge rejected their claim that the federal officers violated the Tenth Amendment’s separation of powers provisions.
The lawsuit was to determine the “rules of engagement” for federal officers acting outside a U.S. Courthouse, who were alleged to have engaged in improper conduct in response to racial justice demonstrations there.
As more protests were expected around Election Day results, the judge directed the parties to agree on the “contours” of the injunction. He suggested the rules of engagement broadly curb any “violent or aggressive law enforcement activity against entirely peaceful protesters,” and explore setting a perimeter for enforcement by federal officers outside the U.S. Courthouse.
Once the so-called “line of scrimmage” is drawn, the parties need to agree on the rules of engagement at that boundary line, the judge said. If they cannot agree, Mosman said they should provide him with their two best proposals and he will meet with them again.
Contact this Leader…
Did you pray for Judge Mosman today? You can let him know at:
The Honorable Michael Mosman
Oregon U.S. District Court
Mark O. Hatfield Courthouse
1000 S.W. Third Ave.
Portland, OR 97204
