Judge Marsha Berzon
Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals
Marsha Siegel Berzon was born in April 1945 in Cincinnati, Ohio. She earned an undergraduate degree from Radcliffe College of Harvard University and received a Juris Doctor from Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley. She clerked at the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and later for Associate Justice William J. Brennan of the Supreme Court.
She entered private practice in Washington, D.C. Two years later, she moved to San Francisco and co-founded a law firm with a unique Supreme Court litigation practice.
Berzon was nominated by President Bill Clinton to a seat on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. She was confirmed by the Senate in a 64-34 vote, and received her commission in March 2000.
She has one daughter.
In the News…
In 1997, the government agreed to comply with the Flores Settlement Agreement which affords certain protections for minors in immigration custody. President Trump sought to replace that agreement with a new set of rules. His attempt to do so has now been blocked by the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
The president’s changes permitted the U.S. government to detain migrant parents and children indefinitely because three family detention facilities operated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) lack state licenses, which legally prohibits them from being used for long-term custody. Through internal licensing, however, ICE could use them for indefinite detention, without state oversight.
Writing for the three-judge panel, Judge Marsha Berzon said, “Together, the DHS regulations regarding the release of accompanied minors and the revised definition of ‘licensed facility’ dramatically increase the likelihood that accompanied minors will remain in government detention indefinitely, instead of being released while their immigration proceedings are pending or housed in nonsecure, licensed facilities.”
Other Department of Homeland Security regulations will be allowed to go into effect.
Contact this Leader…
Did you pray for Judge Berzon today? You can let her know at:
The Honorable Marsha Berzon
Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals
95 Seventh Street
P.O. Box 193939
San Francisco, CA 94119-3939
