Judge Alice M. Batchelder
Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals
Alice Moore Batchelder was born in August 1944 in Wilmington, Delaware, She earned an undergraduate degree from Ohio Wesleyan University. She received a Juris Doctor from the University of Akron School of Law and a Master of Laws degree from the University of Virginia School of Law. She entered private practice in Medina, Ohio, near Cleveland.
She was appointed a judge of the U.S. bankruptcy court for the Northern District of Ohio. President Ronald Reagan nominated her to a district court position on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. She was confirmed by the Senate and received her commission in April 1991.
President George H.W. Bush nominated Batchelder to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. She was confirmed by the Senate and took her seat in 1992. In 2009, she became Chief Judge, a position from which she stepped down in August 2014. She now holds senior status.
She is married to William Batchelder.
In the News…
The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Ohio’s Down Syndrome Non-Discrimination Act in a ruling that split 9-7, which bars a physician in Ohio from aborting a pregnancy if they know that the pregnant woman made the decision due to fetal Down Syndrome.
The court’s opinion, written by Judge Alice M. Batchelder, said, “[The law] furthers three valid and legitimate interests by protecting: (1) the Down syndrome community from the stigma associated with the practice of Down-syndrome-selective abortions, (2) pregnant women and their families from coercion by doctors who advocate the abortion of Down-syndrome-afflicted fetuses, and (3) the integrity and ethics of the medical profession by preventing doctors from becoming witting participants in Down-syndrome-selective abortions. [The law] allows doctors to perform such abortions when they do not know that Down syndrome is the reason, without undermining [the law’s] specific purposes or objectives.”
Contact this Leader…
Did you pray for Judge Batchelder today? You can let her know at:
The Honorable Alice M. Batchelder
Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals
Potter Stewart U.S. Courthouse
100 East Fifth Street
Cincinnati, Ohio 45202
