Judge Michael Newman
Southern Ohio U.S. District Court
Michael Jay Newman was born in 1960 in Somerville, New Jersey. He earned an undergraduate degree from New York University and received his Juris Doctor from the Washington College of Law. He also attended the Awards Mediation Program at Harvard Law School. He clerked at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio and later at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
He engaged in the private practice of law.
Newman served as a U.S. Magistrate Judge of the District Court for Southern Ohio. He was nominated by President Donald Trump to a seat on the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio. By a cloture vote on his nomination, the Senate voted 67-30 to confirm his nomination and he assumed office in November 2020.
He is married to Rachel and they have triplet daughters.
In the News…
Certain applications of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) civil enforcement guidance by President Biden’s administration were blocked by a federal court—essentially that portion of the guidance that narrowed its enforcement policies.
Attorneys General from Arizona, Ohio, and Montana had sued the administration over its guidance for ICE agents, first published shortly after President Biden entered office last year.
Those rules, which were made permanent in September, narrowed ICE’s focus to three categories of illegal immigrants for arrest and deportation: recent border crossers, “aggravated felons,” and national security threats. The administration has claimed it allows agents to focus limited resources on top priority threats.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas had declared that the administration had “fundamentally changed immigration enforcement in the interior.” He added, “For the first time ever, our policy explicitly states that a non-citizen’s unlawful presence in the United States will not, by itself, be a basis for the initiation of an enforcement action.”
The attorneys general argued that the guidance violated immigration laws passed by Congress and violated the Administrative Procedures Act by not engaging in notice and comment rulemaking. DHS claimed no harm was done to the states.
In his ruling, Judge Michael Newman denied the DHS motion to dismiss the case and issued a preliminary injunction blocking the guidance in certain applications. Specifically, it blocks the use of the guidance to make custody decisions for illegal immigrants with pending orders of removal and the use of the guidance to authorize the release of an illegal immigrant with a final order of removal.
“The States sue because they believe DHS skirting Congress’ immigration enforcement mandates when it issued a policy that prioritizes certain high-risk noncitizens for apprehension and removal. DHS contends that seemingly mandatory statutes must be read flexibly to permit efficient law enforcement,” Judge Newman wrote.
“At bottom, this is what this dispute is about: can the Executive displace clear congressional command in the name of resource allocation and enforcement goals? Here, the answer is no,“ he wrote. “When DHS pulls back immigration enforcement, the States pick up some of the cost.”
Contact this Leader…
Did you pray for Judge Newman today? You can let him know at:
The Honorable Michael Newman
Southern Ohio U.S. District Court
Potter Stewart U.S. Courthouse
100 E. Fifth St.
Cincinnati, Ohio 45202
