Judge Danielle Forrest
Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals
Danielle Jo Forest was born in June 1977 in Roseburg, Oregon. She earned an undergraduate degree from the University of Idaho and received her Juris Doctor from the University of Idaho College of Law. She clerked at the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals and at the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon. She entered private practice. She was an adjunct professor at Lewis & Clark Law School.
She was appointed by Oregon’s governor to the Washington County Circuit Court where she served two years.
She was nominated by President Donald Trump to a seat on the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. She was confirmed by the Senate, as Danielle Hunsaker at the time, and received her commission in November 2019.
In the News…
A three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals determined that bringing a MAGA hat (Make America Great Again) to a teacher training was protected speech under the First Amendment. The judges ruled that there was no legitimate interest in preventing the Vancouver, Washington, sixth-grade teacher from bringing the hat to a training session on cultural sensitivity and racial bias.
“While some of the training attendees may have been outraged or offended by [the teacher’s] political expression, no evidence of actual or tangible disruption to school operations has been presented,” Judge Danielle Forrest wrote. “Political speech is the quintessential example of protected speech, and it is inherently controversial.”
“It was patently unreasonable for [the principal] to believe that she could restrict [the teacher’s] speech to quell what was, in reality, nothing more than the natural effect that disfavored political speech often has on those with different viewpoints,” the court ruled, noting that the school principal had allowed a Black Lives Matter poster to hang in the school library and had a political bumper sticker on her own car.
Contact this Leader…
Did you pray for Judge Forrest today? You can let her know at:
The Honorable Danielle Forrest
Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals
Pioneer Courthouse
700 S.W. 6th Ave., Rm. 110
Portland, OR 97204
