TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Azya Thornton on Feb 23, 2026

Chief Judge Jeffrey Sutton of the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals announced Friday that he plans to take senior status beginning Oct. 1, Bloomberg Law reports. Sutton, who has served on the court since his 2003 appointment by President George W. Bush and became chief judge in 2021, has presided over major cases that later reached the U.S. Supreme Court and authored notable opinions addressing the Affordable Care Act and same-sex marriage bans. Before joining the bench, Sutton worked at Jones Day and served as Ohio’s solicitor general from 1995 to 1998. Trump now will have the opportunity to nominate a successor to the life-tenured seat, subject to Senate confirmation. The 6th Circuit covers the states of Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee and is based in Cincinnati.