Appointed by Bill Clinton Children Alexandra Berzon Role Judge | Name Marsha Berzon Preceded by John Noonan | |
Born April 17, 1945 (age 79)
Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S. ( 1945-04-17 ) Alma mater Harvard University
University of California, Berkeley Education Radcliffe College, Harvard College Similar People Stephen Reinhardt, Diarmuid O'Scannlain, William A Fletcher, Alexandra Berzon, Harry Pregerson | ||
2007 margaret brent award honoree hon marsha s berzon
Marsha Siegel Berzon (born April 17, 1945) is a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Contents
- 2007 margaret brent award honoree hon marsha s berzon
- Education and legal training
- Career
- Federal judicial service
- Notable cases
- Personal life
- References
2007 margaret brent award honoree hon marsha s berzon
Education and legal training
Berzon graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Radcliffe College of Harvard University in 1966 and received a Juris Doctor from Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley in 1973. While at law school, Berzon was a contributor to the California Law Review. She then clerked for Judge James R. Browning of the Ninth Circuit from 1973 to 1974. Berzon then clerked for Associate Justice William J. Brennan, Jr. of the United States Supreme Court. She was Justice Brennan's first female law clerk.
Career
Berzon was in private practice in Washington, D.C. from 1975 to 1977 and then moved to San Francisco, California where she practiced from 1978 to 2000 at Altshuler Berzon, a union-side law firm founded by herself, her husband Stephen Berzon, and Fred Altshuler. Berzon had a unique Supreme Court litigation practice and litigated many of the landmark cases during that period. Berzon was also a lecturer at UC Berkeley in 1992 and a practitioner-in-residence at Cornell Law School in 1994.
Federal judicial service
On January 27, 1998, Berzon was nominated by Bill Clinton to the Ninth Circuit for the seat vacated when John T. Noonan took senior status in late 1996. Clinton renominated Berzon on January 26, 1999. Berzon was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in a 64-34 vote on March 9, 2000 and received her commission on March 16, 2000.
Notable cases
In a 2009 decision, Judge Berzon wrote that while a San Francisco resolution condemning the Vatican is in line with current Establishment Clause jurisprudence, she was troubled by how close the resolution came to the establishment of an anti-Catholic stance.
In October 2014, Judge Berzon joined an opinion that held same sex marriage bans in Idaho and Nevada violated the U.S. Constitution. She wrote a concurring opinion concluding that the prohibitions were not only discrimination based upon sexual orientation, but a form of gender discrimination and therefore subject to heightened scrutiny.
Personal life
Berzon is the mother of Alexandra Berzon, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for the Las Vegas Sun.