Wendy Beetlestone

Wendy Beetlestone (born April 4, 1961) is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Wendy Beetlestone
Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
Assumed office
November 21, 2014
Appointed byBarack Obama
Preceded byMichael Baylson
Personal details
Born (1961-04-04) April 4, 1961
Ibadan, Nigeria
EducationUniversity of Liverpool (BA)
University of Pennsylvania (JD)

Biography

Beetlestone attended Rishworth School in Yorkshire, before graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree, cum laude, in 1984 from the University of Liverpool. She received a Juris Doctor in 1993 from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. She began her legal career as a law clerk for Judge Robert S. Gawthrop III, of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, from 1993 to 1994. From 1994 to 2002, she worked at the law firm of Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis, LLP, becoming a partner in 2001. From 2002 to 2005, she served as general counsel of the School District of Philadelphia. From 2005 to 2014, she had been a shareholder at the law firm of Hangley, Aronchick, Segal, Pudlin & Schiller, where she litigated a variety of commercial matters before both Federal and State courts.[1][2] In 2023, she was announced as the next Chancellor of the University of Liverpool. She is the University’s eleventh Chancellor and the institution’s first female and first Black Chancellor.[3]

Federal judicial service

On June 16, 2014, President Barack Obama nominated Beetlestone to serve as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, to the seat vacated by Judge Michael Baylson, who assumed senior status on July 13, 2012.[4] On July 24, 2014, a hearing before the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary was held on her nomination.[5] On September 18, 2014, her nomination was reported out of committee by a voice vote.[6] On November 18, 2014, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid filed for cloture on her nomination. On Wednesday November 19, 2014, the United States Senate invoked cloture on her nomination by a 58–38 vote.[7] On Thursday, November 20, 2014, her nomination was confirmed by a voice vote.[8] She received her judicial commission on November 21, 2014.[2]

Among other notable cases in which she has presided, on December 15, 2017, Beetlestone issued a nationwide injunction prohibiting the enforcement of regulations that allowed employers to refuse to cover contraception in their employees’ insurance plans if they have either religious objections to birth control or “sincerely held moral convictions” against it.[9] “It is difficult,” Judge Beetlestone wrote, “to comprehend a rule that does more to undermine the contraceptive mandate or that intrudes more into the lives of women.”[10] Judge Beetlestone issued a second nationwide injunction after President Trump issued revised rules.[11]

See also

References
  1. "President Obama Announces Intent to Nominate Five to Serve on the United States District Courts". whitehouse.gov. 13 June 2014 – via National Archives.
  2. Wendy Beetlestone at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
  3. "United States District Judge Wendy Beetlestone appointed University Chancellor - University of Liverpool News". 18 January 2023.
  4. "Presidential Nominations Sent to the Senate". whitehouse.gov. 16 June 2014 – via National Archives.
  5. "United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary". www.judiciary.senate.gov.
  6. "Results of Executive Business Meeting – September 18, 2014 United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary" (PDF).
  7. "On the Cloture Motion (Motion to Invoke Cloture on the Nomination of Wendy Beetlestone, of Pennsylvania, to be U.S. District Judge)". United States Senate. Retrieved 19 November 2014.
  8. "PN1774 — Wendy Beetlestone — The Judiciary". congress.gov. Retrieved 5 November 2022.
  9. Greenhouse, Carol (December 21, 2017). "Why Judges Matter". New York Times.
  10. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Trump, et al., 17-cv-4965, slip op. (Dec. 15, 2017), available at https://static01.nyt.com/opinion/contributors/Pennsylvaniav.Trump.pdf
  11. Goldstein, Amy. "Judge blocks Trump effort to roll back birth-control mandate nationwide". Washington Post.
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