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R. Guy Cole

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R. Guy Cole Jr.
United States Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit
Tenure
2023 - Present
Years in position
3
Prior offices:
United States Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit
Years in office: 1995 - 2023
Successor:Rachel Bloomekatz (Nonpartisan)
Education
Bachelor's
Tufts University, 1972
Law
Yale Law School, 1975
Personal
Birthplace
Birmingham, AL

Ransey Guy Cole, Jr. is afederal judge onsenior status with theUnited States Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit. He first joined the court in 1995 after being nominated by PresidentBill Clinton (D). From 2014 to 2021, Cole served as thechief judge of the court. Cole assumed senior status on January 9, 2023.[1][2]

Biography

Early life and education

A native ofBirmingham, Alabama, Cole graduated from Tufts University with his bachelor's degree in 1972 and from Yale Law School with hisJ.D. in 1975.[1]

Professional career

Judicial career

Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals

Nomination Tracker
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Nominee Information
Name: R. Guy Cole, Jr.
Court:United States Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit
Progress
Confirmed 176 days after nomination.
ApprovedANominated: June 29, 1995
ApprovedAABA Rating:Unanimously Well Qualified
Questionnaire:
ApprovedAHearing: September 28, 1995
QFRs:(Hover over QFRs to read more)
ApprovedAReported: October 26, 1995 
ApprovedAConfirmed: December 22, 1995
ApprovedAVote: Voice vote

Cole was nominated by to theUnited States Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit by PresidentBill Clinton on June 29, 1995, to a seat vacated by JudgeNathaniel Jones. TheAmerican Bar Association rated ColeUnanimously Well Qualified for the nomination.[3] Hearings on Cole's nomination were held before theUnited States Senate Committee on the Judiciary on September 28, 1995, and his nomination was reported by U.S. Sen.Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) on October 26, 1995. Cole was confirmed on a voice vote of theU.S. Senate on December 22, 1995, and he received his commission on December 26, 1995. He served aschief judge of theSixth Circuit from 2014 to 2021.[1][4]

Southern District of Ohio bankruptcy court

Cole began his federal judicial career as a U.S. bankruptcy judge on theUnited States bankruptcy court, Southern District of Ohio. Cole was nominated by the Sixth Circuit Judicial Conference to a fourteen-year term as a federal bankruptcy judge in 1987. He resigned in 1993.[1]

Noteworthy cases

SCOTUS vacates Sixth Circuit judgment on retiree benefits (2015)

See also:United States Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit (M&G Polymers USA LLC v. Tackett)

On January 26, 2015, theU.S. Supreme Courtvacated the judgment of a three-judge panel of theSixth Circuit. JudgeGuy Cole delivered the opinion of the circuit panel.

A group of retirees sued M&G Polymers under the Labor Relations Management Act (LMRA) and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) after M&G announced that it would cap healthcare benefits. The retirees claimed that M&G violated the operative collective bargaining agreement (CBA) language that indicated the company would provide full, lifetime coverage of health benefits, and that the cap was not adopted in the most recent CBA. A federal district court initially dismissed the retirees' claims but, after aremand from theSixth Circuit, the district court ordered that benefits be reinstated to a post-2007 CBA that included employee contributions. Both sides appealed. A three-judge panel of theSixth Circuit, in an opinion by JudgeGuy Cole, upheld the district court's decision.

Writing for a unanimousU.S. Supreme Court, JusticeClarence Thomasvacated the circuit panel, holding that the Sixth Circuit was wrong to infer that parties to collective bargaining intended for the retirees' benefits to vest for life after the operative CBA expired. Instead, the circuit court should have subjected the determination of benefits to ordinary contract principles.[5][6]

See also

External links


Footnotes

Political offices
Preceded by
-		United States Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit
1995-2023		Succeeded by
Rachel Bloomekatz
US-CourtOfAppeals-6thCircuit-Seal.png
v • e
Federal judges who have served theU.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
Active judges

Chief Judge: Jeffrey Sutton  •  Raymond Kethledge  •  Amul Thapar  •  Eric Clay  •  Richard Griffin  •  Karen Moore  •  Joan Larsen  •  Stephanie Dawkins Davis  •  John K. Bush  •  John Nalbandian  •  Eric Murphy  •  Chad Readler  •  Andre Mathis  •  Rachel Bloomekatz  •  Kevin Ritz

Senior judges

Helene White  •  Alice Batchelder  •  Ralph Guy  •  James L. Ryan  •  Alan Norris  •  Richard Suhrheinrich  •  Martha Daughtrey  •  David McKeague  •  Deborah Cook  •  Julia Gibbons  •  John M. Rogers (Sixth Circuit)  •  Ronald Gilman  •  Danny Boggs  •  R. Guy Cole  •  Eugene Siler  •  Jane Stranch  •  

Former judgesDamon Keith  •  Bernice Donald  •  Gilbert Merritt  •  Cornelia Kennedy  •  Boyce Martin  •  Julian William Mack  •  Harry Wellford  •  Robert Krupansky  •  Leroy Contie  •  Herbert Milburn  •  Albert Engel  •  Pierce Lively  •  Halmer Hull Emmons  •  John Baxter  •  William E. Miller  •  Howell Edmunds Jackson  •  William Howard Taft  •  Horace Harmon Lurton  •  Henry Franklin Severens  •  William Rufus Day  •  Loyal Edwin Knappen  •  John Kelvey Richards  •  Arthur Carter Denison  •  John Wesley Warrington  •  Maurice Donahue  •  John Weld Peck  •  Smith Hickenlooper  •  Xenophon Hicks  •  Charles Casper Simons  •  Charles Harwood Moorman  •  Florence Ellinwood Allen  •  Elwood Hamilton  •  John Donelson Martin (Federal appeals court judge)  •  Herschel Arant  •  Shackelford Miller  •  Wade Hampton McCree, Jr.  •  Henry Brooks  •  Clifford O'Sullivan  •  Paul Weick  •  Lester Cecil  •  John Peck II  •  Bailey Brown  •  Anthony Celebrezze  •  Bertram Combs  •  George Edwards (Sixth Circuit)  •  Thomas McAllister  •  Nathaniel Jones (federal judge)  •  Susan Neilson  •  Harry Phillips  •  David Aldrich Nelson  •  
Former Chief judges

Alice Batchelder  •  Gilbert Merritt  •  Boyce Martin  •  Danny Boggs  •  Albert Engel  •  Pierce Lively  •  R. Guy Cole  •  Xenophon Hicks  •  Charles Casper Simons  •  Florence Ellinwood Allen  •  John Donelson Martin (Federal appeals court judge)  •  Shackelford Miller  •  Paul Weick  •  Lester Cecil  •  George Edwards (Sixth Circuit)  •  Thomas McAllister  •  Harry Phillips  •  


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1993

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1996

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