Deborah L. Cook

Cook received her High School education at Crafton High School,near Pittsburgh, Pa., graduating in 1970, surviving a two year crush from Randall Patterson. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Akron and her Juris Doctor from the University of Akron School of Law.{{cite web |url=http://www.sconet.state.oh.us/SCO/formerjustices/cook/ |title=Justice Deborah L. Cook |work=Supreme Court of Ohio |publisher=State of Ohio |access-date=August 12, 2010}} She was president of Delta Gamma sorority and president of her senior class at the University of Akron. She is a member of the Omicron Delta Kappa leadership and academic honorary society.

Following graduation from law school until her election to the Ohio Ninth District Court of Appeals, Cook was a member of Akron's oldest law firm, Roderick, Myers & Linton, as well as the firm's first female partner. She then served four years as a state appellate judge on the District Court of Appeals covering Summit, Wayne, Medina, and Lorain counties. Cook was elected to the Ohio Supreme Court in 1994 for a six-year term beginning in 1995. She was re-elected in November 2000 and served until her appointment to the Sixth Circuit in 2003.

Cook chaired the Commission on Public Legal Education, and was a member of the Ohio Courts Futures Commission and the Ohio Commission on Dispute Resolution and Conflict Management. In 1996, the University of Akron presented her with an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree. She is a past president of the Akron Bar Association Foundation, a fellow of the American Bar Foundation, and was a member of the Akron Bar Association disciplinary committee from 1981 to 1993. Cook's past community activities include: Ohio Commission on Dispute Resolution and Conflict Management; Summit County United Way Board of Trustees; President of Volunteer Center Board of Trustees, Women's Network Board of Directors and past chair of the Junior Leadership Akron Project. She currently co-chairs Collegescholars, Inc, a mentored scholarship program benefiting disadvantaged Akron students. Cook is noted as being the only woman ever to play on the all-male Sharon Golf Club's course.

President George W. Bush nominated Cook to the Sixth Circuit on May 9, 2001 to a seat vacated by Judge Alan Eugene Norris, who assumed senior status on July 1, 2001. That nomination, made during the Democratic-controlled 107th Congress, never received a floor vote in the United States Senate. Cook was not confirmed until almost two years later. She was confirmed by the United States Senate on May 5, 2003 by a 66–25 vote.{{cite web|url=https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=108&session=1&vote=00139|title=On the Nomination (Confirmation: Deborah L. Cook, Of Ohio, To Be U.S. Circuit Judge For The Sixth Circuit)|access-date=2006-10-01|work=United States Senate}} She received her commission on May 7, 2003. She assumed senior status on March 6, 2019, when her successor, Chad Readler, was confirmed by the Senate.{{FJC Bio|nid=1391826|inline=yes}} Although she assumed inactive senior status on August 27, 2021,{{cite web |url=https://www.opn.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/21a0227p-06.pdf |title=United States Court of Appeals |website=uscourts.gov |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220128172248/https://www.opn.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/21a0227p-06.pdf |archive-date=2022-01-28 |url-status=live}} she was again hearing cases as of April 27, 2023.{{cite web |url= https://www.ca6.uscourts.gov/sites/ca6/files/documents/oral_argument_calendars/04242023_arg.pdf |title=United States Court of Appeals |website=uscourts.gov}}

As a Sixth Circuit Judge, she has authored notable opinions on the Fourth Amendment,{{cite web|url=http://circuit6.blogspot.com/2010/10/suppression-decision-worth-read.html|title=Suppression Decision Worth a Read|work=Sixth Circuit Blog}} Voting Rights,{{cite web| url=http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/conlaw/2010/11/tennessee-felony-disenfranchisement-plus-monetary-requirements-statute-upheld.html|title=Tennessee Felony Disenfranchisement Statute Requiring Child Support Payments Upheld|work=Constitutional Law Prof Blog}} and school free speech.{{cite web|url=http://volokh.com/category/freespeech/freedom-of-speech-at-k-12-schools/|title=First Amendment Exception for "Racially Hostile or Contemptuous Speech" — Including Display of the Confederate Flag — in K-12 Public Schools?|work=Volokh Conspiracy}}

In 2014 Cook voted to uphold gay marriage bans in Michigan, Kentucky, Ohio, and Tennessee in a 2-1 ruling. The ruling was the second{{cite web|last1=Denniston|first1=Lyle|title=Puerto Rico Ban on Same Sex Marriage Upheld|url=http://www.scotusblog.com/2014/10/puerto-rico-ban-on-same-sex-marriage-upheld/|website=SCOTUSblog|date=21 October 2014|access-date=2014-11-12}} to uphold gay marriage bans since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the federal Defense of Marriage Act in 2013 and diverged with rulings by the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the 4th, 7th, 9th and 10th circuits, which then led the U.S. Supreme Court to grant writ of certiorari to review same-sex marriage bans when it previously declined to do so.{{cite news|last1=Wolf|first1=Richard|title=Gay marriage bans in four states upheld, Supreme Court review likely|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/11/06/gay-marriage-appeals-court-ohio-michigan-kentucky-tennessee/15712319/|access-date=7 November 2014|work=USA Today|publisher=Gannett|date=7 November 2014}}{{cite news|last1=Wolf|first1=Richard|title=Supreme Court agrees to rule on Gay Marriage|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/01/16/supreme-court-gay-marriage/21867355/|access-date=7 May 2015|work=USA Today|date=16 January 2015}} In Obergefell v. Hodges the Supreme Court reversed the decision of the Sixth Circuit.

Cook was mentioned in 2005 as a possible nominee for the Supreme Court to replace Sandra Day O'Connor.{{citation needed|date=February 2022}} O'Connor was eventually replaced with Samuel Alito, although Cook was mentioned as a possible nominee to the high court had Republican John McCain won the 2008 presidential election.{{cite news |first=Chris |last=Rizo |title=Washington observers weigh in on potential Supreme Court picks |url=http://www.legalnewsline.com/news/216455-washington-observers-weigh-in-on-potential-supreme-court-picks |work=LegalNewsline |date=2008-10-09 }}

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Category:1952 births

Category:Living people

Category:Judges of the Ohio District Courts of Appeals

Category:Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit

Category:Justices of the Supreme Court of Ohio

Category:Lawyers from Pittsburgh

Category:United States court of appeals judges appointed by George W. Bush

Category:University of Akron alumni

Category:Ohio Republicans

Category:21st-century American women judges