Gershwin A. Drain

Gershwin Allen Drain (born January 24, 1949) is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.

Early life and education

Born in Detroit, Gershwin A. Drain attended Detroit St. Gregory High School, a Catholic high school, where he was president of his senior class. He received his Bachelor of Science in 1970 from Western Michigan University, which he attended on a football scholarship and for which he played football as a running back for the Western Michigan Broncos from 1968 to 1969. He received his Juris Doctor in 1972 from the University of Michigan Law School.

Career Drain served as a law clerk for the Third Circuit Court of Michigan from 1972 to 1973. By 2011, he had presided over approximately 600 cases that had gone to verdict or judgment. Of those, approximately 55 percent were jury trials, and 70 percent were criminal proceedings. He was rated Unanimously Qualified by the American Bar Association. He received his judicial commission on August 8, 2012. On February 13, 2015, he denied Odeh's appeal, ruling that her argument lacked legal merit. The judge held that evidence showed that Odeh illegally obtained U.S. citizenship by failing to disclose her conviction for fatal terrorist bombings, that the jurors "clearly did not believe [her] explanation", and that "the evidence was more than sufficient to support the jury's verdict."

On February 25, 2016, Odeh won her appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Circuit Judge John M. Rogers, joined partially by Judge Karen Nelson Moore, vacated and remanded, while Judge Alice M. Batchelder partially dissented, wanting to vacate while ordering a new trial. On December 6, 2016, Judge Drain denied prosecutors' request to reinstate Odeh's conviction, instead granting Odeh a new trial, scheduled to begin January 10, 2017.

On July 21, 2016, Drain struck down Michigan's ban on straight-ticket voting. He wrote that the ban would result in longer lines at polling places and would disproportionately harm black voters.

Awards and associations Drain is a member of the Michigan Bar Association, the Association of Black Judges of Michigan, a Prison Ministry for the Mound Correctional Facility, and is a lifetime member of the NAACP since 1989.

Personal life Drain and his wife, Meredith, have two daughters, both of whom are lawyers.