Jane Branstetter Stranch

Kathy Jane Branstetter Stranch (born September 17, 1953) is a senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

Early life and education Born Kathy Jane Branstetter in Nashville, Tennessee, Stranch first attended the University of Virginia from 1971 to 1972 and then the University of Tennessee from 1972 to 1973 and earned no degree. In 1973, Stranch enrolled at Vanderbilt University earning a Bachelor of Arts degree, summa cum laude, in 1975. She then earned a Juris Doctor from Vanderbilt University Law School in 1978,

Professional career Stranch started her professional career at the law firm of Branstetter, Stranch & Jennings, PLLC as a law clerk working summers and part-time 1975 through the summer of 1978. Early in her career Stranch practiced law in both the state and federal courts with a focus in labor employment, Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), personal injury, worker's compensation, wrongful death, and utility law. During the latter part of the 1990s, Stranch's practice was mainly complex litigation and class action work throughout the United States. Many of her cases involved representation of plan participants who had lost their individual account pensions due to fiduciary breaches, often concurrent with corporate scandals. In addition, in the February 8, 2009 Nashville Tennessean, Stranch was interviewed by the newspaper about her interest in the vacancy, and she told The Tennessean that "I think there's value in a judge having a great deal of federal experience, but also one who's litigated. I would hope to bring to the bench a fair temperament but also an understanding of what it means to be a litigator in the courts." She waited longer than any other Obama nominee to receive a confirmation vote by the Senate. She received her commission on September 15, 2010. and later assumed senior status on July 14, 2025. But Judge Stranch wrote a concurrence to express her view on mandatory minimum sentencing: "I therefore join the continuous flood of voices expressing concern that the ACCA and other mandatory minimum laws are ineffective in achieving their purpose and damaging to our federal criminal justice system and our nation. I commend this case as another example of the need to reconsider the ACCA and mandatory sentencing in general."

On December 17, 2021, Stranch wrote the majority opinion in a 2–1 decision upholding a Biden administration requirement that all federal employees and contractors be vaccinated from COVID-19, and corporations with over 100 employees be either vaccinated or tested weekly.

Personal Stranch's husband, James G. Stranch III, is a Nashville attorney who is a partner in the law firm of Branstetter, Stranch & Jennings. They have four children, two of whom also practice at the firm.