M. Blane Michael

Martin Blane Michael (February 17, 1943 – March 25, 2011) was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

Education and career

Born in Charleston, South Carolina, Michael grew up in Grant County, West Virginia, and in 1965 he earned an Artium Baccalaureus degree, magna cum laude, at West Virginia University, where he was student body president and elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He then attended New York University School of Law, where he earned a Juris Doctor in 1968. on August 6, 1993, to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit vacated by James Marshall Sprouse.

Judicial philosophy

Michael had often been in disagreement with his judicial colleagues on the Fourth Circuit, which was known in the 1990s as the "boldest" conservative appellate court in the United States. However, by the end of Michael's tenure, the Fourth Circuit had begun to shift philosophically after President Barack Obama appointed a majority of its judges during his tenure.

Michael also fostered collegiality on the court. As Circuit Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III noted in a 2005 speech published in the Northwestern University Law Review, Michael and Wilkinson would jog together in their spare time when they were in Richmond, Virginia to hear oral arguments, even though they have very different judicial perspectives. According to newspaper accounts, when officials in the administration of President George W. Bush consulted Senator Byrd in the summer of 2005 about the United States Supreme Court vacancy caused by the death of Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, Byrd suggested Michael be nominated to fill the seat.

Death

After a long illness, Michael died on March 25, 2011, in Charleston, West Virginia.