Joseph Bataillon

{{Short description|American judge (born 1949)}} {{BLP sources|date=January 2024}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Joseph Bataillon | image = Joseph F. Bataillon District Judge.jpg | alt = | caption = | office = Senior Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska | term_start = October 3, 2014 | term_end = | office1 = Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska | term_start1 = 2004 | term_end1 = 2011 | predecessor1 = Richard G. Kopf | successor1 = Laurie Smith Camp | office2 = Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska | term_start2 = September 18, 1997 | term_end2 = October 3, 2014 | appointer2 = Bill Clinton | predecessor2 = Lyle Elmer Strom | successor2 = Robert F. Rossiter Jr. | pronunciation = | birth_name = Joseph Francis Bataillon<ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=pur1.32754067979942&view=1up&seq=917 Confirmation hearings on federal appointments: hearings before the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, One Hundred Fifth Congress, first session, on confirmation of appointees to the federal judiciary.]</ref> | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1949|10|03}} | birth_place = Omaha, Nebraska, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = | death_cause = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = | citizenship = | party = | other_party = | height = | spouse = | partner = | relations = | children = | parents = | mother = | father = | relatives = | education = Creighton University (BA, JD)  | footnotes = }}

'''Joseph Francis Bataillon''' (born October 3, 1949) is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska.

==Education and career==

Bataillon was born in Omaha, Nebraska. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Creighton University in 1971 and a Juris Doctor from Creighton University School of Law in 1974. Bataillon was a deputy public defender for Douglas County, Nebraska from 1974 to 1980. He was in private practice in Omaha from 1980 to 1997.

===Federal judicial service===

On January 7, 1997, Bataillon was nominated by President Bill Clinton to a seat on the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska vacated by Judge Lyle Elmer Strom. Bataillon was confirmed by the United States Senate on September 11, 1997, and received his commission on September 18, 1997. He served as chief judge from 2004 to 2011. He assumed senior status on October 3, 2014.

===Notable case===

In 2003-05, Bataillon heard ''Citizens for Equal Protection v. Bruning'', a federal constitutional challenge to a voter initiative constitutional amendment that prohibited Nebraska from recognizing same-sex marriages or unions known as Nebraska Initiative Measure 416. In November 2005, Bataillon ruled that Initiative Measure 416 was unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause, the First Amendment, and the Contract Clause's prohibition on bills of attainder. In so doing, Bataillon became the first judge in the U.S. to invalidate a state marriage amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman on federal constitutional grounds.

In July 2006, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit reversed Bataillon's decision on all three arguments and held that "laws limiting the state-recognized institution of marriage to heterosexual couples ... do not violate the Constitution of the United States."

In 2015, the Eighth Circuit's ruling was invalidated by the United States Supreme Court's decision in ''Obergefell v. Hodges''.

==Personal life== Bataillon is married to Pam Bataillon, who ran for lieutenant governor of Nebraska in 1998.<ref name=unopposed>{{cite news|title=Pam Bataillon Campaigns|newspaper=Omaha World-Herald|date=May 8, 1998|page=22|access-date=June 22, 2023|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/892237740/}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Pam Bataillon Entering Race|newspaper=Omaha World-Herald|date=February 23, 1998|page=9|access-date=June 22, 2023|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/892060626/}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Sources== *{{FJC Bio|nid=1390431}}

{{s-start}} {{s-legal}} {{s-bef|before=Lyle Elmer Strom}} {{s-ttl|title={{nowrap|Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska}}|years=1997–2014}} {{s-aft|after=Robert F. Rossiter Jr.}} {{s-bef|before=Richard G. Kopf}} {{s-ttl|title={{nowrap|Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska}}|years=2004–2011}} {{s-aft|after=Laurie Smith Camp}} {{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bataillon, Joseph}} Category:1949 births Category:Living people Category:20th-century American judges Category:20th-century American lawyers Category:21st-century American judges Category:Creighton University alumni Category:Judges of the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska Category:Lawyers from Omaha, Nebraska Category:United States district court judges appointed by Bill Clinton Category:Creighton University School of Law alumni Category:Public defenders