Ohio State announced it is appointing a chief federal appellate judge as the new Distinguished Professor of Jurisprudence at the Moritz College of Law.
Chief Judge Jeffrey Sutton has served on the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati for 23 years.
During that time, Sutton wrote the 2-1 opinion in 2014 that upheld bans on same-sex marriages in Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky and Tennessee. The U.S. Supreme Court reversed the decision in the case, Obergefell vs. Hodges.
Sutton also is a former Ohio Solicitor General and is considered a constitutional law expert. He earned his law degree in 1990 from the Ohio State University College of Law.
His appointment is the first under Ohio State's Game Changer Scholars initiative designed to attract teachers who the university considers to be world-class faculty to OSU.
“By bringing a nationally respected jurist back to his alma mater, we will provide students enhanced access to legal thought and experience, offer faculty a dynamic collaborator, and advance the college’s reputation as a national leader in legal education and scholarship," Executive Vice President and Provost Ravi Bellamkonda said in a statement.
Sutton was a former law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justices Lewis Powell and Antonin Scalia, and a partner at the law firm Jones Day.
WOSU has left a message with Stonewall Columbus Executive Director Densil Porteous for comment.
