25 Facts About Marsha Berzon

Marsha Lee Berzon is a senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Marsha Berzon then clerked for Judge James R Browning of the Ninth Circuit from 1973 to 1974.

Marsha Berzon was in private practice in Washington, DC from 1975 to 1977 and then moved to San Francisco, California where she practiced from 1978 to 2000.

Marsha Berzon was a lecturer at UC Berkeley in 1992 and a practitioner-in-residence at Cornell Law School in 1994.

On January 27,1998, Berzon was nominated by Bill Clinton to the Ninth Circuit for the seat vacated when John T Noonan assumed senior status on December 27,1996.

On February 10,2003, Marsha Berzon dissented from denial of en banc after a panel rejected a Washington State Patrol cadet's claim that he was forced to resign due to lack of religious accommodations.

Also in 2009, Berzon dissented in Abebe v Holder, an immigration case by a lawful permanent resident seeking protection for deportation.

Marsha Berzon, joined by several other liberal judges, argued that allowing the deportation of Abebe violates equal protection.

On May 21,2013, Marsha Berzon blocked Arizona's 20-week abortion ban, saying it was more restrictive than the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban.

The majority opinion, which Marsha Berzon joined, was written by Harry Pregerson.

On July 28,2017, in United States v Martinez-Lopez, Berzon dissented when an en banc panel allowed multiple convictions for a single offense using multiple drugs.

Marsha Berzon wrote that a substance must be named, and that multiple convictions for a single offense was a violation of California's multiple convictions code.

Marsha Berzon was joined by Stephen Reinhardt and Sidney Runyan Thomas, for all except part four.

On May 3,2019, Marsha Berzon joined an opinion ruling for a 14 year old illegal immigrant, saying his deportation would cause him harm.

Marsha Berzon wrote in a concurrence that the immigrant had shown proof of harm, but she was upset that the court did not mention 5th Amendment rights.

Marsha Berzon would have ruled that the 5th Amendment guarantees a right of due process for illegal immigrant minors.

Marsha Berzon wrote that those necessities were essential to the children's safety.

In Ceren v Barr, decided on March 5,2020, Berzon dissented, arguing that the Immigration Judge abused their discretion by refusing to allow the defendant's attorney, who was ill, to finish her closing arguments.

On September 2,2020, Marsha Berzon ruled that the NSA program that spied on Americans' cell phones is illegal.

On January 3,2022, Marsha Berzon voted to rehear the case en banc, as did Judge Gould, but the majority of the Court's active judges voted against rehearing.

In Lemos v County of Sonoma, handed down on July 16,2021, Berzon wrote a 19-page dissent when the majority barred Gabbi Lemos, from filing an excessive force suit against a police officer.

Marsha Berzon's concurrence went through the history of firearms and explained what a judge's role should be.

On December 4,2021, Marsha Berzon was one of two judges who declined to halt San Diego Unified School District's requirements that students be vaccinated by December 20.

In California Chamber of Commerce v Council for Education and Research on Toxics, Berzon wrote a strongly worded statement critical of the court's decision to limit access to the courts using the so-called "illegal objective" exception.

Marsha Berzon is the mother of Alexandra Marsha Berzon, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter.