Obama nominates for Sixth Circuit

Nashville attorney on list submitted to U.S. Senate to fill vacancy left by Senior Judge Martha Craig Daughtrey

Email | Print By Ken Whitehouse

Jane Branstetter Stranch, an attorney at Branstetter Stranch & Jennings, has been nominated by President Barack Obama to serve as a Judge on the United States Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. The seat has been vacant since earlier this year, when Judge Martha Craig Daughtrey took senior status.

Stranch had widely been considered a frontrunner for the position by court-watchers ever since the position came open. Her nomination must be approved by the U.S. Senate.

In an announcement posted to the White House Web site, President Obama praised Stranch and a fellow nominee, Pennsylvania Judge Thomas Vanaskie, whom he tapped for a seat in the Third Circuit.

"Jane Stranch and Thomas Vanaskie have displayed exceptional dedication to their communities through their work and I am honored to nominate them," Obama said. "They will be diligent, judicious and esteemed additions to the Third and Sixth Circuit benches."

The Sixth Circuit Court, based in Cincinnati, hears appeals from U.S. District Courts in Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio and Michigan.

In addition to her legal work, Stranch has served as the first board chair of the Bellevue YMCA and has led capital campaigns for the YMCA and St. Luke's Community House. She has also served as vice chancellor for the Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee and on the Vanderbilt University School of Law National Alumni Board.

Stranch was in the second class of women admitted to the University of Virginia. She is a 1975 summa cum laude graduate of Vanderbilt University and received her law degree from Vanderbilt School of Law in 1978, Order of the Coif. She has taught labor law at Belmont University and has served on the AFL-CIO Lawyers Coordinating Committee.

She is married to an attorney, James G. Stranch III, and they have four children, one of whom practices law with them.

At the time of publication of this article, Stranch was unavailable for comment.