Background
Kennedy, Cornelia Groefsema was born on August 4, 1923 in Detroit, Michigan, United States. Daughter of Elmer H. and Mary Blanche (Gibbons) Groefsema.
Kennedy, Cornelia Groefsema was born on August 4, 1923 in Detroit, Michigan, United States. Daughter of Elmer H. and Mary Blanche (Gibbons) Groefsema.
Bachelor, University Michigan, 1945. Juris Doctor with distinction, University Michigan, 1947. Honorary Doctor of Laws, Northern Michigan University, 1971.
Honorary Doctor of Laws, Eastern Michigan University, 1971. Honorary Doctor of Laws, Western Michigan University, 1973. Honorary Doctor of Laws, Detroit College Law, 1980.
Honorary Doctor of Laws, University Detroit, 1987.
After law school, she clerked for the chief judge of the United States. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Judge Harold Stephens, where she was the first woman to clerk on that court. In 1965 Kennedy ran for Wayne County Circuit Court judge and lost by fewer than 100 votes. Margaret G. Schaeffer, were the first sister judges in the United States.
Schaeffer sat on the 47th District Court in Farmington Hills, Michigan from 1974-1992.
In 1970 she was appointed by Richard Nixon to the United States. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. In 1977 Kennedy became the chief judge on that court, becoming the first woman to serve as chief judge of a United States. district court.
President Jimmy Carter elevated Kennedy to the United States. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in 1979. In 1981 President Ronald Reagan had narrowed his search for Justice Potter Stewart"s replacement to Kennedy and Sandra Day O"Connor as the first woman on the United States Supreme Court, before eventually choosing O"Connor for the vacant seat.
Kennedy was also on the shortlist for the seat vacated by the departure of William O. Douglas, which eventually went to John Paul Stevens.
Kennedy authored the majority opinion in Connection Distributing Company v. Keisler, 505 F.3d 545 (6th Cir 2007), which declared Section 2257 of the Child Protection and Obscenity Enforcement Acting unconstitutional. The United States. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit en banc vacated the decision and upheld Section 2257 in Connection Distributing Company v.
Holder with Kennedy authoring the primary dissent.
Member Commission on the Bicentennial of the United States Constitution (presidential appointment). Fellow American Bar Foundation. Member American Bar Association, Michigan Bar Association (past chairman negligence law section), Detroit Bar Association (past director), Federal Bar Association, American Judicature Society, National Association Women Lawyers, American Trial Lawyers Association, National Conference Federal Trial Judges (past chairman), Federal Judicial Fellows Commission (board directors), Federal Judicial Center (board directors), Phi Beta Kappa.
Married Charles S. Kennedy, Junior (deceased). 1 son, Charles S. III.
