Background
BLACK, TIMOTHY was born on August 30, 1953 in Boston, Massachusetts, United States.
BLACK, TIMOTHY was born on August 30, 1953 in Boston, Massachusetts, United States.
Harvard University (Bachelor of Arts, cum laude, 1975). Salmon P. Chase College of Law, Northern Kentucky University (Juris Doctor, 1983).
Black earned an Bachelor of Arts from Harvard College in 1975 and then earned a law degree in 1983 from the Salmon P. Chase College of Law at Northern Kentucky University. Black practiced law as a civil litigator for the Cincinnati law firm of Graydon Head & Ritchey from 1983 until 1993. In 1991, Black unsuccessfully ran in a judicial election for the Hamilton County Municipal Court as a Republican.
In 1993, he ran as a Democrat and defeated sitting judge David Albanese.
He served as a Hamilton County Municipal Court judge from 1994-2004. He ran unsuccessfully for a seat on the Ohio Supreme Court in 2000 and in 2002.
In 2004, the judges on the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio selected Black as a United States magistrate judge. In July 2009, a bipartisan commission in Ohio selected Black from a list of three finalists and recommended him to President Barack Obama to fill a vacancy on the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.
On December 24, 2009, Obama formally nominated Black to fill the district court vacancy, which was created by Judge Sandra Beckwith taking senior status on January 1, 2009.
On May 11, 2010, the United States Senate confirmed Black in a unanimous voice vote. He received his commission on May 13, 2010. On July 22, 2013 Judge Black ruled that Ohio must recognize the same sex marriage of John Arthur and James Obergefell.
Arthur, who died on October 22, 2013 of Lou Gehrig"s disease, and Obergefell were married in Maryland, where same-sex marriage is recognized, in a ceremony on an airplane on the airport tarmac.
The ruling meant the pair can be buried next to each other in Arthur"s family plot, located at a cemetery that only allows descendants and spouses. In September 2013, Ohio State Representative John Becker sent a letter to his fellow state legislators asking them to initiate impeachment proceedings against Judge Black.
On December 23, 2013, Black ordered Ohio to recognize same-sex marriages from other states on death certificates, deeming Ohio"s ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional.
Cincinnati, Ohio State, Kentucky, Northern Kentucy and American Bar Associations. The Association of Trial Lawyers of America. Litigation, School Law, Adoption Law.