Deborah Batts, the first out LGBTQ federal judge–and also a mom—died this past Monday at the age of 72, after complications from knee replacement surgery.
Batts was sworn in as a judge on the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in 1994 after being nominated by President Bill Clinton. She was the only openly gay or lesbian judge to sit on the federal bench until J. Paul Oetken was appointed in 2011. Perhaps surprisingly for the time, she had an “easy confirmation,” reported Frontiers magazine shortly after she was sworn in. They attributed this to the fact that she was not an activist identified with the gay rights movement and that she came out gradually to colleagues.
She didn’t hide who she was, though. Batts told the Washington Blade shortly after taking her seat that “being a lesbian is definitely part of my life,” but added, “It is also one of many parts of my life. I am also a very devoted mother, I’m an attorney, a former prosecutor and I’m an African-American.” Batts had two children with a husband whom she divorced. She married the spouse who now survives her, Dr. Gwen Zornberg, in 2011.
Batts, who attended Radcliffe College and Harvard Law School, oversaw numerous high-profile cases during her tenure as a federal judge. At the time of her death, she was set to oversee the trial of Michael Avenatti, Stormy Daniels’ former attorney, who was charged with stealing money from her book deal. She was also the first Black faculty member at Fordham Law School, a position she retained even as a judge, reported the New York Times in its obituary of her. Additionally, she was a Member of the Scientific Committee for the International Conference on LGBT Human Rights, in Montreal, Canada, from 2004 to 2006, noted the court in a statement (pdf) it issued upon her death.
A trailblazer in every respect.
Southern District Chief Judge Colleen McMahon also said in that statement that Batts was “a trailblazer in every respect” who would be remembered by colleagues “for her devotion to the work of the court, for her mentorship of a cadre of young lawyers of all backgrounds, and for her infectious smile and extraordinary collegiality.” One of her greatest contributions to the court, McMahon wrote, was her last: “oversight of one of our RISE (Re-Entry through Intensive Supervision and Employment) Courts, through which offenders could earn reductions in their period of supervised release in exchange for participating in a special rehabilitative program under intensive judicial supervision.”
My condolences to her family, friends, and colleagues.