Susan Graber

Susan P. Graber (born 1949) is a senior United States circuit judge on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Appointed to the federal bench by President Bill Clinton in 1998, she has served on the appellate court for more than two decades and continues to hear cases after assuming senior status in December 2021. Prior to her federal service, Graber held positions on both the Oregon Court of Appeals and the Oregon Supreme Court, becoming the second woman ever to sit on the state’s highest court. Her career spans public service in New Mexico, private practice in several states, and extensive involvement in professional legal organizations.

Early life and legal career

Susan Graber was born in Oklahoma City to a Jewish family and completed her secondary education before enrolling at Wellesley College in Massachusetts. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1969, graduating with Phi Beta Kappa honors. Continuing her academic pursuits, she attended Yale Law School, where she received her Juris Doctor in 1972; among her classmates were future political figures Hillary Rodham Clinton and Bill Clinton.

Following law school, Graber entered public service as an assistant attorney general for the New Mexico Bureau of Revenue, a role she held until 1974. She then transitioned to private practice in Santa Fe, New Mexico, for roughly one year before relocating to Cincinnati, Ohio. In Ohio she practiced with the firm Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP from 1975 to 1978. That same year brought another move, this time to Portland, Oregon, where she joined Stoel Rives Boley Jones and Grey (now known as Stoel Rives LLP). She advanced from associate to partner by 1981.

Graber’s commitment to pro bono work was recognized in 1986 when the Northwest Women’s Law Center presented her with its Founders Award. In addition to private practice, she occasionally served as a temporary state district court judge beginning in 1983, stepping in when regular judges were unavailable. From 1986 to 1988 she also acted as a mediator for the United States District Court for the District of Oregon.

Her judicial career at the state level began with an appointment by Governor Neil Goldschmidt to the Oregon Court of Appeals on February 11, 1988, filling the vacancy left by Judge Thomas F. Young. While serving on that intermediate appellate court until May 2, 1990, Graber held the presidency of the Oregon Appellate Judges Association. Governor Goldschmidt subsequently appointed her to the Oregon Supreme Court on May 2, 1990, succeeding Robert E. Jones. After Jones briefly returned to office through an election and then resigned again, Graber was reappointed on January 7, 1991, becoming the second woman ever to serve on Oregon’s highest court after Betty Roberts. She won a full six‑year term in the 1992 election but chose to resign on April 1, 1998 before completing that term. During her tenure on the state supreme court she was at times mentioned as a potential nominee for the United States Supreme Court.

Federal appellate service

President Bill Clinton nominated Graber to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on July 30, 1997, designating her to fill the seat vacated by Judge Edward Leavy, who had taken senior status. The Senate confirmed her nomination unanimously (98‑0) on March 17, 1998, and she received her commission two days later. Her appointment marked the first time a woman from Oregon served as a judge on the Ninth Circuit.

While on the federal bench, Graber has been active in both bar association leadership and judicial administration. In 2001 she was selected to chair the American Bar Association’s Committee on Appellate Practice. She also contributed to two committees of the United States Judicial Conference: the Committee on State‑Federal Jurisdiction from 2010 to 2013, and the Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure from 2013 to 2016.

Graber’s service was recognized by several organizations. The Classroom Law Project named her Legal Citizen of the Year in 1998, and Yale University presented her with the Oregon For Country Award in 2001. After more than two decades of active service, she announced on February 11, 2021 that she would assume senior status upon confirmation of a successor. She entered senior status on December 15, 2021 after Judge Jennifer Sung was confirmed by the Senate.

Jurisprudence and legacy

Throughout her tenure on the Ninth Circuit, Judge Graber has authored opinions on a range of legal issues, reflecting both majority rulings and dissents that illustrate her judicial perspective. In 2006 she upheld a lengthy mandatory‑minimum sentence—159 years—in a case involving a mentally handicapped individual who served as a getaway driver, demonstrating an adherence to statutory sentencing frameworks even in circumstances raising questions about culpability.

More recently, on November 30, 2021 Graber wrote the majority opinion in *Duncan v. Bonta*, a high‑profile Second Amendment case concerning Oregon’s prohibition of large‑capacity firearm magazines. The panel, split 7‑4, concluded that the state law did not infringe upon constitutional gun‑ownership rights, thereby upholding the legislative restriction.

In 2025 Graber authored a dissent in a case addressing the deployment of National Guard forces to Portland, Oregon, during protests related to Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations. The majority had allowed the continuation of the deployment despite an earlier temporary restraining order that questioned its factual basis. In her dissent, Judge Graber emphasized the lack of legal or factual justification for federalizing and deploying state militia troops, underscoring concerns about the erosion of constitutional principles such as state control over militias and First Amendment protections for assembly and protest.

Beyond specific rulings, Graber’s broader legacy includes pioneering representation for women in Oregon’s judiciary and contributing to the development of appellate practice standards nationwide. Her participation in judicial committees has helped shape procedural rules that affect both federal and state courts. The combination of her early public‑service roles, extensive private‑practice experience, and long tenure on both state and federal benches positions her as a notable figure in the American legal landscape, particularly within the Ninth Circuit’s jurisprudential history.