Rachel Sarah Bloomekatz

Rachel Sarah Bloomekatz (born 1982) is an American attorney who, in July 2023, received her commission as a United States circuit judge on the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. Appointed by President Joseph R. Biden, she filled the vacancy created by Judge R. Guy Cole Jr.’s transition to senior status. Bloomekatz’s career has combined extensive clerkship experience at both federal and state appellate courts, private‑practice litigation, public‑interest advocacy, and academic teaching. Prior to joining the federal bench, she practiced law in Ohio, represented organizations focused on gun safety and human‑trafficking victims, and served as a legal director for a U.S. Senate campaign. Her professional trajectory reflects a blend of appellate scholarship and hands‑on courtroom work that informs her service on the nation’s intermediate appellate judiciary.

Early life and legal career

Bloomekatz was born in 1982 in Southfield, Michigan. She pursued undergraduate studies at Harvard University, graduating magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in 2004. Continuing to law school, she earned her Juris Doctor from the UCLA School of Law in 2008, where she contributed as a comments editor on the UCLA Law Review. While a student, she completed internships with the Southern Poverty Law Center and the firm Hadsell Stormer Rennick & Dai LLP, gaining early exposure to civil‑rights and commercial practice.

Following law school, Bloomekatz entered a series of prestigious clerkships that laid the foundation for her appellate expertise. She first served as a law clerk to Judge Algenon L. Marbley of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio. The subsequent year she moved to the federal appellate level, clerking for Judge Guido Calabresi on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. A brief tenure in Massachusetts followed, where she assisted Chief Justice Margaret H. Marshall of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.

Her clerkship experience culminated with a term on the nation’s highest court; from 2011 to 2012 she worked as a law clerk for Justice Stephen Breyer of the United States Supreme Court. These successive positions provided Bloomekatz with insight into district‑court adjudication, circuit‑court jurisprudence, state‑high‑court decision‑making, and the Supreme Court’s deliberative processes.

After completing her federal clerkships, Bloomekatz served as an assistant attorney general in Boston from 2010 to 2011, contributing to the Commonwealth’s legal efforts. She then entered private practice, first as an associate at Jones Day in Columbus, Ohio (2013‑2015). During this period she engaged in litigation for a range of clients, including work on behalf of Everytown Law, the legal arm of the gun‑safety organization Everytown for Gun Safety. In 2012 she also acted as legal director for Senator Sherrod Brown’s re‑election campaign, overseeing the candidate’s legal compliance and strategy.

From 2016 to 2019 Bloomekatz was a principal at Gupta Wessler PLLC, where she continued to handle complex civil matters. She subsequently operated her own firm, Bloomekatz Law LLC, as a solo practitioner in Columbus between 2019 and 2023. In addition to her practice, she has contributed to legal education by teaching federal courts at the Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, sharing her appellate experience with law students.

Federal appellate service

Bloomekatz’s name first entered public discussion for a federal judgeship in April 2022, when she was identified as one of two women being considered for nomination to the Sixth Circuit. President Joe Biden formally nominated her on May 25 2022 to fill the seat slated to become vacant upon Judge R. Guy Cole Jr.’s senior‑status transition. The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on her nomination on June 22 2022, during which Republican senators questioned her prior advocacy for gun‑control measures and pro bono work performed while at Jones Day.

The committee’s initial vote on the nomination resulted in an even split: ten members voted to report the nomination favorably, ten opposed, and two abstained, leading to a failure to advance the nomination on August 4 2022. Under Senate Rule XXXI, Paragraph 6, her nomination was returned to the President at the close of the 117th Congress on January 3 2023. The President renominated Bloomekatz later that same day.

The renewed consideration progressed more swiftly. On February 9 2023 the Judiciary Committee reported her nomination favorably by an 11‑10 vote, reflecting a narrow partisan division. The full Senate invoked cloture on July 13 2023 with a 50‑45 vote; Senator Joe Manchin voted against invoking cloture. Four days later, on July 18 2023, the Senate confirmed Bloomekatz by a margin of 50‑48, again with Senator Manchin opposing her confirmation. She received her judicial commission two days thereafter, on July 20 2023, and entered active service as a circuit judge on the Sixth Circuit.

Jurisprudence and legacy

Although Bloomekatz’s tenure on the appellate bench is recent, her pre‑judicial work illustrates the substantive areas that have shaped her legal perspective. In 2014 she authored an amicus brief submitted on behalf of Senator Marco Rubio in a Fourth Circuit case involving victims of human trafficking; the brief sought to influence the appellate court’s consideration of victim‑centered remedies. Following the 2016 primary election, the Sixth Circuit appointed her as amica curiae to argue for extending polling‑place hours after an interstate closure caused significant logistical challenges for voters in several Ohio counties.

Perhaps most prominently, Bloomekatz represented Brandon Moore, a juvenile offender tried and convicted on multiple serious charges. She successfully challenged his sentence before the Ohio Supreme Court, arguing that it violated the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. Subsequently, she appealed a lower‑court order requiring Moore to report annually as a sexually oriented offender, contending that the statutory classification had been misapplied. These efforts underscore her engagement with constitutional criminal‑law issues, particularly those involving juvenile sentencing and procedural fairness.

Her involvement with Everytown Law reflects an ongoing commitment to public‑interest litigation concerning firearms regulation. While at Jones Day, she contributed pro bono representation for gun‑safety initiatives, a facet of her career that attracted scrutiny during the confirmation process but also signals a focus on policy areas affecting public safety.

In academia, Bloomekatz’s teaching of federal courts at Ohio State University has allowed her to shape future practitioners’ understanding of appellate procedure and jurisprudence. By bridging theory and practice, she has contributed to legal scholarship and mentorship within the state’s law‑school community.

Collectively, Bloomekatz’s blend of high‑level clerkships, diverse litigation experience, public‑interest advocacy, and academic involvement positions her as a jurist with a comprehensive view of both the procedural mechanics and substantive stakes of federal appellate adjudication. Her early decisions on the Sixth Circuit will further define how this background informs her interpretation of statutory and constitutional issues within the circuit’s jurisdiction, which encompasses Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee. As an active judge appointed by a Democratic president, she adds to the evolving composition of the federal judiciary while maintaining the non‑partisan role required of Article III judges.