Robert Holmes Bell

Robert Holmes Bell (born April 19, 1944) is an inactive Senior United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan.

Robert Holmes Bell
Senior Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan
(Inactive)
Assumed office
January 31, 2017
Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan
In office
2001–2008
Preceded byRichard Alan Enslen
Succeeded byPaul Lewis Maloney
Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan
In office
July 2, 1987 – January 31, 2017
Appointed byRonald Reagan
Preceded byWendell Alverson Miles
Personal details
Born
Robert Holmes Bell

(1944-04-19) April 19, 1944
Lansing, Michigan
EducationWheaton College (B.A.)
Wayne State University Law School (J.D.)

Education and career

Born in Lansing, Michigan, Bell received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Wheaton College in 1966.[1] At Wheaton, Bell lettered in track each year.[2] Bell received his Juris Doctor from Wayne State University Law School in 1969.[1] He was an assistant county prosecuting attorney for Ingham County, Michigan from 1969 to 1973 and then became a judge, first on the Ingham District Court in Mason, Michigan from 1973 to 1979, and then on the Ingham County Circuit Court in Lansing from 1979 to 1987.[1]

Federal judicial service

On March 11, 1987, Bell was nominated by President Ronald Reagan to a seat on the United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan vacated by Judge Wendell Alverson Miles.[1] Bell was confirmed by the United States Senate on July 1, 1987, and received his commission the following day.[1] He served as Chief Judge from 2001 to 2008.[1] He assumed inactive senior status on January 31, 2017.

Chief Justice John Roberts appointed Bell to serve as chairman of the criminal law committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States. In that post, Bell wrote a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2013 opposing mandatory minimum sentences, saying they produce "unjust results" and waste public funds.[2][3][4]

Personal life

Bell met his wife, Helen, while both were students at Wheaton. They have three children. Their son, Rob Bell, is the founding pastor of the Mars Hill Bible Church megachurch.[2]

Notes
  1. "Bell, Robert Holmes - Federal Judicial Center". www.fjc.gov.
  2. John Agar, Profile: U.S. District Court Judge Robert Holmes Bell, MLove (February 13, 2011).
  3. Associated Press, West Michigan federal judge knocks mandatory minimum sentences (September 21, 2013).
  4. Garret Ellison, Mandatory minimum sentences waste money, have 'unjust results,' says Grand Rapids federal judge, MLive (September 22, 2013).
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Legal offices
Preceded by
Wendell Alverson Miles		 Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan
1987–2017		 Vacant
Preceded by
Richard Alan Enslen		 Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan
2001–2008		 Succeeded by
Paul Lewis Maloney
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