Robin Rosenbaum

Robin Rosenbaum

Nonpartisan

United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit

Tenure

2014 - Present

Years in position

10

Prior offices

United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida

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Education

Bachelor's

Cornell University, 1988

Law

University of Miami School of Law, 1991

Personal

Birthplace

Chapel Hill, N.C.

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Robin Stacie Rosenbaum is a federal judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit. Prior to being elevated to the Eleventh Circuit she served as a federal magistrate judge and, later, as a district judge on the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Early life and education

A native of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Rosenbaum earned her B.A. from Cornell University in 1988 and her J.D. from the University of Miami School of Law in 1991.

Professional career

• 2009-Present: Adjunct professor, University of Miami School of Law
• 1998-2007: Assistant United States attorney, Southern District of Florida

• 2002-2007: Section chief

• 1998: Law clerk, Hon. Stanley Marcus, United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit
• 1996-1997: Private practice, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
• 1995-1996: Staff counsel, Office of the Independent Counsel
• 1991-1995: Trial attorney, U.S. Department of Justice

Judicial career

11th Circuit Court of Appeals

Nomination Tracker
Nominee Information
Name: Robin S. Rosenbaum
Court: United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit
Progress
Confirmed 186 days after nomination.
ANominated: November 7, 2013
AABA Rating: Unanimously Well Qualified
Questionnaire: Questionnaire
AHearing: February 11, 2014
QFRs: QFRs (Hover over QFRs to read more)
AReported: March 6, 2014
AConfirmed: May 12, 2014
AVote: 91-0
AReturned: January 3, 2014

Rosenbaum was first nominated by President Barack Obama on November 7, 2013, to fill a vacancy on the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit. She was nominated to fill a vacancy created by Rosemary Barkett who resigned from the court to take a tribunal position at The Hague. President Obama said on the nomination:

“	Judge Rosenbaum has a long and impressive record of service and a history of handing down fair and judicious decisions. She will be a thoughtful and distinguished addition to the 11th Circuit, and I am extremely pleased to put her forward.	”
—President Barack Obama,

The American Bar Association rated Rosenbaum Unanimously Well Qualified for this nomination.

Rosenbaum's nomination was returned by the Senate on January 3, 2014, and she was renominated on January 6th by President Obama. Hearings on Rosenbaum's nomination were held before the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary on February 11, 2014, and her nomination was reported by U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) on March 6, 2014. Rosenbaum was confirmed on a recorded 91-0 vote of the U.S. Senate on May 12, 2014, and she received her commission on June 2, 2014.

Southern District of Florida

President Obama nominated Rosenbaum on November 30, 2011, to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida to fill the vacancy left by Alan Gold. Obama commented on all of the nominations submitted that day, stating:

“

Throughout their careers, these nominees have displayed unwavering commitment to justice and integrity. Their records of service to the public and the legal profession are distinguished and impressive and I am confident that they will serve the American people well from the United States District Court bench. I am honored to nominate them today.

”

The American Bar Association rated Rosenbaum Unanimously Well Qualified for the nomination. Hearings on Rosenbaum's nomination were held before the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary on February 29, 2012, and her nomination was reported by U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) on March 29, 2012. Rosenbaum was confirmed on a recorded 92-3 vote of the United States Senate on June 26, 2012, and she received her commission the next day. Rosenbaum resigned from the district court on June 3, 2014, upon her elevation to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

Southern District of Florida, Magistrate judge

Rosenbaum was appointed a federal magistrate judge for the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida in May 2007. She served in this position until her appointment as an Article III judge on the district court.

Noteworthy cases

Title VII discrimination case (2017)

See also: United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit (Jameka K. Evans v. Georgia Regional Hospital, Charles Moss, et al., 15-15234)

Judge Robin Rosenbaum wrote a dissenting opinion in the case of Evans v. Georgia Regional Hospital, which was decided by a three-judge panel of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals on March 10, 2017. In the case, the panel held that the circuit court's 1979 precedent, Blum v. Gulf Oil Corporation, bound the panel to hold that discrimination in the workplace on the basis of sexual orientation did not violate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. The full Eleventh Circuit declined to hear the case en banc. Lambda Legal, which represented Evans before the circuit panel, announced they would appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Writing in dissent, Rosenbaum stated that while she agreed with the panel that Evans should be permitted to modify her petition to present a gender non-conformity claim in district court, she disagreed with the panel's judgment on the Title VII question. In her view, the U.S. Supreme Court's 1989 opinion in Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins was controlling precedent and that the court was not bound by the Eleventh Circuit's precedent in Blum. In responding to the concurring opinion of her colleague in the case, Judge William Pryor, Rosenbaum wrote,

“

Plain and simple, when a woman alleges, as Evans has, that she has been discriminated against because she is a lesbian, she necessarily alleges that she has been discriminated against because she failed to conform to the employer’s image of what women should be—specifically, that women should be sexually attracted to men only. And it is utter fiction to suggest that she was not discriminated against for failing to comport with her employer’s stereotyped view of women. That is discrimination 'because of ... sex,' ... and it clearly violates Title VII under Price Waterhouse. ... But in the concurrence’s world, only the person who acts on her feelings enjoys the protection of Title VII. This makes no sense from a practical, textual, or doctrinal point of view. As a practical matter, this construction protects women who act or dress in ways that the employer perceives as gay, because that behavior fails to conform to the employer’s view of how a woman should act. But it allows employers to freely fire women that the employer perceives to be lesbians—as long as the employer is smart enough to say only that it fired the employee because it thought that the employee was a lesbian, without identifying the basis for the employer’s conclusion that she was a lesbian. It cannot possibly be the case that a lesbian who is private about her sexuality—or even a heterosexual woman who is mistakenly perceived by her employer to be a lesbian—can be discriminated against by the employer because she does not comport with the employer’s view of what a woman should be, while the outwardly lesbian plaintiff enjoys Title VII protection. ... Nothing in Price Waterhouse’s reasoning or construction of Title VII justifies limiting Price Waterhouse’s holding to cases involving discrimination against women for their behavior, as opposed to discrimination against women for being women or for their interests and attractions. Nor, for the reasons I have discussed, does it make sense to do so.

”

See also

• United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit
• United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida

External links

• Judge Rosenbaum's biography from Federal Judicial Center
• Judge Rosenbaum's biography from the Eleventh Circuit website
• Courthouse News Service, "Feds must produce NSA dragnet records for criminal defense," June 18, 2013

Footnotes

Political offices
Preceded by -	United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit 2014-Present	Succeeded by -
Preceded by -	United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida 2012-2014	Succeeded by -

Federal judges nominated by Barack Obama
Nominated	Federal judges nominated by Barack Obama