Deborah Anne Batts (April 13, 1947 – February 3, 2020) was an American lawyer and politician. He was the Judge for the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York from 1994 to 2012, after being nominated by Bill Clinton. In June 1994, Deborah Batts was sworn in as a United States District Judge for Manhattan, becoming the nation's first openly LGBT, African-American federal judge.[1] She took senior status on her 65th birthday, April 13, 2012.[2] Batts was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Batts died on February 3, 2020 in Manhattan from problems caused by knee surgery, aged 72.[3]
- ↑ National Black Justice Coalition (February 20, 2009), The Honorable Deborah A. Batts: Profile in Courage[permanent dead link], http://www.nbjcoalition.org Archived 2011-07-09 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved on March 5, 2009.
- ↑ "Batts, Deborah A. - Federal Judicial Center".
- ↑ Seelye, Katharine Q.; Weiser, Benjamin (February 5, 2020). "Deborah A. Batts, First Openly Gay Federal Judge, Dies at 72". The New York Times. Retrieved February 5, 2020.