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Gregory F. Van Tatenhove

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Gregory Frederick Van Tatenhove
Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky
Incumbent
Assumed office
January 5, 2006
Appointed byGeorge W. Bush
Preceded byKarl Spillman Forester
United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky
In office
2001–2005
PresidentGeorge W. Bush
Preceded byJoseph Leslie Famularo[1]
Succeeded byAmul Thapar[2]
Personal details
Born
Gregory Frederick Van Tatenhove

(1960-04-02) April 2, 1960 (age 64)[3]
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
EducationAsbury College (BA)
University of Kentucky (JD)

Gregory Frederick Van Tatenhove, also known as Greg Van Tatenhove, (born April 2, 1960) is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky. He was a legislative aide of Senator Mitch McConnell, a law clerk for Judge Eugene Edward Siler Jr., United States attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky (2001–05), and on the recommendation of Senators Jim Bunning and Mitch McConnell he was nominated to fill a seat on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky. Daniel Cameron was a law clerk for Van Tatenhove, who later swore him in as Kentucky Attorney General.

Education and career

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Van Tatenhove was born in Los Angeles.[4] He attended high school in Jessamine County, Kentucky, and received a Bachelor of Arts from Asbury College (now Asbury University) in 1982.[5][6] He was then a legislative Senate aide of Mitch McConnell.[7][8]

He attended the University of Kentucky College of Law where he obtained a Juris Doctor in 1989. He was a law clerk for Judge Eugene Edward Siler Jr. of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky, from 1989 to 1990. Van Tatenhove served as a trial attorney for the US Department of Justice, Federal Programs Branch, from 1990 to 1994. From 1994 to 2001, he was chief of staff and legal counsel for Republican Congressman Ron Lewis. In 2001, George W. Bush appointed him as United States attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky, a post he held from 2001 to 2005.[9]

Federal judicial service

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On September 13, 2005, on the recommendation of Senators Jim Bunning and Mitch McConnell, President George W. Bush nominated Van Tatenhove to fill a seat on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky previously held by Judge Karl Spillman Forester.[10] Van Tatenhove was confirmed by the United States Senate on December 21, 2005, and received his commission on January 5, 2006.[11]

Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron was a law clerk for Van Tatenhove for two years, in 2011–13.[12][13] Upon Cameron's election to Kentucky Attorney General, Van Tatenhove swore him into office.[14]

Notable cases

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On October 11, 2014, Van Tatenhove held that Kentucky Educational Television did not have to allow a Libertarian candidate to be part of a debate with Mitch McConnell and Alison Lundergan Grimes, the candidate's opponents in a battle to be elected US Senator.[15][16][17][18] The chair of the Kentucky Libertarian Party said he was disgusted with the judge's ruling, given that the TV station had changed its standards for inclusion in the debate mid-stream.[16]

On January 25, 2016, Van Tatenhove ruled in favor of the Christian apologetics, anti-evolution organization, Answers in Genesis, in the case of Ark Encounter vs. Bob Stewart, ordering the state to process the application for the tax rebate incentives for the Ark Encounter theme park that would become available once the attraction opened.[19][20]

On March 30, 2018, he ruled that Governor Bevin did not violate the 1st amendment when he blocked viewers from his Facebook and Twitter accounts due to their political beliefs.[21] His ruling contradicted a similar ruling that stated that then-president Donald Trump had violated the 1st amendment when blocking individuals from his Twitter account due to their political beliefs.[22]

On May 8, 2020, Van Tatenhove, in a later-overturned opinion, ruled that Kentucky churches could hold in-person services during the COVID-19 pandemic in Kentucky starting May 10. In his ruling, he said that in-person meeting was essential for the church, writing "The orders at issue do not simply restrict religious expression; they restrict religious expression in an attempt to protect the public health during a global pandemic."[23][24] However, a unanimous three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit stayed Van Tatenhove's ruling, and overturned his injunction while an appeal moved forward.[25] Senator Mitch McConnell and 37 other senators filed a brief supporting Van Tatenhove's opinion.[25] In December 2020, the US Supreme Court overturned Van Tatenhove's ruling.[25]

Personal

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In November 2020, Van Tatenhove's wife Christy Trout Van Tatenhove donated $250,000 to the McConnell Center, created by Senator Mitch McConnell.[26][27]

References

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  1. ^ "PN939 - Nomination of Gregory F. Van Tatenhove for Department of Justice, 107th Congress (2001–2002)". 14 September 2001.
  2. ^ "PN1345 - Nomination of Amul R. Thapar for Department of Justice, 109th Congress (2005–2006)". 13 March 2006.
  3. ^ Judiciary, United States Congress Senate Committee on the (November 24, 2006). "Confirmation Hearings on Federal Appointments: Hearings Before the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, One Hundred Ninth Congress, First Session". U.S. Government Printing Office – via Google Books.
  4. ^ "The Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse". University of Michigan Law School. Retrieved 27 February 2012.
  5. ^ "Gregory F. Van Tatenhove - 2002 A Award Recipient". Retrieved 27 February 2012.
  6. ^ Hayes, Bill (August 9, 2001). "Mountains left out of federal judicial appointments". Middlesboro Daily News. Retrieved 27 February 2012.
  7. ^ Jane Mayer (April 10, 2020). "How Mitch McConnell Became Trump's Enabler-in-Chief". The New Yorker.
  8. ^ "Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 22 - EXECUTIVE SESSION". www.govinfo.gov.
  9. ^ Zuckerbrod, Nancy (August 4, 2001). "Bush picks U.S. attorneys for Kentucky". Daily News. Retrieved 27 February 2012.
  10. ^ "Gregory F. Van Tatenhove". Ballotpedia.
  11. ^ King, Lisa (January 12, 2006). "Van Tatenhove confirmed by Senate for judgeship". Central Kentucky News. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 27 February 2012.
  12. ^ "Federal Clerkship Counts as Law Practice, Kentucky Court Rules". Bloomberg Law. October 10, 2019.
  13. ^ Bailey, Phillip (21 December 2018). "Mitch McConnell's former lawyer may run for Kentucky attorney general". The Courier-Journal. Retrieved 31 July 2019.
  14. ^ Tom Latek (December 19, 2019). "Daniel Cameron takes oath of office for Attorney General early; Beshear appointed him to vacant seat". NKy Tribune.
  15. ^ Gregory Frederick Van Tatenhove (October 11, 2014). "Libertarian Nat'l Comm., Inc. v. Holiday, Civil No.: 14-63-GFVT &#124". Casetext.
  16. ^ a b Sefton, Dru (October 13, 2014). "Judge denies Libertarian candidate's request to appear on KET program". Current.
  17. ^ Sefton, Dru (October 2, 2014). "Libertarian Senate candidate sues Kentucky Educational Television over exclusion from campaign forum". Current.
  18. ^ Beam, Adam (October 12, 2014). "Judge denies Libertarian in Ky. Senate debate". The Courier-Journal.
  19. ^ Lovan, Dylan (January 25, 2016). "Ark Encounter Builder Wins Legal Battle Over Tax Incentive". WPCO.com. Retrieved February 1, 2016.
  20. ^ Caproni, Erin (January 26, 2016). "Judge Rules on Ark Encounter Incentives". Cincinnati Business Courier. Retrieved February 1, 2016.
  21. ^ https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/kentucky/kyedce/3:2017cv00060/83733/26/ March 30, 2018. Retrieved February 19, 2021.
  22. ^ "Trump Can't Block Twitter Followers, Federal Appeals Court Rules," NPR. July 9, 2019. Retrieved February 19, 2021.
  23. ^ "Federal judge rules all Kentucky churches can have in-person services starting this Sunday". WKYT. May 8, 2020. Retrieved 2020-05-21.
  24. ^ Wolfson, Andrew (2020-05-08). "Federal judge rules that Kentucky churches can hold in-person services starting Sunday". The Courier-Journal. Retrieved 2020-05-21.
  25. ^ a b c Liptak, Adam (December 17, 2020). "Supreme Court Rejects Religious School's Challenge to Kentucky Virus Order". The New York Times.
  26. ^ "The Courier-Journal". The Courier-Journal.
  27. ^ Magazine, UofL (2020-08-11). "The gift of opportunity | UofL News". Retrieved 2024-07-23.

Sources

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Legal offices
Preceded by Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky
2006–present 		Incumbent
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