Federal judicial service
On August 6,1993,Coffman was nominated by President Bill Clinton to a joint appointment to both the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky and the United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky,both seats having been vacated by Eugene E. Siler Jr.,who had been elevated to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit on September 20,1991. She was confirmed by the United States Senate on September 30,1993,and received her commission on October 1,1993. [2] She served as the Chief Judge of the Eastern District from 2007 to 2012. [2] She also served a seven-year term on the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court starting in 2011 until she retired from all of her appointments,effective January 8,2013. [2] [3] She was the first female judge appointed to the federal courts in Kentucky, [4] and as of 2020 Coffman is the last judge appointed by a Democratic president to the Eastern District of Kentucky.
Response to Judge Philpot
In 2013,following the gay rights decisions in Hollingsworth v. Perry and United States v. Windsor ,Kentucky circuit court Judge Tim Philpot wrote an opinion editorial titled "Rulings do not change Ky. law on gay marriage." [5] Coffman wrote an opinion editorial in response,highly critical of Philpot's judgement in writing the piece and declaring that he had risked his judicial integrity and concluded that "Philpot might have foreclosed his ability to sit on any case involving gay marriage because his comments raise a question of bias on the topic of sexual orientation." [6] Coffman also criticized Philpot for dismissing principles of judicial interpretation as "boring and technical",for gratuitously mentioning Walker's sexuality, [6] and for ridiculing judicial review with his observation that then-Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California Vaughn Walker's declaration that Proposition 8 was unconstitutional amounted to "one trial judge trump[ing] every voter in California." [4] [5]
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