Robert Holmes Bell

Robert Holmes Bell (born 1944) is a United States federal judge.

Born in Lansing, Michigan, Bell received a B.A. from Wheaton College in 1966.[1] At Wheaton, Bell lettered in track each year.[2]

Bell received his J.D. 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, Michigan from 1979 to 1987.[1]

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 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]

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]

Bell met his wife, Helen, while both were students at Wheaton.[2] They have a son, Rob Bell, the founding pastor of the Mars Hill Bible Church megachurch, and a daughter, Ruth Bell Olsson [2] and his youngest Son Jonathan.[2]

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Bell, Robert Holmes, Biographical Directory of Federal Judges.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 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).
Legal offices
Preceded by
Wendell Alverson Miles		 Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan
1987–present 		Incumbent
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