Janet T. Neff

Born in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania, Neff graduated from University of Pittsburgh with her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1967 and later from Wayne State University Law School with a Juris Doctor in 1970.

Following law school graduation, Neff was an assistant city attorney for the city of Grand Rapids, Michigan, from 1971 to 1973. She was in private practice in Michigan from 1973 to 1978 and from 1980 to 1988. She was a Commissioner, Michigan Supreme Court from 1978 to 1980. She became an Assistant United States Attorney of the U.S. Attorney's Office, Western District of Michigan in 1980. She was a judge on the Michigan Court of Appeals from 1989 to 2007.[2]

Neff was nominated to the United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan by President George W. Bush on March 19, 2007 to a seat vacated by David McKeague.[2] Despite the blocking of her confirmation vote by U.S. Senator Sam Brownback from Kansas because she had attended a same-sex commitment ceremony, Neff was confirmed by a vote of 84 to 3 by the Senate on July 9, 2007. She received her commission on August 6, 2007.[3] She has generated controversy over her stance over a federal gun control issue caused by Kent County Sheriff Larry Stelma over his comments that he "will not abide by or enforce federal law which he determines to be unconstitutional".[4] In 2017, Judge Neff also sentenced serial sexual predator and former United States Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar to 60 years in federal prison.[5]

• Janet T. Neff at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.