Aleta Trauger | |
|---|---|
| Judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee | |
| Assumed office October 22, 1998 | |
| Appointed by | Bill Clinton |
| Preceded by | John Trice Nixon |
| Personal details | |
| Born | December 9, 1945 Denver, Colorado, U.S. |
| Education | Cornell College (BA) Vanderbilt University (MAT, JD) |
Aleta Arthur Trauger (born December 9, 1945)[1] is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee.
Born in Denver, Colorado, Trauger received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Cornell College in 1968, a Master of Arts in Teaching from Vanderbilt University in 1972, and a Juris Doctor from Vanderbilt University Law School in 1976. She was a clerk and associate in private practice in Tennessee from 1974 to 1977. She was an Assistant United States Attorney in the Middle District of Tennessee from 1977 to 1979 and from 1980 to 1982, serving in the Northern District of Illinois from 1979 to 1980. She was in private practice from 1983 to 1984, and was legal counsel to the College of Charleston from 1984 to 1985, returning to private practice from 1985 to 1991. She was a Chief of staff, Office of the Mayor, Nashville, Tennessee from 1991 to 1992. From 1993 to 1998, she was a United States Bankruptcy Judge for the Middle District of Tennessee.
On September 22, 1998, President Bill Clinton nominated Trauger to a seat on the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee vacated by John Trice Nixon. She was confirmed by the United States Senate on October 21, 1998, and received her commission on October 22, 1998.
In 2012, Trauger ruled against singer Sam Moore, who had alleged the 2009 film Soul Men damaged his reputation and infringed on trademarks he had established as a member of the duo Sam & Dave. Trauger agreed the film had "broad similarities" to Moore's life story, but also ruled there was no evidence of actual damage to his public image and furthermore noted Moore's trademarks were weak and unregistered.[2]
On March 14, 2014, Trauger issued a preliminary injunction ordering Tennessee to recognize the marriages of three same-sex couples consummated out-of-state. In her ruling, Judge Trauger did not directly hold Tennessee's ban unconstitutional, but stated the Supreme Court would likely address the issue and predicted "proscriptions against same-sex marriage will soon become a footnote in the annals of American history".[3]
On February 22, 2016, Trauger sentenced Matt DeHart to 72 months for child porn charges and an additional 18 months for fleeing the country. DeHart had been a member of the U.S. Air National guard, and was involved with the activist group Anonymous. Wikilinks contributor Sarah Harrison described the sentencing as part of “the U.S. government’s war on digital activists.”[4]
On March 23, 2017, Judge Trauger issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting Rutherford County from subjecting children to solitary confinement while their case proceeds.[5]
On July 3, 2018, Judge Trauger struck down a law that would allow Tennessee officials to revoke driver's licenses of defendants who could not pay their court costs.[6]
In September 2019, Trauger warned how a Tennessee law restricting voter registration had "chilling effects" on individuals and organizations which registered new voters in the state.[7] On September 12, Trauger struck down the law, ruling that there was no basis that the law would benefit Tennesseans. The law would have fined groups that pay workers when too many incomplete registration forms are submitted, and would have criminalized intentional infractions of a new set of rules with misdemeanor charges.[8]
On July 9, 2021, Trauger issued a preliminary injunction blocking a Tennessee law that would require businesses and other entities that allow transgender people to use the public restroom that matches their gender identity to post a government-prescribed warning sign.[9][10] The lawsuit argues that the law violates the First Amendment rights of the businesses by forcing them to post notices that they disagree with and find offensive.[11] The injunction blocks enforcement of the law while the lawsuit is pending, on the grounds that implementation would cause immediate and irreparable harm.[12] In her opinion, Trauger wrote the law violated the First Amendment.
