OFFICE ADDRESS
Potter Stewart U.S. Courthouse, Room 227
100 East Fifth Street
Cincinnati, OH 45202
Phone: (513) 564-7630

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Judge Susan J. Dlott was born and raised in Dayton, Ohio. After receiving her B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1970, she graduated from Boston University School of Law in 1973. Upon graduation she clerked for Judges Jack G. Day and Alvin J. Krenzler of the Ohio Court of Appeals in Cleveland.

From 1975 to 1979, Judge Dlott served in the Southern District of Ohio as an Assistant United States Attorney. Her duties included both civil and criminal litigation. She then entered private practice with the Cincinnati law firm of Graydon, Head & Ritchey and, in 1981, became its first female partner. During her sixteen-year tenure at Graydon, Head, Judge Dlott litigated on behalf of both plaintiffs and defendants in several high-profile cases. She garnered an acquittal for one client in the longest criminal trial ever in Hamilton County, Ohio, was court-appointed lead counsel in a fifty-nine-defendant securities fraud case, and was court-appointed lead counsel for a subclass of plaintiffs in Bendectin litigation. Her private practice consisted of both civil litigation and white-collar criminal defense.

President Clinton appointed her to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio in 1995, and she has been stationed primarily in Cincinnati since 1996. A summary of some of Judge Dlott’s opinions is separately listed and accessible under “Noteworthy Rulings”.

The following are representative opinions: United Food & Commercial Workers Union, Local 1099 v. Southwest Ohio Reg’l Transit Auth., No. C-1-97-512 (S.D. Ohio Sept. 15, 1997) (granting judgment to union on First Amendment claim against transit authority), aff’d, 163 F.3d 341 (6th Cir. 1998); Glover v. Williamsburg Local Sch. Dist. Bd. of Educ., 20 F. Supp. 2d 1160 (S.D. Ohio 1998) (finding non-renewal of school teacher’s contract because of his sexual orientation violated Equal Protection Clause); Ganulin v. United States, 71 F. Supp. 2d 824 (S.D. Ohio 1999) (holding that establishment of Christmas as public holiday does not violate Establishment Clause), aff’d, 238 F.3d 420 (6th Cir. 2000); Doe v. Barron, 92 F. Supp. 2d 694 (S.D. Ohio 1999) (granting injunctive relief to incarcerated plaintiff seeking abortion); Chabad of Southern Ohio v. City of Cincinnati, 233 F. Supp. 2d 975 (S.D. Ohio 2002) (enjoining, as violative of First Amendment, enforcement of portion of city ordinance that, for seven weeks out of the year, gave city government exclusive use of main downtown square, during which time period no one but city was permitted to erect a display, exhibit or structure or hold an event, protest, rally or meeting); In Re Cincinnati, C-1-99-3170, 209 FRD 395 (S.D. Ohio 2002) (Negotiation and supervision of two agreements on police community relations and law enforcement practices); Barnes v. City of Cincinnati, C-1-00-780 (S.D. Ohio July 25, 2003) (finding that the city of Cincinnati violated transsexual police officer’s Equal Protection rights by demoting her on the basis of her perceived sexual orientation); TriHealth, Inc. v. Hamilton County Board of Commissioners, 347 F. Supp. 2d 548 (S.D. Ohio 2004) (dismissing a case brought by several Cincinnati hospitals against Hamilton County contesting its award to University Hospital of the proceeds of a levy designated for adult indigent healthcare for failure to state a claim under Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses), aff’d, 430 F.3d 783 (6th Cir. 2005); Planned Parenthood Cincinnati Region v. Taft, 337 F. Supp. 2d 1040 (S.D. Ohio 2004) (granting preliminary injunction of Ohio statute regulating the use and prescription of mifepristone, a medical abortion drug) aff’d in part, vacated in part, 444 F. 3d 502 (6th Cir. 2006); Miller v. Blackwell, 348 F. Supp. 2d 916 (S.D. Ohio 2004); (holding that last minute pre-election challenges to voter eligibility by all Ohio Boards of Elections violated the Due Process Clause and endangered voters’ fundamental right to vote); Spencer v. Blackwell, 347 F. Supp. 2d 528 ( S. D. Ohio 2004) (holding that a partisan challenge procedure severely burdened the right to vote, and enjoining partisan challengers from entering polling places on Election Day), rev’d Summit County Democratic Central and Executive Committee v Blackwell, 388 F. 3d 547 (6th Cir. 2004);
Steven Warshak, et. al. v. United States 1:06cv357 (S.D. Ohio July 21, 2006), aff’d 490 F.3d 455 (6th Cir. June 18, 2007) (rehearing en banc granted, opinion vacated Oct. 9, 2007). (Holding certain subsections of the Stored Communication Act (18 USC § 2703) unconstitutional in that they authorize ex parte issuance of an order to retrieve the contents of personal email accounts maintained by an internet service provider).

Judge Dlott presided over the negotiation and now is currently supervising the six year implementation of two agreements on police-community relations and law enforcement practices, entered into by the City of Cincinnati, the Fraternal Order of Police, the United States Department of Justice, and various civil rights and community organizations.

Judge Dlott has served on numerous boards including the Dayton and Cincinnati Federal Bar Associations, the Ohio Building Authority, Cincinnati Arts Association, and Jewish Federation of Cincinnati. She is a member of the American Bar Association, Federal Bar Association, Ohio and Kentucky Bar Associations and the Cincinnati Bar Association. Judge Dlott is the recipient of the Service Award, Dayton Bar Association, 1975-76; YWCA Career Woman of Achievement, 1996; Cincinnati Leading Women Honoree, 1998; Downtown Residents’ Council Community Service Gift of Appreciation Award, 2000; the Cincinnati NAACP Fair and Courageous Award, 2006; the YWCA Racial Justice Award, February 2008.

Judge Dlott is President of the Potter Stewart Inn of Court, was a life member of the Sixth Circuit Judicial Conference prior to her appointment to the bench, and was an instructor in the Trial Advocacy Workshop at Harvard Law School in September 2000. She is a life member of Hadassah and the NAACP, an alumna of Leadership Cincinnati, and a member of the Queen City Dog Training Club.