Who appointed Cornelia Groefsema Kennedy?

President Jimmy Carter appointed Cornelia Groefsema Kennedy to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in 1979.

Was Cornelia Groefsema Kennedy appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

Cornelia Groefsema Kennedy was appointed by President Jimmy Carter, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.

What was Cornelia Groefsema Kennedy's confirmation vote?

Cornelia Groefsema Kennedy was confirmed by voice vote on September 25, 1979. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.

Sixth Circuit / Appointed 1979 / Served to 2014

Cornelia Groefsema Kennedy

Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit

Appointed by President Jimmy Carter in 1979 and confirmed by voice vote, Cornelia Groefsema Kennedy was a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. She earned a law degree from University of Michigan Law School in 1947. She previously served on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. Opinions & record ↓ Sources ↓

Lived: 1923–2014
Appointed by: Jimmy Carter, 1979
Confirmed: by voice vote
Education: University of Michigan 1945 · University of Michigan Law School 1947
Succeeded by: Susan Bieke Neilson

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
1970	Eastern District of Michigan succeeded Thaddeus M. Machrowicz	Nixon (R)	Voice vote
1979	Sixth Circuit	Carter (D)	Voice vote

Party letters show the appointing president’s party, not the judge’s own. A voice vote means the chamber approved aloud. No senator-by-senator tally is recorded.

Confirmation vote

Voice vote

The Senate approved this confirmation aloud, with no senator-by-senator tally recorded. Recorded roll-call votes begin in 1989.

Education

University of Michigan	B.A.	1945
University of Michigan Law School	J.D.	1947

Judicial Record

In our data, Kennedy authored 55 published opinions for the court (1971–1979). Most cited: Bradford v. Johnson (33 citations).

Published, precedential opinions from the CourtListener corpus. Counts and rankings are objective and recomputable: how we count. We describe the record, not the judge.

Selected opinions

Year	Case	Citation	Cited
1972	Bradford v. Johnson	354 F. Supp. 1331	33
1974	Nortown Theatre Incorporated v. Gribbs	373 F. Supp. 363	32
1973	Veres v. County of Monroe	364 F. Supp. 1327	32
1979	Marshall v. American Motors Corp.	475 F. Supp. 875	31
1978	United States v. Cripps	460 F. Supp. 969	30
1975	Morgan v. City of Detroit	389 F. Supp. 922	30
1972	United States v. Aquino	338 F. Supp. 1080	27
1978	Schroeder v. Dayton-Hudson Corp.	448 F. Supp. 910	25
1977	Weinstein v. Norman M. Morris Corp.	432 F. Supp. 337	22
1972	United States v. Aquino	336 F. Supp. 737	22
1979	Dietz v. American Dental Ass'n	479 F. Supp. 554	21
1979	Huron Valley Hospital, Inc. v. City of Pontiac	466 F. Supp. 1301	18
1972	United States v. Esters	336 F. Supp. 214	18
1976	Holloway v. Pacific Indem. Co., Inc.	422 F. Supp. 1036	17
1977	Chelsea Community Hospital v. Michigan Blue Cross Ass'n	436 F. Supp. 1050	16

Showing the 15 most-cited of 55 authored opinions in our data. “Cited” is inbound citations across the CourtListener corpus. Case links open the ruling’s full text (CourtListener) or its page here; read the methodology and verify against the primary source.

Questions & answers

Who appointed Cornelia Groefsema Kennedy?: President Jimmy Carter appointed Cornelia Groefsema Kennedy to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in 1979.
Was Cornelia Groefsema Kennedy appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: Cornelia Groefsema Kennedy was appointed by President Jimmy Carter, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was Cornelia Groefsema Kennedy's confirmation vote?: Cornelia Groefsema Kennedy was confirmed by voice vote on September 25, 1979. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court was Cornelia Groefsema Kennedy on?: Cornelia Groefsema Kennedy was a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

Sources

Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.

How we source & reconcile data → Data & Sources

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34 years on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).