Deborah Anne Batts (April 13, 1947 – February 3, 2020) [1] was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. During Gay Pride Week in June 1994, Batts was sworn in as a United States district judge for Manhattan, becoming the nation's first openly LGBT federal judge.

Feb 5, 2020 · Deborah A. Batts, the first openly gay judge to sit on the federal bench, who presided over prominent cases involving political corruption, terrorism and the Central Park Five civil case, died...

Feb 18, 2020 · “Deborah Batts was a trailblazer in every respect: an openly gay African-American woman who became a United States District Judge after a distinguished career as a federal prosecutor and law professor,” Chief Judge Colleen McMahon said in a statement.

Jun 28, 2022 · Deborah A. Batts '69 — who unexpectedly died in February 2020 at age 72 due to complications from knee surgery — had an extraordinary legal career by any standard.

Feb 4, 2020 · Deborah Batts, the nation’s first openly gay member of the federal judiciary, has died. She was 72. Batts died in her sleep on Sunday, according to a news release from Fordham University, which...

Feb 4, 2020 · Deborah Batts was the nation’s first openly LGBTQ federal judge, who was set to oversee Michael Avenatti’s Stormy Daniels-related embezzlement trial. She was nominated for a federal...

Honorable Deborah A. Batts 1947 — 2020 Judge, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York In In Memoriam Judge Batts was the first openly LGBTQ judge confirmed to the federal bench.

Feb 3, 2020 · Judge Deborah Batts, 72, presided over the bench at Southern District of New York since 1994 and oversaw major cases including the criminal trial against al-Qaida member Mamdouh Mahmud Salim and the defamation lawsuit filed against Bill O'Reilly.

U.S. District Court Judge Deborah A. Batts was born on April 13, 1947 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She earned her B.A. degree in government from Radcliffe College in 1969 and attended Harvard Law School, where she earned her J.D. degree in 1972.

In Memoriam: Judge Deborah A. Batts On February 3, 2020, shortly before the world changed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, we lost an icon: the Honorable Deborah A. Batts, a Harvard Law alumna and pillar of the Southern District of New York for 25 years. As media covering her too-early passing noted, Judge Batts was a trail-