Susan Bieke Neilson (August 27, 1956 – January 25, 2006) was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and before that, a state trial judge in Michigan. Neilson was nominated by President George W. Bush on February 14, 2005, to a seat vacated by Cornelia G. Kennedy. She was confirmed by the United States Senate on October 27, 2005, and received commission on November 9, 2005. Neilson's service was terminated on January 25, 2006, due to death. Background Neilson was born August 27, 1956 in Ann Arbor, Michigan and was a lifelong Michigan resident. In 1977, she received an Artium Baccalaureus degree in political science from the University of Michigan Honors College. Neilson received her Juris Doctor in 1980 from Wayne State University Law School. Following graduation she practiced products liability, commercial litigation, medical malpractice, and general negligence law with the firm of Dickinson Wright in Detroit, making partner in 1986. In 1991, Governor John Engler appointed Neilson to the 3rd Judicial Circuit of Michigan, part of the Wayne County Circuit Court, to which she was elected in 1992, and re-elected in 1996, and 2002. Neilson's chambers were in the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center (formerly the City-County Building) in downtown Detroit. While on the bench, Neilson co-wrote and co-edited Michigan Civil Procedure, a two-volume treatise on Michigan civil practice. Neilson was married with two daughters (Elizabeth, Born in 1984 and Mary, Born in 1990). She was an active Roman Catholic and was a member of the Detroit Catholic Lawyers Society. Sixth Circuit nomination and confirmation Neilson was nominated to a Michigan seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit by President George W. Bush on November 8, 2001, to replace Judge Cornelia Groefsema Kennedy, who assumed senior status in 1999. On the same day, Bush also nominated Henry Saad and David McKeague to Michigan seats on the Sixth Circuit. On June 26, 2002, Bush nominated Richard Allen Griffin to a fourth Michigan seat on the Sixth Circuit. During the Democrat-controlled 107th Congress, all four nominations were stalled in the Senate Judiciary Committee by then-chairman, Senator Patrick Leahy, D-VT. In the 2002 midterm congressional elections, the Republicans regained control of the Senate. During the new 108th Congress, Senator Orrin Hatch, R-UT, the new Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee began to process the previously blocked four