Federal prosecutor Michael Martin has been nominated to serve as judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social Monday night.
Martin is the criminal division chief in the Eastern District and has been a federal prosecutor for 20 years, according to the Department of Justice.
“It is my Great Honor to nominate Michael Martin to serve as Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan!” Trump said in the post. “The people of Michigan are truly fortunate that a great public servant like Mike is joining the Federal Bench. Congratulations Mike!”
Prior to becoming the criminal division chief, Martin was the chief of the office’s national security unit and led the district’s prosecution of national security and immigration cases, according to the DOJ. Before he joined the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Martin was a trial attorney in the counter-espionage section with the Department of Justice’s National Security Division.
Martin graduated from Boston College Law School and was a law clerk to Judge Hugh Bownes on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and Judge Edward Harrington on the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. Before law school, he was an analyst with the Central Intelligence Agency.
Martin has been nominated for the seat vacated by Judge Sean Cox after his retirement last year. He would be Trump’s second judicial appointment in the Eastern District of Michigan. Stephanie Dawkins Davis was appointed during Trump’s first term. She is now a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
Only two judges of about 20 in Michigan’s Eastern District have been nominated by Republican presidents. Chief Judge Stephen Murphy was nominated by President George W. Bush in 2008 and Judge Thomas Ludington, who is on voluntary paid leave after a drunken driving conviction, was nominated by Bush in 2006.
Martin was one of the people who expressed interest in 2025 in serving as the U.S. attorney in Detroit.
Martin helped prosecute “Underwear Bomber” Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who was sentenced to life in federal prison for the failed Christmas Day 2009 terror attack aboard a Detroit-bound airliner. He also prosecuted Islamic State soldier Ibraheem Izzy Musaibli, a Dearborn man captured on an Islamic State battlefield in 2018, and Issam Hamama, a former U.S. military translator convicted of lying to FBI agents when he said he was not a source for the Iraqi Intelligence Service during Saddam Hussein’s presidency.
kberg@detroitnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Trump nominates veteran prosecutor Martin for Michigan federal bench
Reporting by Kara Berg, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
