| Susan Baxter | |
| Office: | Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania |
| Term Start: | September 10, 2018 |
| Appointer: | Donald Trump |
| Predecessor: | Sean J. McLaughlin |
| Office1: | Chief Magistrate Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania |
| Term Start1: | 2005 |
| Term End1: | 2009 |
| Office2: | Magistrate Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania |
| Term Start2: | January 20, 1995 |
| Term End2: | September 10, 2018 |
| Successor2: | Richard A. Lanzillo |
| Birth Name: | Susan Rose Paradise |
| Birth Date: | 20 September 1956 |
| Birth Place: | Latrobe, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Education: | Pennsylvania State University (BS) Temple University (MEd, JD) |
| Party: | Democratic[1] |
Susan Rose Paradise Baxter (born September 20, 1956) is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. She was formerly a United States magistrate judge of the same court.
Susan Paradise Baxter was born September 20, 1956, in Latrobe, Pennsylvania.[2] She received her Bachelor of Science from Pennsylvania State University in 1978, her Master of Education from Temple University in 1980, and her Juris Doctor from the Temple University Beasley School of Law in 1983.
She began her practice in Washington, D.C., as an associate at the firm of Cole, Raywid and Braverman, now Davis Wright Tremaine, where she became a partner in 1989. Her practice consisted of commercial law, antitrust litigation and contract law.
In 1992, she served as the Court Solicitor for the Erie County Court of Common Pleas, representing the judges on the court.
She became a United States magistrate judge for the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania on January 20, 1995. Later in 1996, she was elected the Director-At-Large of the Federal Magistrate Judges Association.[2] [3] She became the chief magistrate judge in June 2005 and served until 2009. Her tenure as a magistrate judge ended on September 10, 2018, when she became a district judge.[3]
On July 30, 2015, President Barack Obama nominated Baxter to serve as a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, to the seat vacated by Sean J. McLaughlin, who resigned on August 16, 2013.[4] She received a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on December 9, 2015 and her nomination generated no controversy.[5] On January 28, 2016, her nomination was reported out of committee by voice vote.[6] Her nomination expired on January 3, 2017, with the end of the 114th Congress.
On December 20, 2017, her renomination by President Donald Trump was announced and sent to the Senate as part of a bipartisan package of nominees which included Marilyn Horan and Chad Kenney.[7] She was renominated to the same seat.[8] On February 15, 2018, the Senate Judiciary Committee reported her nomination by voice vote.[9] On August 28, 2018, her nomination was confirmed by voice vote.[10] She received her judicial commission on September 10, 2018.
In Pennsylvania General Energy Company, LLC v. Grant Township in 2015, she found against Grant Township, Pennsylvania and in favor of Pennsylvania General Energy, LLC (PGE) in its claim that the Township's prohibition on injection wells violated the corporation's constitutional rights.[11] [12] The Township was represented by the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund[13] in the case, which was profiled in Rolling Stone magazine in May 2017.[12]
She is married to Donald L. Baxter Jr. and has two children.