Judge Jeffrey Sutton—a George W. Bush appointee to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit who heard arguments Wednesday in a string of cases challenging state same-sex marriage bans—is no stranger to closely watched, divisive issues that are on a fast track to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Sutton was the first Republican appointee on a federal appeals court to side with the Obama administration in the initial fight over the health care reform law. In 2011, he was part of a divided three-judge panel that upheld the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate—defying ideological pigeonholing.
