Judge Jennifer Zipps
Arizona U.S. District Court
Jennifer Guerin Zipps (nee Jennifer Christine Pifer) was born in October 1964 in Ashland, Ohio. She earned an undergraduate degree from the University of Arizona and received her Juris Doctor from Georgetown University Law Center. She clerked at the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
She engaged in private practice in Tucson, Arizona. She then became an Assistant United States Attorney, serving as chief of the Civil Division, and later Chief Assistant United States Attorney. She became a United States magistrate judge in Arizona.
Zipps was nominated by President Barack Obama to a seat on the United States District Court for the District of Arizona. She was confirmed by a unanimous consent voice vote of the Senate and received her commission in October 2011.
In the News…
Federal Judge Jennifer Zipps issued a temporary injunction blocking an Arizona law that keeps men from competing on women’s sports teams.
The families of two boys who identify as girls filed a lawsuit challenging Arizona’s “Save Women’s Sports Act,” alleging the law violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and Title IX.
Judge Zipps ruled that transgender athletes “do not have a competitive advantage over other girls, and they do not pose a safety risk.” She said they would be subjected to “suffer severe and irreparable mental, physical, and emotional harm if the Act applies to them because they cannot play on boys’ sports teams.”
She wrote, “Playing on a boys’ team would directly contradict Plaintiffs’ medical treatment for gender dysphoria and would be painful and humiliating. Plaintiffs’ mental health is dependent on living as girls in all aspects of their lives.”
Arizona’s superintendent of public instruction said the decision will be appealed.
Contact this Leader…
Did you pray for Judge Zipps today? You can let her know at:
The Honorable Jennifer G. Zipps
Arizona U.S. District Court – Tucson Division
Evo A. DeConcini U.S. Courthouse
405 West Congress Street
Tucson, AZ 85701
