Timothy Batten

Timothy Batten

Nonpartisan

Prior offices

United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia

Predecessor: Willis Hunt

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Education

Bachelor's

Georgia Institute of Technology, 1981

Law

University of Georgia Law, 1984

Personal

Birthplace

Atlanta, Ga.

Timothy C. Batten, Sr. was a federal judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. He was nominated to the court by President George W. Bush (R) in 2005. He became chief judge of the court on May 10, 2021, and served in that position until his retirement on May 23, 2025.

Batten retired on May 23, 2025.

Biography

Early life and education

Timothy Batten was born in Atlanta, Georgia in 1960. Batten earned a bachelor's degree in 1981. He earned a J.D. from the University of Georgia Law School in 1984.

Professional career

Batten was a private practice attorney in the State of Georgia from 1984 to 2006.

Judicial career

Northern District of Georgia

On the recommendation of U.S. Senator Saxby Chambliss, Batten was nominated to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia by President George W. Bush on September 28, 2005, to a seat vacated by Willis Hunt, Jr. Batten was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on March 6, 2006, and received commission on March 28, 2006.

Batten retired on May 23, 2025.

Noteworthy cases

Georgia voter fraud case dismissed (2020)

See also: United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia

Attorney Sidney Powell, a former member of President Donald Trump's legal team, filed a lawsuit which claimed multiple instances of voter fraud in Georgia during the 2020 presidential election. The lawsuit alleged voting irregularities in Fulton and Ware counties as well as a statewide issue with voting machines. On December 7, 2020, Judge Timothy Batten dismissed the case.

"Sometimes federal judges are criticized for committing the sin of judicial activism. We call courts that have responded to that ‘enough is enough’ is right. In fact, enough is too much. And the courts have convincingly held that these types of cases are not properly before federal courts. These are state elections. State courts should evaluate these proceedings from start to finish,” he said in his opinion. Batten also pointed toward timing and a lack of standing for his decision.

2016 Georgia voting rights case

On April 20, 2017, a collection of civil rights groups filed an emergency motion for a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction enjoining the State of Georgia and the secretary of state, Brian Kemp, from enforcing Georgia’s voter registration deadlines for the runoff election between Karen Handel (R) and Jon Ossoff (D) to succeed Tom Price as the member of Congress for Georgia's 6th Congressional District. In their filings, the plaintiffs alleged that eligible residents of the district could lose the right to vote in advance of the runoff election held on June 20, 2017. The law that was challenged required Georgia voters to have registered thirty days in advance of the initial election for the seat, which was held on April 18. This timetable, the plaintiffs argued, could prevent any eligible voter in the district from registering to vote in the runoff election who had not registered prior to March 21, 2017. The plaintiffs argued that Section 8 of the National Voter Registration Act provides that anyone who registers at least thirty days before a runoff election has the right to vote in that election. In addition to the restraining order and injunctive relief, the plaintiffs sought a judgment on the merits.

On May 4, 2017, Judge Timothy Batten ordered Georgia to reopen voter registration until May 21, 2017.

Woman sues school for using her Facebook photo without permission (2014)

A photo of teenager Chelsea Chaney in a bikini was used by an instructor in Fayette County, Georgia, as an example of online privacy (or lack thereof) for an Internet safety class. After discovering this, Chaney sued her school district for $2 million, claiming that her privacy was violated and that she did not authorize that use of her photo.

The court, in a majority opinion written by Judge Timothy Batten, sided with the school district and granted a motion to dismiss most of the lawsuit. The court noted that the privacy setting chosen by Chaney for the photo allowed "friends and friends of friends" on Facebook to see the photo, so she had authorized strangers to view it. The opinion stated, "The Supreme Court consistently has held that a person has no legitimate expectation of privacy in information he voluntarily turns over to third parties."

Articles:

• CyberCrime Review, "Court dismisses most of teen's suit for use of bikini-clad photo from Facebook in high school "Internet Safety" class," October 7, 2013
• United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, "Chelsea Chaney v. Fayette County Public School District," September 30, 2013 (Case 3:13-cv-00089-TCB)

AT&T/Verizon case (2009)

See also: United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia

Judge Batten ruled against wireless giant AT&T who sued Verizon over its "There's a map for that" ad campaign. AT&T sued its rival over claims that Verizon mislead customers using the map of its 3G coverage area while in fact AT&T customers can make calls in its non-3G areas. The judge ruled against AT&T.

See also

• United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia
• United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit

External links

• Search Google News for this topic
• Judge Batten Biography from the Federal Judicial Center
• United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia

Footnotes

Political offices
Preceded by Willis Hunt	United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia 2006-2025	Succeeded by -