Arab Americans

George Caram Steeh

George Caram Steeh III (born 1947) is a United States federal judge.

Born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Steeh received a B.A. from the University of Michigan in 1969 and a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School in 1973. He was a Genesee County Prosecutor’s Office from 1973 to 1980. He was an Assistant prosecuting attorney from 1973 to 1978. He was a First assistant prosecuting attorney from 1978 to 1980. He was in private practice in Michigan from 1980 to 1988. He was a Public administrator, Macomb County from 1986 to 1989. He was a judge on the 41-B District Court, State of Michigan from 1989 to 1990. He was a judge on the 16th Circuit Court of Michigan from 1990 to 1998.

Steeh is a federal judge on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. Steeh was nominated by President Bill Clinton on September 24, 1997, to a seat vacated by Barbara K. Hackett. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on May 13, 1998, and received his commission on May 22, 1998. He assumed senior status on January 29, 2013.

In October 2010, he was the first of several federal court judges to hear a case concerning the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act. The main question here is whether the Commerce Clause of the Constitution of the United States gives the United States Congress the authority to buy any commercial product, which in this case is health insurance. Judge Steeh ruled that the Act is constitutional, writing: “These decisions, viewed in the aggregate have clear and direct impacts on health care providers, taxpayers and the insured population who ultimately pay for the care provided to those who go without insurance,” and that choosing not to obtain health insurance qualifies as an example of “activities that substantially affect interstate commerce.” According to the Supreme Court of the United States, if a federal law arbitrates activities that substantially affect interstate commerce, then that law complies with the Commerce Clause.^[1]

Steeh’s father, George C. Steeh, served in the Michigan Legislature and as a district court judge in Macomb County.