WASHINGTON, D.C. (WKZO AM/FM) — U.S. Senators Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters announced on Thursday, April 28th, that the U.S. Senate confirmed the nomination of Mark Totten to be the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan.
Born in Kalamazoo, Totten was nominated for the position by President Joe Biden on November 12, 2021.
“Mark Totten is a highly respected attorney, both in his work serving our state and teaching our next generation of law professionals as a professor at Michigan State University. His confirmation is great news for Michigan,” said Senator Stabenow.
“I’m pleased that the Senate unanimously confirmed Mark Totten’s nomination to be U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan,” said Senator Peters. “Mark’s extensive legal career, experience and commitment to public service will continue to serve the people of Michigan well in his new role. I was proud to help push his nomination through the confirmation process and look forward to working with him.”
Totten has served as Chief Legal Counsel for Governor Gretchen Whitmer since 2019. From 2008 to 2018, he was a professor at Michigan State University College of Law.
He has also served as a Special Assistant Prosecuting Attorney in the Office of the Genesee County Prosecuting Attorney from 2016 to 2017, and also served as a Special Assistant United States Attorney in the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Michigan from 2011 to 2013.
From 2006 to 2007, Totten was an attorney on the appellate staff in the Civil Division of the United States Department of Justice and served as a law clerk for Judge Thomas Griffith of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia from 2007 to 2008.
Totten received his J.D. from Yale Law School, a Ph.D. in Ethics from Yale University in 2006, and his B.A. from Cedarville College in 1996.
The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan has jurisdiction over federal criminal and civil cases in Michigan’s western Lower Peninsula and the entire Upper Peninsula with courts located in Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Lansing, and Marquette.
