Mary Wiseman (judge)

In 2009, Wiseman was shortlisted for a vacancy on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio. Ohio's two U.S. Senators – Sherrod Brown (D–Lorain) and George Voinovich (R–Cleveland) – convened a bipartisan commission to recommend candidates for the vacancy, with Wiseman emerging as one of three finalists. In July 2009, Brown and Voinovich recommended U.S. Magistrate Judge Timothy Black to Barack Obama for appointment to the seat.

Wiseman sought election to the post in 2008. She looked set to face a challenge in the Democratic primary from District Court judge [[, but he withdrew in January 2008 following a controversy over allegedly homophobic comments he had made during the campaign. She faced Margaret M. Quinn, a Republican but ended up winning by 53% to 47%.

Upon her 2007 appointment to the bench, Wiseman became the first openly gay judge in the history of the state of Ohio.

In 1991, Wiseman became a partner at the law firm of Faruki Ireland and Cox P.L.L. A Democrat, Wiseman was elected in 1998 to the Dayton City Commission, serving until 2002 when she declined to run for a second term. A lesbian, she was the first openly gay person elected to public office in Dayton. In 2005, she became a shareholder at Coolidge Wall Co. LPA.

Wiseman was born in Chillicothe, Ohio and spent most of her childhood in Greenfield, Indiana. She received her bachelor's degree from Ball State University in 1984 and a Juris Doctor from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock School of Law in 1988.

Mary L. Wiseman (born November 17, 1961) is an American lawyer and judge from Ohio. On October 22, 2007, Ohio Governor Ted Strickland appointed her to the Ohio Courts of Common Pleas for Montgomery County.