Born in Kalamazoo, Michigan, Enslen went to Kalamazoo College and then served in the United States Air Force, during the Korean War, from 1951 to 1954, and graduated from Wayne State University Law School with a Bachelor of Laws in 1958.
He served in the United States Peace Corps in Costa Rica from 1965 to 1968.
[1] In 1970, Enslen was the Democratic Party candidate for the United States House of Representatives in the race for Michigan's 3rd congressional district seat.
[2] Enslen was nominated by President Jimmy Carter on November 30, 1979, to a seat vacated by Judge Noel Peter Fox on the United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan.
Enslen served as Chief Judge of the court from 1995 to 2001, and assumed senior status on September 1, 2005, but stopped hearing cases in 2009.