[1] Chief Justice John Roberts appointed Bell to serve as chairman of the criminal law committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States.

In that post, Bell wrote a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2013 opposing mandatory minimum sentences, saying they produce "unjust results" and waste public funds.

[2][3][4] One notable case during Bell's federal judicial service was the 2002 trial of Marvin Gabrion, where Bell ordered a death sentence for Gabrion after the U.S. Justice Department told prosecutors to ask jurors for the death sentence, to which the jurors agreed.

[6] Born in Lansing, Michigan, on April 19, 1944, to Preston and Eileen (née Holmes), Bell was raised in nearby Williamston and graduated from Okemos High School in 1962.

Their son, Rob Bell, is the founding pastor of the Mars Hill Bible Church megachurch.