Courts

Support the Nomination of Caitlin Halligan

Tell your Senators to support the nomination of Caitlin Halligan to the D.C. Circuit.

This week, Caitlin Halligan, one of the most respected appellate lawyers in the country, was renominated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. She was originally nominated in September 2010 and her nomination expired after a filibuster in December 2011. Upon her confirmation, she would become only the sixth female judge in this court's 119-year history.

Women shouldn't have to wait for justice because some senators are determined to obstruct: Tell your Senators to support the nomination of Caitlin Halligan, a highly-qualified nominee for the D.C. Circuit.

Ms. Halligan has a broad range of legal experience, including government service, private practice, and academia. She has honed her practice in state and federal appellate courts, and has argued five cases before the Supreme Court. Her many accomplishments are reflected by the unanimous "Well-Qualified" rating she received from the ABA Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary. She has earned the respect and support of her peers and has been endorsed by a long list of organizations. The National Women's Law Center is proud to support her nomination. Read more »

Following on the heels of Northern District of California Judge Jeffrey White's ruling in Golinski v. OPM in February and the First Circuit's decision in Gill last week, yesterday, a judge on the Southern District of New York ruled in Windsor v. OPM that Section 3 of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which defines marriage for the purposes of federal law as between one man and one woman, violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution.

Like those other decisions (as well as Perry v. Brown in the Ninth Circuit, which considered California's state constitutional ban on same-sex marriage), the Windsor decision does not adopt heightened constitutional scrutiny, but nonetheless concludes that DOMA does not satisfy the more searching rationality review appropriate in cases that do not involve routine economic regulations. This is notable because Windsor is the first DOMA challenge in a jurisdiction where the governing circuit court had not previously decided whether or not heightened scrutiny applies to laws that discriminate against LGBT individuals (and indeed, Windsor is one of the cases whose filing prompted Attorney General Holder's February 2011 memo stating that the Department of Justice would no longer defend DOMA's constitutionality). Read more »

As you may be aware, despite over 80 judicial vacancies (35 of which were judicial emergencies), at the beginning of this week the Senate had only confirmed 7 judges in 2012. Yesterday, the landscape changed somewhat. Precipitated by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s filing cloture petitions on 17 district court nominees, Senate leadership agreed to confirm a dozen district court nominees and two circuit court nominees by May 7. The first of those confirmations occurred today, with votes on Gina Groh, nominated to a seat on the Northern District of West Virginia, and Michael Fitzgerald, nominated to a seat on the Central District of California. Judge Groh was confirmed 95-2; Judge Fitzgerald was confirmed 91-6. Read more »

Speaking in Yuma, Arizona on Tuesday, former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor told of her harrowing search for work as a young lawyer recently graduated from Stanford Law in 1952. She called every firm recruiting Stanford graduates, but “not one of them would talk to me. I was female. They didn’t intend that a woman would make an appointment.”

Finally, she interviewed with a fellow female law student’s father, a lawyer in Los Angeles. She thought surely he would give her a chance, but “he said he was impressed but that the law firm had never hired a woman lawyer and that he didn’t see a day when it would.” He offered her a job as a legal secretary instead.

How times change. Today, that very law firm has hired hundreds of women, and the same lawyer supported Justice O’Connor’s later appointment to the Supreme Court.

Justice O’Connor’s difficulties are echoed by many female judges who graduated from law school in the same era and went on to hold high-ranking positions in the federal judiciary. But even though female lawyers have become commonplace in the legal field, it’s a different story when it comes to the judiciary.  Even though women comprise nearly half of all law school graduates, far fewer make it to the federal judiciary. Read more »

Caitlin Halligan, a nominee for the D.C. Circuit Court, is one of the most respected appellate lawyers in the country. She has a broad range of legal experience, including government service, private practice, and academia. She has honed her practice in state and federal appellate courts, and has argued five cases before the Supreme Court. Her many accomplishments are reflected by the unanimous "Well-Qualified" rating she received from the ABA Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary. She has earned the respect and support of her peers and has been endorsed by a long list of organizations.

This superb nominee has waited over eight months without a vote by U.S. Senators — even though there are three vacancies on the D.C. Circuit. But the wait is finally over.

It's time for a vote: Tell your Senators to support the nomination of Caitlin Halligan for the D.C. Circuit. Read more »

Yesterday afternoon, the Senate voted to confirm Christopher Droney to a Connecticut-based seat on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. Remarkably, Judge Droney is only the 8th appellate court judge confirmed by the Senate in 2011. Those members of the Senate determined to slow-walk judicial nominees are apparently determined to do so in every conceivable category. With 15 vacancies on the courts of appeal, you would think that all Senators would want to proceed to votes on the four other Court of Appeals nominees ready for a vote, out of, you know, a concern for the administration of justice. Apparently not. Read more »

Yesterday, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals became the third of the four federal appeals courts to consider the issue to turn back a constitutional challenge to the individual responsibility provision of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Congress has the power to require individuals to obtain health insurance (with subsidies for low- and moderate-income individuals), the court held, as part of its authority under the Commerce Clause of the Constitution to regulate commercial markets, including the insurance industry. Those challenging the individual responsibility provision have argued that Congress nevertheless cannot require individuals to participate in the insurance market if they choose not to. But, as we argued in a brief in the case and the D.C. Circuit held, civil rights cases show that such a requirement falls squarely within Congress’s Commerce Clause power. As the D.C. Circuit Court stated, while the individual responsibility’s requirement that people obtain health insurance “is an encroachment on individual liberty, . . .it is no more so than a command that restaurants or hotels are obliged to serve all customers regardless of race.”

But just as notable as the decision itself is who wrote it. Senior Judge Laurence Silberman, the author of the opinion, is an intellectual leader among conservatives.  Read more »

Last night, the Senate confirmed Bernice Bouie Donald to a seat on the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals – adding diversity and excellence to that court. Judge Donald, who previously served as a federal district court judge in Tennessee, was confirmed by a vote of 96-2. She had the support of both home-state, Republican senators, and was voted out of the Judiciary Committee without opposition. Notwithstanding, her nomination did not receive a floor vote for four months because of the unprecedented obstruction of a minority of Senators. Read more »

As the lame duck session of Congress draws to a close, it's essential that the Senate confirm Goodwin Liu to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Read more »

Professor Liu is exceptionally qualified, possesses a brilliant legal mind, and has demonstrated his commitment to public service. He was unanimously rated “well-qualified” by the ABA’s Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary and has bipartisan support. As Professor of Law and Associate Dean at U.C. Read more »