Recently in People and Events Category

U.S. District Judge Richard Cebull is retiring next month in the wake of the fallout from a racist joke he emailed from an official government account. (Brief thanks, Howard Bashman at How Appealing.)

Judge Cebull, formerly the Chief District Judge for Montana, transitioned to senior judicial status last month, which guaranteed him full salary with a reduced caseload, The San Francisco Chronicle reports. Tuesday, the Ninth Circuit Chief Judge Alex Kozinski announced in a press release that Judge Cebull would be retiring effective May 3.

It has been a week of firsts for female jurists from sparsely-populated states.

On Tuesday, Stephanie Thacker was sworn in as the first female judge from West Virginia to serve on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. Wednesday, it was Alaska's turn for the spotlight.

After seven months of confirmation limbo, the Senate confirmed Los Angeles attorney Paul Watford for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Monday evening by a 61-34 vote, reports The Hill.

Watford will be the second African American on the court.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Chief Judge Emeritus James Browning died on May 5 at a hospital in Marin County, Calif. He was 93.

Judge Browning, who served on the Ninth Circuit for 50 years, including 12 years as the Chief Judge, was the longest-serving appellate judge in the history of the federal judiciary.

Judge Browning is famous for protecting the massive Ninth Circuit, which includes nine states and two territories, from being split into two or three courts, the Los Angeles Times reports. As a result, the court continues to issue appellate decisions for one-fifth of the nation.

The Senate confirmed Judge Jacqueline Nguyen for a seat on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals last night by a vote of 91-3. She will be the first Vietnamese American and first Asian-Pacific woman to serve on a federal appeals court, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

President Obama nominated Judge Nguyen to serve on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals last September. Nguyen has served as a U.S. District Judge in the Central District of California in Los Angeles since 2009. She was a Los Angeles Superior Court judge before migrating to the federal bench.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled this week that a district court improperly excluded evidence from a civil rights trial examining the effects of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's pink underwear policy on a mentally-ill suspect.

Police in Maricopa County detained Eric Vogel while investigating a burglary in 2001. Vogel was arrested for assaulting a police officer in an ensuing struggle. At the Phoenix jail, which Arpaio runs, Vogel was diagnosed as disoriented, paranoid, and psychotic, and placed on psychiatric hold.

Will the Birther Movement accept defeat after losing a challenge in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals?

The Birther Movement, most famously represented by one-time presidential candidate Donald Trump, is fueled by people who doubt that President Obama is a natural-born U.S. citizen, one of the constitutional criterions for presidency. Birthers claim that President Obama falsified his Hawaiian birth certificate, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

The Ninth Circuit has now dismissed the suit.

Former Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Robert Boochever died at his home in Pasadena, Calif. on Sunday. He was 94.

During his legal career, Boochever practiced law in Alaska before it was a state, and eventually served three years as Chief Justice of the Alaska Supreme Court.

As Chief Justice of the Alaska Supreme Court, Boochever wrote a now-famous opinion in Aguchak v. Montgomery Ward Co., which limited a creditor's ability to collect a debt against a resident of the Alaska Bush by filing a case in a distant Alaska court. The case is frequently taught in law schools, according to the Juneau Empire.

First, it was the University of Montana School of Law; now it's Santa Clara University Law School's turn.

Santa Clara University Law School is turning 100 and celebrating in style with judges from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Unlike last week's Ninth Circuit hearings in Montana that featured retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor sitting by designation, the Santa Clara Ninth Circuit connect will be a bit more theatrical.

Two of the government masterminds behind Operation Fast and Furious have been pushed out of their jobs amid continuing outcry over the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) illegal gun trafficking scheme.

Acting ATF Director Kenneth Melson has been reassigned, as of August 30, as a senior adviser on forensic science in the Department of Justice’s office of Legal Programs. U.S. Attorney for Arizona Dennis Burke resigned from his post the same day. A Phoenix Assistant U.S. Attorney involved in the operation was reassigned from the criminal division to the civil division, according Fox News.