The Federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has been widely derided by legal observers for years as the "Ninth Circus" for being the longstanding most overturned appeals court in the federal judiciary.

The times they are a changing. President Obama's Democratic Party's failure to control the Senate during the latter part of his presidency meant that he only has seven appointees remaining on the bench that hears appeals for the western United States. His predecessor, George W. Bush still has nine.

The Court is allowed 29 members, but as they get older, they move to senior status where they help with workload, and the total number of judges is 48. Of the 29, 16 were appointed by Democrat Presidents and 13 by Republicans. Of senior judges eight are Democrat appointees and 11 by Republican presidents.

What's made the difference is the hard work of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has been quietly moving President Trump's appointments nationwide, including the Ninth Circuit. All Federal judges are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. While they are usually described as lifetime appointments, the US Constitution says that they serve during "good behavior" -- a term not defined.

The Ninth Circuit is especially important as it decides appeals from a great swath of western states -- many having to do with environmental or land regulations. A shift in the balance of power on this court could cause a great change in the way cases on these issues are decided.

Seniority	Name	Status	Appt. Date	Appointed By
1	Sidney R. Thomas	Chief Judge	1996-01-04	Clinton
2	Alfred T. Goodwin	Senior Circuit Judge	1971-11-30	Nixon
3	J. Clifford Wallace	Senior Circuit Judge	1972-06-28	Nixon
4	Mary M. Schroeder	Senior Circuit Judge	1979-09-26	Carter
5	Jerome Farris	Senior Circuit Judge	1979-09-27	Carter
6	Dorothy W. Nelson	Senior Circuit Judge	1979-12-20	Carter
7	William C. Canby, Jr.	Senior Circuit Judge	1980-05-23	Carter
8	Diarmuid F. O'Scannlain	Senior Circuit Judge	1986-09-26	Reagan
9	Edward Leavy	Senior Circuit Judge	1987-03-23	Reagan
10	Stephen S. Trott	Senior Circuit Judge	1988-03-25	Reagan
11	Ferdinand F. Fernandez	Senior Circuit Judge	1989-05-22	Bush
12	Andrew J. Kleinfeld	Senior Circuit Judge	1991-09-16	Bush
13	Michael Daly Hawkins	Senior Circuit Judge	1994-09-15	Clinton
14	A. Wallace Tashima	Senior Circuit Judge	1996-01-04	Clinton
15	Barry G. Silverman	Senior Circuit Judge	1998-02-04	Clinton
16	Susan P. Graber	Circuit Judge	1998-03-19	Clinton
17	M. Margaret McKeown	Circuit Judge	1998-04-08	Clinton
18	Kim McLane Wardlaw	Circuit Judge	1998-08-03	Clinton
19	William A. Fletcher	Circuit Judge	1998-10-09	Clinton
20	Ronald M. Gould	Circuit Judge	1999-11-22	Clinton
21	Richard A. Paez	Circuit Judge	2000-03-14	Clinton
22	Marsha S. Berzon	Circuit Judge	2000-03-16	Clinton
23	Richard C. Tallman	Senior Circuit Judge	2000-05-25	Clinton
24	Johnnie B. Rawlinson	Circuit Judge	2000-07-26	Clinton
25	Richard R. Clifton	Senior Circuit Judge	2002-07-30	Bush
26	Jay S. Bybee	Senior Circuit Judge	2003-03-21	Bush
27	Consuelo M. Callahan	Circuit Judge	2003-05-28	Bush
28	Carlos T. Bea	Senior Circuit Judge	2003-10-01	Bush
29	Milan D. Smith, Jr.	Circuit Judge	2006-05-18	Bush
30	Sandra S. Ikuta	Circuit Judge	2006-06-23	Bush
31	N. Randy Smith	Senior Circuit Judge	2007-03-19	Bush
32	Mary H. Murguia	Circuit Judge	2011-01-04	Obama
33	Morgan Christen	Circuit Judge	2012-01-11	Obama
34	Jacqueline H. Nguyen	Circuit Judge	2012-05-14	Obama
35	Paul J. Watford	Circuit Judge	2012-05-22	Obama
36	Andrew D. Hurwitz	Circuit Judge	2012-06-27	Obama
37	John B. Owens	Circuit Judge	2014-04-02	Obama
38	Michelle T. Friedland	Circuit Judge	2014-04-29	Obama
39	Mark J. Bennett	Circuit Judge	2018-07-13	Trump
40	Ryan D. Nelson	Circuit Judge	2018-10-18	Trump
41	Eric D. Miller	Circuit Judge	2019-03-04	Trump
42	Bridget S. Bade	Circuit Judge	2019-04-01	Trump
43	Daniel P. Collins	Circuit Judge	2019-05-22	Trump
44	Kenneth Kiyul Lee	Circuit Judge	2019-06-12	Trump
45	Daniel A. Bress	Circuit Judge	2019-07-26	Trump
46	Danielle J. Hunsaker	Circuit Judge	2019-11-12	Trump
47	Patrick J. Bumatay	Circuit Judge	2019-12-12	Trump
48	Lawrence VanDyke	Circuit Judge	2020-01-02	Trump

--Staff Reports

Post Date: 2020-07-28 20:02:12

Last Update: 2020-07-28 20:02:22