Featured Member of the Judicial Branch for Prayer

Thursday, July 29th, 2010

Judge John G. Heyburn, II, Chairman, U.S. Judicial Panel for Multidistrict Litigation

John G. Heyburn, II, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and raised in Louisville, Kentucky. His father and grandfather were both attorneys. Heyburn graduated from Harvard University and earned his juris doctorate degree from the University of Kentucky Law School.

Heyburn spent his entire pre-judicial legal career in private practice in Louisville, focusing on civil litigation within the construction industry. He also served in the U.S. Army Reserve.

President George H.W. Bush nominated Heyburn to a seat on the federal bench, and he was confirmed by the Senate. Two years later, Chief Justice Rehnquist appointed Heyburn to serve on the Budget Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States. Later Chief Justice Roberts appointed Heyburn as Chair of the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation.

IN THE NEWS: A panel of seven federal judges, chaired by Judge John Heyburn II, will decide who will oversee lawsuits against BP, Transocean and others, related to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Both plaintiffs and defendants have indicated that location is key. ”The stakes here are tremendous,” commented one law professor. “For a single-event type of incident, this is the biggest we’ve ever seen, just in the range of claims.”

Posted in judicial prayer focus |

Featured Member of the Judicial Branch for Prayer

Thursday, July 22nd, 2010

 Tani Cantil Sakauye, Nominee to Chief Justice, Supreme Court of California

Justice Cantil Sakauye was born in 1959 in Sacramento, California. She attended local grammar schools and Sacramento City College before she received her B.A. from the University of California in Davis. After taking a year off to visit her ancestral homeland, the Philippines, she entered UC Davis Martin Luther King Jr. School of Law, from which she received her J.D.

She worked as a deputy district attorney for the Sacramento District Attorney’s office where she prosecuted a variety of criminal offenses. She then worked for Governor George Deukmejian on his senior staff in two executive capacities – as deputy legal affairs secretary and as deputy legislative secretary.

She served 14 years as a judge on the Sacramento court, and then was appointed to the Municipal Court. Several years later Governor Pete Wilson elevated her to the Superior Court, and in 2005 Gov. Schwarzenegger nominated her to the Court of Appeals, Third Appellate District, where she was unanimously confirmed by the Commission on Judicial Appointments.

She serves on numerous nonprofit organizations and professional community organizations. She has received honor awards from associations involved in youth and domestic violence matters.

Justice Sakauye is married to Mark, and they have two daughters. The Justice has also been a co-leader of a Brownie and junior Girl Scout Troop, and is a dedicated church bazaar worker

IN THE NEWS: Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has nominated Appeals Justice Tani Gorre Cantil Sakauye as the next chief justice to the California Supreme Court, which would make her the first Filipina American to lead the state’s judiciary, and give the California Supreme Court a female majority for the first time in its history. The Governor commented, “She is a living example of the American dream and when confirmed by the voters in November … will become California’s first Filipina chief justice, adding to our high court’s already rich diversity.”

Posted in judicial prayer focus |

Featured Member of the Judicial Branch for Prayer

Thursday, July 15th, 2010

Stuart Rabner, Chief Justice, Supreme Court of the State of New Jersey

Stuart Rabner was born in June 1960. He was raised in Passaic, New Jersey. He graduated from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, and from Harvard Law School. He clerked for a District Court judge before joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Newark.

Rabner held a number of positions – as assistant U.S. Attorney and Chief of the Terrorism Unit. He was chief of the office’s criminal division, when he was named chief counsel to Governor Corzine in 2006. He was named New Jersey Attorney General in 2006, and served in that position until his confirmation to the State Supreme Court. He is the eighth Chief Justice to lead the New Jersey Supreme Court.

Chief Justice Rabner and his wife, Deborah, have three children. He lists his faith as Jewish.

IN THE NEWS: Police in New Jersey must explain the state’s implied consent laws to motorists in a language they can understand, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled this week. There are over 150 different languages spoken in New Jersey, according to statistics given to the Court. However, the 4-3 decision made it plain that every individual is entitled to understand the consequences of consent, and the only way to assure that was to give the information in their own language.

Posted in judicial prayer focus |

Featured Member of the Judicial Branch for Prayer

Thursday, July 8th, 2010

Judge John M. Roll, Chief Judge, United States District Court for the District of Arizona

John McCarthy Roll was born in 1947 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  He received a B.A. from the University of Arizona, and his J.D. from the University of Arizona College of Law.   He received an LL.M. from the University of Virginia School of Law.

He was a bailiff in the Pima County, Arizona, Superior Court, and an assistant city attorney for Tucson, Arizona.  He was Deputy County Attorney of the Criminal Division in Pima County, Arizona, and a clinical instructor at the University of Arizona College of Law.

He served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney of the District of Arizona and was on an organized crime drug task force. He served as a judge on the Court of Appeals for Arizona, and was presiding judge there for three years.

He was nominated by President George H. W. Bush to a judgeship in the United States District Court for the District of Arizona, and has served as Chief Judge since 2006.

IN THE NEWS:  The United States government filed a lawsuit against Arizona seeking an injunction against the immigration law which has been both praised and criticized by other state governments. A Justice Department statement said it was challenging the new state law in the United States District Court for the District of Arizona because it hampered the authority of the administration of President Barack Obama to enforce national immigration policy. Attorney General Eric Holder said the Arizona law “crossed a constitutional line” of preemption.

Posted in judicial prayer focus |

Featured Member of the Judicial Branch for Prayer

Thursday, July 1st, 2010

Judge Sandra L. Lynch, Chief Judge,  United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit

Sandra Lea Lynch was born in 1946. She graduated from Lake Highlands High School in Dallas, Texas, as a member of the first graduating class.  She received a B.A. from Wellesley College and her law degree from the Boston University School of Law.

Lynch served as a law clerk in the U. S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island. She went on to serve as an assistant state attorney general for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.  For a time she was engaged in private law practice, and also served as an instructor at the Boston University Law School. She served a term as President of the Boston Bar Association.

She was nominated to the First Circuit Court by President Bill Clinton, and confirmed within two months of her nomination.  She is the first woman to have served on that Court, and in 2008 became its first female Chief Judge.

IN THE NEWS:  The First Circuit Court of Appeals has granted National Organization for Marriage’s request for protection of donors while their lawsuit establishing First Amendment rights proceeds in federal court.  The Maine Ethics Commission had asked for disclosure alleging that the organization had acted as a ballot initiative committee.

Posted in judicial prayer focus |

Featured Member of the Judicial Branch for Prayer

Thursday, June 24th, 2010

Judge Martin Feldman,  U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana

Martin Leach Cross Feldman was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and graduated from Tulane University in New Orleans with his bachelor’s degree and his juris doctor.

He served in the U. S. Army Reserve as a Captain in the JAG Corps. For 24 years he was in a private law practice in New Orleans.

Feldman was nominated to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana by President Ronald Reagan, and was confirmed by the Senate less than a month following his nomination.

IN THE NEWS:  After the injuctive ruling by Judge Martin Feldman effectively stopping the Obama Administration’s moratorium on deep-water oil drilling, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced that he would issue an order to reinstate the moratorium. He said the Administration would appeal Feldman’s ruling to the Fifth Circuit. The case could well shape up to be a good test on the Constitutional limits of presidential authority.

Posted in judicial prayer focus |

Featured Member of the Judicial Branch for Prayer

Thursday, June 17th, 2010

James L. Ryan, Senior Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit

James Leo Ryan was born in 1932 in Detroit, Michigan. He graduated from Detroit Catholic Central High School, and earned both his B.A. and LL.B. degrees from the University of Detroit.

Following his graduation from law school, Ryan served as a law specialist in the United States Navy and was assigned to the Judge Advocate General and duty with the United States Marine Corps.  Before his career in the judiciary, Ryan was engaged in the private practice of law in Michigan. He was appointed to the Michigan Supreme Court where he served as the 89^th Justice, until his appointment in 1985 by President Ronald Reagan as a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

He has extensive teaching experience, having served as an adjunct professor of law at Ave Maria School of Law, the University of Detroit School of Law, and the Thomas M. Cooley Law School. He has served as a faculty member of the National Judicial College in Reno, Nevada, and the Appellate Judges Conference of the American Bar Association.

Judge Ryan was married for fifty years to the late Mary Elizabeth Ryan. They had four children, including one who now serves as a Circuit Court Judge for Wayne County, Michigan.

IN THE NEWS: A federal appeals court upheld a ban including the Ten Commandments in a display that featured multiple religions and government documents at two southern Kentucky courthouses. The court ruled that the documents including the Ten Commandments, in a display called the “Foundations of American Law and Government,” and also including the Bill of Rights, Magna Carta and Star Spangled Banner, were not lawful to be displayed. Judge James Ryan was the lone dissenter, and in his opinion wrote that the court’s majority does not acknowledge historical evidence that part of the intent of the First Amendment was to protect religious symbols and support of religious devotion. He described the Court as having “persistent hostility to religion.”

Posted in judicial prayer focus |

Featured Member of the Judicial Branch for Prayer

Thursday, June 10th, 2010

Judge Lynn N. Hughes, United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas

Lynn Nettleton Hughes was born in Houston, Texas. He graduated from the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa with a bachelor’s degree, and later graduated from the University of Texas School of Law at Austin. In addition he earned a Master of Laws degree from the University of Virginia School of Law.

He was in private practice in Texas, until he was named to the 165^th Judicial District Court in Texas, Harris County. He was named to the United Sates District Court for the District of Texas by President Ronald Reagan, and confirmed by the Senate two months later.

He also served as an adjunct professor of law at South Texas College of Law, and the University of Texas School of Law.

IN THE NEWS: Half of the active federal judges in New Orleans have recused themselves from BP oil spill lawsuits, due to a conflict of interest. In addition, judges are recusing themselves in Alabama. BP has specifically requested Judge Lynn Hughes of Houston. According to Judicial Watch Hughes has lectured for oil industry groups. Hughes seems willing to take the cases if offered to him, although he appeared unenthusiastic about the prospect.

Posted in judicial prayer focus |

Featured Member of the Judicial Branch for Prayer

Thursday, June 3rd, 2010

Robert W. Sweet, Senior Judge, United States District Court for the Southern District of New York

Robert Workman Sweet was born in Yonkers, New York, in 1932.  He attended Yale University and obtained a Bachelor of Laws degree from Yale Law School. He was an Assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York, and served as the deputy mayor of New York City for three years.

After a time in private practice, he was appointed to the federal court for the Southern District of New York by President Jimmy Carter.  One of the most controversial cases he decided was a case involving a group of teenagers who sued McDonald’s restaurant chain, claiming the food sold by them caused their obesity.  Judge Sweet dismissed the case and said, “It is not the place of the law to protect them against their own excesses.” (The decision was later set aside by the Appeals Court.)

IN THE NEWS:  Judge Robert Sweet has granted a motion for summary judgment in a case involving “gene patents,” stating that certain isolated genes relating to susceptibility to breast cancers are not subject to patentability by researchers. He said that isolated DNA does not possess markedly different characteristics from naturally occurring counterparts to be eligible for patenting. His discussion in the case is 156 pages long.

Posted in judicial prayer focus |

Featured Member of the Judicial Branch for Prayer

Thursday, May 27th, 2010

Edith H. Jones, Chief Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth District

Edith Hollan Jones was born in Philadelphia in 1949. She graduated from Cornell University and received her JD from the University of Texas School of Law.  She was in private practice in Houston, and became her firm’s first female partner. She specialized in bankruptcy law.

She was nominated to the Fifth Circuit by President Ronald Reagan, and confirmed by the Senate within three months. She became the Chief Judge of the Fifth Circuit in 2006.  She sits on the board of directors of the Boy Scouts of America.  During the presidency of George W. Bush she had been considered for nomination to the Supreme Court.  She is married to “Woody.”

IN THE NEWS:   The former director for the science program for Texas’ public schools has asked the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to revive a lawsuit over her firing for forwarding an email about a forum opposed to teaching creationism.

Posted in judicial prayer focus |