Posted on 09/24/2002 7:32:13 AM PDT by Texas Mom
PITTSBURGH – D. Brooks Smith, the only federal judge Johnstown has ever known, officially became the newest jurist on the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday, ending a grueling nominating process that attacked his character and credibility.
Finally responding to the harsh criticism, Smith said he hoped “being an appellate judge is a damn site more satisfying than becoming one.”
Smith, 50, of Altoona, a former Blair County prosecutor and judge, had come under fire from special interest groups and some Democrats in the Senate who challenged his conservation judicial record, federalist tendencies and ethics for taking what were described as “junkets” to judicial conferences.
He pledged yesterday to set aside personal ideology in deciding cases.
“There is no master plan, no hidden agenda, no man behind the curtain.,” said Smith, who served as Johnstown’s first and only district judge for the past 14 years. “There should be no overarching ideology that compels a good judge to make a decision. “Good judges must always remember that real people are affected by the decisions they reach.”
Smith’s swearing in comes more than a year after he was nominated by President Bush to the appellate court, which is just a step below the U.S. Supreme Court.
Smith’s replacement, who will be selected by the president on the recommendation of Pennsylvania’s two senators, “will come from the neighborhood” to ensure that a federal judge with local ties will continue to sit in Johnstown, said Sen. Arlen Spector, R-Pa. Spector said that he and Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., already have their Judicial Nominating Commission reviewing potential nominees.
“We’re going to push ahead and get it done,” Spector said.
A standing room only crowd of more than 200 people jammed into the Federal Courthouse in Pittsburgh for the swearing-in ceremony, while an overflow crowd watched the hour-long proceeding on closed circuit television in a nearby courtroom.
It was an august gathering of political and judicial figures, religious leaders, lawyers and members of Smith’s family. His wife, Karen, and his parents, Bill and Betsy Smith of Tyrone, assisted him in putting on his robe after he took the oath of office, which was administered by Senior Judge Joseph Weis Jr. of the 3rd Circuit Court.
As a district judge, Smith has handled a number of high profile cases, including:
• Sentencing former Johnstown Police Sgt. Richard Rok to one year in federal prison for violating a suspect’s civil rights by kicking him when the suspect was handcuffed and on the ground,
• Heavily fining Action Mining Co. of Meyersdale, which was indicted by a grand jury for an illegal network of drainage pipes that polluted streams in Southern Somerset County.
• Presiding over an inmates’ lawsuit that eventually led to Cambria County Commissioners’ decision to build a new prison to replace an overcrowded, century-old jail.
The elevation of Smith to the appellate court “is a day of celebration, a red letter day for all of us here and all the citizens of Pennsylvania,” said state Sen. Robert Jubelirer, who serves as both the president pro tempore of the Senate and as lieutenant governor.
It was an emotional moment for Jubelirer, one of Smith’s former law partners and close friends, who said that “outside forces tried to taint” Smith’s character during the confirmation.
But Jubelirer said ordinary citizens, members of the legal community and political figures from both parties rallied together to move the nomination through the Senate.
Former Pennsylvania Gov. Dick Thornburgh, a lawyer who has known Smith for 25 years, described Smith as “a man of rare character and integrity.” Thornburgh lobbied for Smith’s confirmation.
The Rev. Christian Oravec, president of St. Francis University in Loretto, said in an interview prior to the ceremony that Smith’s appointment “is a great honor for our entire area.”
“He’s brilliant, very dedicated to his position,” Oravec said. “I expect great things from him in the future.” Oravec suggested that Smith’s future could even hold an appointment to the nation’s highest court.
U.S. Congressman Bill Shuster, R-Blair County, said Smith “is not the type of judge who legislates from the bench. He’s a judge who understands the Constitution. I think he’s the type of judge the Founding Fathers had in mind.”
It was a proud moment for Mary Jane Bickle of Tyrone, Smith’s cousin. “We always knew he had great things in his future,” Bickle said. “He was always mature when he was a kid. He really is the most fair-minded person I know.”
Specter did not say how soon the judicial nominating commission will make its recommendations to the two senators. The only names that have surfaced as interested contenders are Cambria County Judge Norman Krumenacker Jr. and U.S. Magistrate-Judge Keith Pesto, one of Smith’s former law clerks.
Smith already is getting new cases assigned to him. He will continue to have a temporary office in Johnstown until a new office is set up for him in Altoona. The appellate court sits only several times a year in Philadelphia, and its members confer by telephone and e-mail.
©Tribune Democrat 2002
This isn't a Presidential election so many will sit home and not bother or just forget to vote.
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