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The U.S. Supreme Court said judges “are appointed for life, not for eternity,” in setting aside a pay-discrimination ruling written by a jurist who died a week and a half before the decision was issued. The unsigned opinion said a federal appeals court was wrong to count the vote of the late Judge Stephen Reinhardt in a ruling that let a female math consultant sue a California school official. In letting the case go forward, the 11-judge appellate panel ruled unanimously but splintered in its reasoning. Reinhardt’s opinion said employers can’t pay female workers less than their male counterparts just...

WASHINGTON — In the spring of 2014, a friend tried to nudge Judge Stephen Reinhardt, then an 83-year-old liberal stalwart on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, into stepping aside from full-time duties so President Barack Obama could nominate a successor. The friend, Erwin Chemerinsky, now the dean at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, said he had gently suggested to Judge Reinhardt that he and another longtime liberal figure on the San Francisco-based court make way while Democrats still had the power to assure that jurists with a similar philosophy would take their...

Judge Stephen Reinhardt of the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit has died, a court spokesperson confirmed. He was 87. A liberal champion, Reinhardt was appointed to the bench by President Carter in 1980. He authored key liberal court opinions on hot-button topics ranging from abortion and marriage equality to assisted suicide and immigration. At the same time, the opinions made him a target of criticism from conservative corners — and of regular reversal from the Supreme Court.

Here, for reasons that I shall provide in a memorandum to be filed in due course, I am certain that “a reasonable person with knowledge of all the facts would [not] conclude that [my] impartiality might reasonably be questioned.” United States v. Nelson, 718 F.2d 315, 321 (9th Cir. 1983); see also Sao Paulo State of the Federated Republic of Brazil v. Am. Tobacco Co., 535 U.S. 229, 233 (2002) (per curiam). I will be able to rule impartially on this appeal, and I will do so. The motion is therefore DENIED.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Sponsors of California's ban on same-sex marriage asked a liberal federal appeals court judge Wednesday evening to disqualify himself from the panel that will review the ban next week because of his wife's leadership role in the American Civil Liberties Union. Judge Stephen Reinhardt's "impartiality might reasonably be questioned" because his wife, Ramona Ripston, is an outspoken opponent of Proposition 8 and has taken part in legal proceedings to overturn the ballot measure, lawyers for the measure's supporters told the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. Reinhardt, an appointee of President Jimmy Carter who...

The Ninth Circuit has just announced that the panel hearing the appeal of Judge Vaughn Walker’s anti-Prop 8 ruling will consist of Stephen Reinhardt, Michael D. Hawkins, and N. Randy Smith. As regular Bench Memos readers know, Reinhardt (appointed by President Carter in 1980) may well be the most aggressive liberal judicial activist in the nation—and the most reversed judge in history. Hawkins, a 1994 Clinton appointee, is also regularly on the Left on the Ninth Circuit.

San Francisco, CA (AP) -- A federal lawyer who was prevented from enrolling his same-sex spouse in his government-sponsored health plan must be reimbursed the cost of outside insurance and other medical expenses, a California judge ruled Tuesday. Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Stephen Reinhardt said Brad Levenson, a public defender in Los Angeles, is entitled to the money because the Office of Personnel Management refused to authorize health coverage for Levenson's husband of 16 months. That violates both his constitutional rights and the court's anti-discrimination rules, the judge ruled. "The denial of federal benefits to same-sex spouses...

By DON THOMPSON SACRAMENTO, Calif. - A special panel of federal judges has tentatively ruled that California must release tens of thousands of inmates to relieve overcrowding.

San Francisco (AP) -- A federal judicial panel heard closing arguments Tuesday in a long-running legal battle over crowding in California prisons, a case that will have far-reaching consequences for the state's corrections system, its budget and public safety. At issue are cases stretching back more than two decades that claim overcrowding is the cause of poor medical and mental health treatment. Courts already have found the care so poor that it violates inmates' constitutional rights. Inmates' attorneys argued Tuesday that releasing tens of thousands of prisoners is the answer.

Whenever I hear my fellow conservatives talk about sitting out the election in November, I want to grab them and shake them until their teeth rattle. Anything that puts Democrats even an inch closer to appointing federal judges should be more than enough reason to get every right-winger off the couch and down to his polling place. In case you think I'm engaging in election year hyperbole, consider Judge Stephen Roy Reinhardt. He has been the mainstay of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit for the past quarter of a century, ever since Jimmy Carter foisted him...

NEVER FORGET ...At the end of the Day yesterday, Friday August 15, 2003 San Jose U.S. District Court JEREMY D. FOGEL ruled that in 2 weeks he may push California's October 7, 2003 Election to Recall and Replace Friend of CLINTON California Gov. GRAY DAVIS back to the March 2004 Presidential Primary Election, thus increasing DAVIS' Chances for Survival. ...Shades, perhaps, of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge and Friend of the CLINTONS ..STEPHEN REINHARDT's getting a retired 9th Circuit Judge other than himself to ban our "UNDER GOD" Pledge of Allegiance in our California Schools over a...

He’s the judge who says parental rights end at the schoolhouse door and that the Pledge of Allegiance in public school classrooms is unconstitutional. He admires an Israeli judge who’s outlawed spanking and radically expanded the power of the federal judiciary. He considers an opinion he wrote in 1996 in favor of assisted suicide his greatest achievement. He’s Judge Stephen Reinhardt of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals—the most infamous member of the most radical court in America. He’s notorious because he’s caused real harm—to parental rights, public safety and the reputation of the federal courts. But one of...

Court Gone Mad! 9th Circuit Court Rules Against Parents By Sharon Hughes The new ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stating, "There is no fundamental right of parents to be the exclusive provider of information regarding sexual matters to their children...Parents have no due process or privacy right to override the determinations of public schools as to the information to which their children will be exposed while enrolled as students," has Californians in an uproar, and rightfully so! The liberal ninth district court known for it's legislating from the bench, such as in the recent case where...

More chicanery in the courts: in a case currently under consideration in the Ninth Circuit, Judge Stephen Reinhardt has ordered liberal law professor Edwin Chemerinsky to write an amicus (friend of the court) brief addressing the constitutionality of the tax deductions given to church leaders who receive certain housing benefits. The case arose when a pastor in Orange County deducted the "reasonable value" of his housing costs instead of the "actual value." The IRS took him to court, and he won -- the only question in the case was whether the law permitted the deduction of actual or reasonable housing...