7 of 11 Judges on the en banc panel are Clinton appointees!!!

MSNBC | 09/19/03 | MSNBC

[Pubbie]

Just reported by MSNBC.

[Pubbie]

The 9th Soviet Court of Appeals marches on...

[Behind Liberal Lines]

Not surprising.
Let's face it. This will end up in SCOTUS. We all should have known that. The question will be whether O'Conner does the right thing or not.

[pogo101]

List of Judges on the panel:

Schroeder (Carter / liberal) (presiding)
Kozinski (Reagan / conservative)
O'Scannlain (Reagan / conservative)
Kleinfeld (Bush 41 / conservative)
Tashima (Clinton / liberal)
Silverman (Clinton / moderate)
Graber (Clinton / liberal)
Tallman (Clinton BUT conservative -- has had footnote fights with Reinhardt!)
McKeown (Clinton - liberal)
Gould (Clinton - liberal)
Rawlinson (Clinton - moderate)

This is gonna be a close one, folks. I'm thrilled to see O'Scannlain and Kozinski there; they are scintillating writers and solid conservatives. Kleinfeld is the most conservative judge on this bench. Tallman probably is gonna go our way too. That's four.

But we're going to need "honest liberals" -- ones who can see through the naked partisanship of the 3-judge panel and the ACLU -- to step up and join those guys, if we're going to get six votes.

[TheAngryClam]

Well, um, yeah, have you seen the composition of the 9th Circuit? When you draw randomly, that kind of stuff happens.

We at least got Kozinski and O'Scainnlain on there. They're awesome.

[Centurion2000]

Well this one is going to blow up in the dems faces.

[pogo101]

at least got Kozinski and O'Scainnlain

You have good taste.

[EggsAckley]

The really crummy part is that they waited so long to do this that there probably won't be time to un-do it. And the timing was no accident.

[TheAngryClam]

I've met Alex Kozinski before, and I'm actually supposed to play poker with him in a few months. Charity auction item from our shared law school, actually.

Word is that he's vicious at the table.

[Pubbie]

Yeah but the others are all Clinton Judges.

Unless you think Clinton appointed "Honest Liberal Judges" to the most corrupt appelate court in the country, I would suspect something is up...

[TheAngryClam]

Here's the 9th Circuit order announcing the en banc panel.

[South40]

[b4its2late]

The circus will just be a little larger, that's all.

[pogo101]

If you're playing poker with The Mad Romanian, I'd advise you to take only that amount of money with you, that you can afford to lose that evening. :)

[TheAngryClam]

It's just luck of the draw.

There's nothing more up than, say, drawing a conservative three judge panel on the 4th Circuit. That's just what happens when you have a predominance of one party's appointees on the bench.

The 9th Circuit was expanded by, I think, 10 judges under Carter, and Clinton got the retirement/senior status excess of those. That's part of the reason the Circuit is so weird.

Another part is that there are so many judges that they have these limited en banc panels. It's a common complaint among the judges themselves that it's hard for them to keep consistent law for the circuit when it's not all of them making a decision.

[Semper Paratus]

We are in a dangerous palce when appellate decisions are being hadicapped by political affiliations.

[pogo101]

Tallman is usually not-Liberal in politically charged cases. But then, Clinton only tapped Tallman as part of a package deal with Trent Lott to get another 9th Cir. nominee a floor vote, and approval for a TVA nominee. So he's not a typical Clinton pick.

[ambrose]

This is a good panel, by 9th Circuit standards. We probably have four votes in the bag, and now need just two cross-over votes. We had to have cross-over votes to get the rehearing in the first place, and I doubt the original three judge panel voted for the rehearing - and none of them are on this panel.

[TheAngryClam]

Yeah, no kidding.

I've been told that Rehnquist is also a very fierce poker player who, when he comes to the table, doesn't want to talk or BS, just wants to play.

[dead]

I really doubt O'Connor will run the risk of getting something negative printed about her in the NY Times.

She's still smarting from Bush/Gore, and wants nothing more than to go down in history as a "moderate."

[Pubbie]

"It's just luck of the draw."

When the panel rules that Gray Davis is First Governor for Life of the Province of Aztlanfornia don't say you weren't warned...