News Scrapbook 1988

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San Diego, Friday, July 15, 1988

National news

Senate committee rejects Siegan nomination to 9th Circuit Court (ft By Mark Raga ought to just state this was a Copley News ~rvice hammer job and he (Siegan) got 1t WA HINGTON - Citing his lack right in the chops," of experience in the federal courts Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, offered nd hi con ervative interpretation the most spirited defense of Siegan, f th U.S Constitution, the Senate saying objections to his lack of expe- ud1ciary Committee ye terday re- nence ignore "the whole raft" of fed- ted Universit o{.San Diego law eral court appointees who made it to rof or rnard Si gan for a eat the federal bench with little or no on the 9th Circu1 Coui'tof Appeals. courtroom experience. The committee, voting along party Kennedy, who said he knew Siegan Im , reJ led S1egan's nommation to personally, said, "there's no question the federal bench by an 8-6 vote and about his integrity and character, but ter turn d down an attempt to send I strongly oppose his nomination." th nomination to the Senate floor Kennedy, citing Siegan's lack of without a recommcndal!on. courtroom experience, said, "He has Siegan' reiection came as no never conducted a jury trial and urpr' e to committ members, the appeared only once in his career in 1b •ral lobbying group that lobbied federal court." Siegan's belief that gainst him or to official in the the Supreme Court should apply e gan adm1m trahon who for more scrutiny to economic regula- ontb h d encouraged 1egan to BERNARD IEGA · tion "deeply troubled" him, he added. withdraw h1s nam from con 1dera- San Diego law profes or The Senate panel's rejection of the tion Reagan court nominee was often The 9th U,S Circuit Court of tee _ including Sen. Edward Kenne- compared to the rejection last year ppeal covers nme We tern tat . dy, D-Mass., and Leahy _ expressed of Supreme Court nominee Robert H. "Th handwritmg's been on the strong personal regard for Siegan, Bork. all for quit ome time," said Sen. but added that his views on the law Like Bork, Siegan wrote often on take it to the floor." tion without recommendation failed on a 7-7 tie, said afterward that Re- publicans "will make no effort to Siegan was only the second judi- cial nominee to be rejected by the Judiciary Committee since the Dem- ocrats regained control in January 1987. Bork was the first. New York, NY (New York Co.) Wall Street Journal (Western Edition) (Cir. SxW. 426,863) JUL 1 5 1988 Jlll,m '• P. c. B hr 1888 For Court of ~l,s Post B11 a W M-L STR affReporte~ San Diego, Calif. Southern Cross (Cir. W. 27 ,500) JUL 15 1988 P. C. B I r 1888 u_s_o_ ,gqr.t5 WASHING~Sp ittingalongpart1· san lines, the Senate Judiciary Commit· tee yesterday rejected the controversial nomination of Bernard SJegan to the Court of Appeals for the Nfnlh Circuit in San Francisco. "Spirituality and Theology," a summer lecture series begins July 18, 7-9 p.m., at Manchester Conference Center. Bishop Kenneth Untener from the far "out of the main- the law, and - like Bork - his views

Los Angeles,CA (Los Angeles Co.) T imes l San Diego Ed .) Ci r. D. 50,010) (Cir. S. 55,573 )

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Diocese of Saginaw, Mich., will be the keynote speaker. On July 20, 7-9 p.m., Bishop Thomas Gumbleton o/ Detroit will be the keynote speaker. Archbishop Thomas J Murphy, Coadjutor archbishop of Seattle, Washlngto~ will speak July 25- 26. On July 27, Bishop Carl Fisher, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, wlll be the gue11t speaker. Sponsored by the Office of Continuing Education. Cost is $15 per night or $80 tor the four lectures. Call 260-4585 for details. Dick Braun Orchestra presents a 13-piece traditional Dixieland jazz band July 21, 7:30 p.m., at Manchester Auditorium. Free. Sponsored by the Office of Continuing Education. For further information, call 260-4585. "Creative Kids '88," a program to help students stretch their creative abilities, will be held July 25-Aug. 25. Cost Is $55-60 plus $150 for special afternoon activities. Call 260-4585. Sports camps tor boys and girls ages 6-18 will be held In July and August. Cost is $295 per week for resident camp or $165-$200 per week for day camp. Sessions In tournament and basic tennis, competitive swimming, basketball, soccer, football, volleyball, baseball and outdoor wllderness will be offered. For more, call 260-4593L

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Patmk Le hy, D Vt. ''The commit- !lee knew it, the admmistrahon knew t and the nominee knew it. 'I w h he ( 1egan) could have been par d the pam of all of thi ." iegan, whose nom1Datlon had n pending before the committee or 18 months, could not be reached

It was only the third time the com· mittee has rejected one of President Reagan's nominees to the federal courts, he has appointed 340 federal Judge~ TJ1e committee also recommended confirmation of four district court nom· inees: Richard Voorhees, for the West- ern Distrtct of North Carolina; Karl 1' or· ester, for the Eastern Distnct of Ken- tucky; Fern Smith for the Northern Dis· trict of Califorrua; and Jan DuBois, for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Mr. Siegan, a profe:,301 at the Uni- versity of San Diego Law School, was vigmettSIY opposed by ll'ie same coal!· lion that helped defeat Robert Bork's nomination to the Supreme Court last year. Following the Siegan nom nation early In 1987, those groups ma.de his de- feat a top priority and yesterday were quick to claim victory. • The comnuttee's action, together with the recent resignation of Ed Meese, marks the end of the Meese era in judi- cial select.on," said Melanne Verveer, a spokesman for People for the American Way.

pa nuclear deterrence from 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesday in the Manchester Center at theU~f San~ Admission is $15. For reserva/ t,ons, call 260-45B5. / - -~-~---------:.---- 1-- cuss opposing

often were contrary to precedents set by the Supreme Court. But while senators decided a Su- preme Court nominee deserved a full Senate vote, Siegan's supporters said no such effort would be made for

But Sen. Alan Simpson, R-Wyo.,

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accused the committee of trying to often its reJection of the 63-year-old law professor on ideological grounds by praising him as a person. • "I hope we don't shroud thlS 1·n too much good will," Simpson said. ''We

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think tank that shares many of S1e- gan view , called the Senate rejec tion a tragedy What the ' nx 1ous about is that Berm t e t c (. onstitulion scr1ousl '. C1v I nghts gro ps that had p- r ed . egan were deh 0 hted. 'He t ~n extrtmely r strichve view or the Con t1tuhon esp cially the pro 1s10 s protecting individual rights a freedoms," aid Ralph eas of th Leadership C'ounc I on Civil Right Of Reagan's 340 1ud1c1al nomi• nation Siegan's was only the third to h reiected hv the committee Thf others wer rk and Jefferson B. es ions, \~h n minated for a trt I C'> rt 1 Alabama. egan ha1 nommated for a vacan n l U S Cot.rt of Ap- peals ID San Fr.inclSCO \\hlch cov- ers nme \ estern sl..!t The v can cv probably will be filled by th<> next pr 1dent because th Judlc1 · 0 In contrast with Siegan's reJec- t1on. tbe Judiciary Committee nan- lmou ly appro\ed yesterday the nomination of Superior Court Judge Fern Smith as a U.S. District Court Judge in San Francisco. If confirmed by the Senate as expected, Smith, 54 \\ ill replace Judge Samuel Conti, 65, who moved to senior tatus. Smith was appointed to the Su- p rior Court by Governor Deukmej- ian in August 1986 after 10 years in pri\ ?te practice in the San Francis co I w hrm of Bronson, Bronson & cKu non. As a lawyer she p(cral ized ID av1at on !av. and repr~ente I .. H. Robms Co. in the Dalkon Shield mtrauter ne devichr.:?S A native of San Fr~~ and the mother of two grown daugh- ters, Smith graduated from Stan- ford Law School at the ge of 41. .,,,.---

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1c ,, who 1 a fn nd of out ttorney General Edwin , ha written \olummou ly prO\()(atlvcly over the years ha rgued that courts hav n too timid m d fendm ' co- nonuc liberties" of property owner agam t Jcg1slath e re triction and that · there i no fundamental or n tural right to education norto n mtcgrated education." Over the yea , the la p ores.- or had qu 10n d th const1tu al validity o zoning 1 \\ paper ney nd ti e mm1D1um wag t hearing of the Jud1c1ar Com1111ttcc, however, Sie an te t1 fled that he would follow court pre- rrdmt and not lmpo h1 per onal views. "The only cons1d n I would hav a a Judge is v. hat IS the law of the land," Si gan said enator Edward Kennedy, D- b

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"Mr. Siega: com- ment," a U.§IL..s.pokesman said Friday, anaTndeed, Bernie Sigen, 63, didn't respond to a call to his La Jolla homP The USD law professor didn't get the appointment to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals he fought for the past 18 months. The Democratic-led Senate Judiciary Committee voted 8-6 along party Ii nes to reject Siegan, a friend of outg@ling Attorney General Edwin .Meeli! . A Republican attempt at least to send the nomination to the full Senate with an unfavorable recommendation failed on a 7-7 vote. Siegan's rejection marks Pre- sident Reagan's first defeat in a nomination to the appeals cour1 level, while one waits before th1 full Senate with a "no recommen dation" from the committee. ThE president has named 273 of the 57f judges in the federal court system and has lost only in the case of Jef. / ferson Sessions, nominated to the federal trial court in Alabama, and Robert Bork, his choice for the Supreme Court. Siegan refused to withdraw despite clear signs the committee would spurn him for his views - he wrote that environ- mental and economic regulations such as zonmg are unconstitu- tional, for example - and lack of federal courtroom experience. * * • People for the American Way, the liberal citizens lobby group, said Siegan's rejection "marks the end of the Meese era in judicial selection." The conservative Free Congress Research and Education Foundation countered that Siegan was the victim of "a multimillion- dollar political campaign of lies, distortions and half truths." * .. •--~-L

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-- Senate ~lays judicial politics ~1}> . B ernard Siegan is a University of ~n Di~r of constitutional law wlio has excellent credentials to serve on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. His only problem, however, is that Since taking over the Senate in 1986, Democratic liberals have submitted all of President Reagan's judicial nominees to the kind of political litmus test that makes a mockery of the entire confirmation

The committee voted along par- ty lme , 8 to 6, against a motion to end Siegan's nomination to the full Senate v.1tb a favorabl recommen- dation. Then moderate Democrat Denms DeConcm1 of Arizona switched side,; and the committee deadlocked, 7 to 7, on sending the nomination to the Senate with no recommendation With no recom- ndation, thl" nommatlon died in committee Comm1tt e cha1Cman Joseph B1den of Delaware who has be n out ce February recovering from urgery. c t his vote b pro>.')' - the first time smce bis illness that he h.is done so

process. Senators are supposed to look at the qualifications of judicial nominees, not their political views. The professor told the senators that he would, as judges are supposed to,do, follow the law as laid down by the Supreme Court. "There are time,s when I rule contrary to my own feelings," Mr. Siegan told the Senators. Of course the Judiciary Committee Democrats - who would probably give quick approval to a nominee just out of law school if the proper liberal slant were part of the package - slammed the door on Professor Siegan's nomination. Numer- ous other appointments by Mr. Reagan are being held hostage by the Judiciary Com- mittee, partly in the hope that fellow liberal Michael Dukakis will take over the White House. Senate Democrats are plays ing a crude game of partisan politics with Mr. Reagan's judicial nominees. This is something voters should remember when they go to the polls on Nov. 8.

Professor Siegan is a conservative who, like former Judge Robert Bork, does not agree with all of the dec:sions handed down by the U.S. Supreme Clourt. When President Reagan's nomination of Mr. Siegan to the appeals court was submitted last week to the Senate Judi- ciary Committee - which is dominated by Sen. Ted Kennedy and his liberal col- leagues - committee members responded much the way a fighting bull reacts when a red flag is waved in front of it. The Kennedy clones jumped on Mr. Siegan for not having already served on a lower federal court, although many appeals court justices have been con- firmed even though they had no such prior experience. The 8-6 vote rejecting Profes- sor Siegan's appointment to the court was enveloped in the typical liberal "lack of experience" smokescreen designed to hide their dislike of his conservative views.

Wilham 'iskanen, chairman of the Cato Foundation a libertarian•