Senate Judiciary greets potential future Supreme Court Justice, DC Circuit nominee

[usregimechange]

Caitlin Joan Halligan, General counsel, Manhattan district attorney/Lecturer-in-Law, Columbia Law School
Nominee to be United States Circuit Judge for the District of Columbia Circuit
44 Year Old

Former Solicitor General of New York

Counsel serving without pay, 9/11 board overseeing the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan

Former Law Clerk for United States Supreme Court Associate Justice Stephen Breyer

Former legislative aid for Democratic U.S. Rep. William Alexander of Arkansas

Former Law Clerk for United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit Judge Patricia Wald (Carter appointee)

The Senate Judiciary Committee held its first hearing for this nominee today. Senator Coons chaired the hearing.

Halligan has been nominated to a court often viewed as a stepping stone to the Supreme Court. Thomas, Ginsburg, Roberts, and Alito all were on the DC Circuit prior to being nominated to the Supreme Court.

Republican Senators questioned her past involvement with boards that were critical of US detention policies following 9/11. She once authored a brief stating that legislative actions following 9/11 did not authorize the indefinite detention of enemy combatants. She offered no interesting clues as to what she believes in response.

The following interaction described by the Blog of Legal Times today will tell you basically how the entire hearing went:

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), a first-year senator, brought up a speech Halligan gave in May 2003 in which she called courts “the special friend of liberty” and said that courts enable “social progress.” Lee asked Halligan to explain what she meant.

“Senator, that was a speech that was given in the attorney general’s stead,” she responded, referring to former New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, who was her boss. “I don’t recall candidly what was in my head when I made that particular remark, and I don’t see any way in which it would affect my role as a judge one way or another, were I lucky enough to be confirmed.”

http://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2011/02/obamas-dc-circuit-pick-caitlin-halligan-meets-skeptical-republicans.html

You can watch the hearing here:
http://judiciary.senate.gov/hearings/hearing.cfm?id=4962

Another picture of the nominee from today:
http://legaltimes.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451d94869e20148c846037b970c-pi

[robinlynne]

1. That bio is looking good!

[usregimechange]

2. I think so too, sharp gal, good appointment, and fairly young

[robinlynne]

3. and close to Breyer.....

[usregimechange]

4. which would be wonderful esp if he/she were 25 years younger

[robinlynne]

5. I keep thinking year after year, if we could just count the votes from 2000 or 2004, then Bush

would be legally illegitimate, and all of his appointees with him.....
We could just remove them all at once. Especially judges.

[usregimechange]

6. Two of them for sure

[robinlynne]

7. yep. and Al Gore should be the one to pick their replacements.

[BluegrassDem]

8. ANOTHER Northeastener?

C'mon...this is kinda crazy. I'm sure she'd be wonderful, but the Court is way to heavily East coast oriented.