Judge Robert Chatigny, nominated for the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, faced withering questions Wednesday from Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee about how he handled the case of a notorious serial killer.
The serial killer, Michael Ross, was nicknamed the "Roadside Strangler" for a string of killings in the early 1980s. In 2005, Chatigny, as a federal district court judge, pushed for a hearing to determine Ross' mental competency. He pushed so hard that prosecutors later filed an ethics complaint against him.
A three-judge committee that included then-U.S. District Judge Michael Mukasey publicly cleared Chatigny of any ethics violations, but memory of Chatigny's actions caused a delay in his confirmation hearing for the circuit. The hearing was initially scheduled for March 10.
"I don't think this is a matter that's going to lightly go away," Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., the Judiciary Committee's top Republican, told Chatigny today. "I think it evidenced the lack of a proper understanding of your role in the matter."
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202454109767&rss=newswire Senator Klobuchar chaired this hearing of the US Senate Judiciary Committee
US District Judge Robert Chatigny responds to questions during the hearing. The hearing was held on April 28th 2010. Judge Chatigny was previously nominated by William J. Clinton on August 5, 1994 to the U.S. District Court, District of Connecticut where he has served since.
After watching the hearing in it's entirety tonight I think two interactions and two observations made this hearing unique:
ObservationsThe entire hearing save about a minute was devoted to Chatigny's action in one case out of the more than 4 thousands cases that he has been involved in.The fact that there was only one Democratic Senator in attendance at the hearing and three Republicans, made for a rather unbalanced hearing. InteractionsSenator Coburn suggested that there was a pattern of indicators (drawn selectively by the three Republican Senators) that he was soft on crime. Judge Chatigny carefully replied: "I understand that a narrative has developed that depicts me in this way."I kept waiting for Senator Klobuchar to cite cases where he was extremely tough on crime, which she did toward the very end of the hearing in order to counter the obviously selective sample offered by the Republicans. She also noted the the government has never appealed any of his sentences. After learning more about Chatigny's role in the Ross case, if I were involved in advise and consent, I would be more inclined to support him. He went out of his way to ensure that the Constitution was followed, in a matter of life and death.
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