Jul 09 2009
Fourth Circuit Judge Retires Due to Illness
South Carolina native Chief Judge Karen Williams of the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals has announced her retirement due to an unspecified illness, according to legal publications.
Her retirement at age 58 or 59 – it was unclear immediately what her exact age is – came as a surprise to lawyers and judges who know her.
Fourth Circuit Clerk of Court Patricia Connor could not be reached for comment.
I wonder how long this vacancy will sit open. The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has been a contentious issue for Congress for 15 years now. It is considered the most conservative court of all appeals courts in the nation and it has the most vacancies, four, of which Williams’ will make five. The issue of the vacancies goes back to 1994 when Justice J. Dickson Phillips of North Carolina retired. In 1995 President Clinton tried to appoint Judge James Beaty to the court but the nomination was blocked due to a contesting of the nominee by then Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC). Clinton nominated another judge in 1999 and that one also did not receive a vote.
Flash forward to the Bush years when he nominated Judge Terrence Boyle to the court to then have the nominated stopped by then Senator John Edwards (D-NC) and other Democrats as a form of payback to what Helms did to Clinton’s nominees. Aren’t you glad we have such mature individuals serving us in D.C.? Every appointee has been rejected since, although now that Obama is in the White House with a 60 seat Senate majority it’s likely he’ll be able to fill these vacancies. Considering that Obama will also likely fill these seats with justices harboring views as radical as he, the ideological make up of the court will also change, I imagine.
