Obama Considering Another 7th Circuit Judge for Supreme Court

A White House official confirmed today that Judge Ann Williams of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit is among about 10 people under consideration for the Supreme Court.

Williams was the subject of speculation last year after Justice David Souter announced his retirement, but the acknowledgement by the Obama administration today, reported by several news organizations, marks the first time officials have confirmed that they’re looking at her. The White House official spoke to The National Law Journal only on condition of anonymity.

Williams, 60, joins fellow 7th Circuit Judge Diane Wood on the list of those under consideration.

A native of Detroit, Williams served as a federal district judge in the Northern District of Illinois from 1985 until 1999, when the Senate confirmed her to the 7th Circuit. She was an assistant U.S. attorney in Chicago for nine years, rising to head the office’s drug task force, before President Ronald Reagan nominated her to the bench, according to a 1986 Legal Times story. Click here for her biography from the Federal Judicial Center.

The Legal Times story reports that her 1985 nomination “received more coverage in the style sections of major daily newspapers than in the news sections,” because she was one week shy of giving birth to her second child when her nomination was announced. “Several major dailies profiled Williams at the time, citing her as an example of how the successful career woman balances the demands of job and family,” the story says.

The Senate Judiciary Committee questionnaire for nominees arrived the day she went into labor. “I was in labor and my husband was reading the questions to me,” she recalled then, adding, “There came a time when we had to put it down.”

In 2005, the liberal group Alliance for Justice, citing Reagan's appointment of Williams, suggested her as a potential consensus choice to succeed Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

Williams was the first African-American judge appointed to the 7th Circuit. She has a bachelor’s degree from Wayne State University, a master’s from the University of Michigan, and a J.D. from the University of Notre Dame Law School. She clerked for the late 7th Circuit Judge Robert Sprecher.

Also today, after a meeting with four Senate leaders, President Barack Obama began calling members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, a White House spokesman said. Obama called six Democrats and three Republicans, the spokesman said.

Comments

[JMS]

@Richard

If you're going to criticize a judge for being one of a panel who denied your appeal based on what look like grounds well within the judicial mainstream, at least don't do it under your own name.

Nobody likes going to jail. Don't blame the judge. You could argue that the law is wrong, or you could just take responsibility for breaking it.

[SCJ]

@ Richard Connors:

Anyone who does some research on the US v Connors case will quickly find out that Judge Williams was part of a panel, and not the authoring judge. More importantly, from reading the case, it appears as though the panel reached the proper result. No constitutional rights violated here. Please stop trolling various web sites and blogs which discuss Judge Williams being on the short list for the SCOTUS. Your posts are misleading, and show that you have, obviously, an axe to grind with her (and perhaps, the entire panel).

Read the case, and the facts, for yourself:

http://openjurist.org/441/f3d/527/united-states-v-s-connors

[richard connors]

As an appellate judge Ann Claire Williams affirmed a conviction in the case of US v Connors, 01 CR 326. A habeas corpus petition is now pending in the US Dist Court, 7th Circuit, Northern District of Illinois (US v. Connors, 09 C 1821) to vacate that conviction based on evidence of government misconduct which included forgery of documents and jury tampering. Judge William's inability to protect the constitutional rights of citizens to a fair trial should disqualify her from consideration for the United States Supreme Court.