James E. Duffy Jr.

Last updated

James Earl Duffy Jr. [1] (born June 4, 1942) is a retired associate justice of the Hawaii State Supreme Court. He served on the court from 2003 to 2013. He also is a former federal judicial nominee to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Contents

Early life and education

Born in St. Paul, Minnesota, Duffy graduated from Cretin High School in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Duffy earned a bachelor's degree from the College of St. Thomas in 1965. [2] He then went on to Marquette University to obtain his doctorate of jurisprudence in 1968. [3]

Professional career

Duffy began his legal career in 1968 at the law firm Cobb & Gould where he became an associate. He joined the law firm Chuck & Fujiyama in Honolulu, Hawaii as an associate. In 1975, Duffy became a senior partner and the firm was renamed Fujiyama, Duffy & Fujiyama. [3] Duffy retired from Fujiyama, Duffy & Fujiyama in 2000 and worked as a mediator from 2000 until his appointment to the Hawaii State Supreme Court in 2003. [4]

Unsuccessful nomination to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

On June 17, 1999, President Bill Clinton nominated Duffy to a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to replace Judge Cynthia Holcomb Hall, who had taken senior status on August 31, 1997. [3] Although Duffy had the support of both of Hawaii's U.S. senators at the time, his nomination languished in the Republican-led Senate, which declined to hold a U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing or vote on his nomination.

In a quixotic move, Clinton renominated Duffy and several other appeals-court nominees on January 3, 2001. [5] President George W. Bush on March 20, 2001, withdrew Duffy's nomination, along with those of 62 other executive and judicial nominees, choosing not to renominate Duffy. [6]

Later in 2001, Bush nominated Richard R. Clifton of Hawaii for the seat to which Duffy had been nominated, and Clifton was confirmed in a 98–0 vote of the U.S. Senate on July 30, 2002. [7]

Nomination to and service on the Hawaii State Supreme Court

In 2003, Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle appointed Duffy from his private practice to the five-member Hawaii State Supreme Court. Though appointed by a governor from the Hawaii Republican Party, Duffy is a member of the Hawaii Democratic Party. [8]

"Hawaii has been very good to me, both personally and professionally, and this is my opportunity to pay back some of the good things that have been done for me in the practice of law and personally," Duffy said at a news conference while standing next to Lingle, according to an April 15, 2003 Associated Press article.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark J. Bennett</span> American judge (born 1953)

Mark Jeremy Bennett is a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Miguel Angel Estrada Castañeda is a Honduran-American attorney who became embroiled in controversy following his 2001 nomination by President George W. Bush to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Senate Democrats, unable to block his nomination in the Senate Judiciary Committee after the Republican Party took control of the U.S. Senate in 2002, used a filibuster for the first time to prevent his nomination from being given a final confirmation vote by the full Senate.

Henry William Saad is a judge on the Michigan Court of Appeals and a former nominee to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Allen Griffin</span> American judge (born 1952)

Richard Allen Griffin is a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Previously, he was a judge on the Michigan Court of Appeals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roger Gregory</span> American judge (born 1953)

Roger Lee Gregory is an American lawyer who serves as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Terrence Boyle</span> American judge (born 1945)

Terrence William Boyle is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina. He was Chief Judge of that court from 1997 to 2004. He served a second term as Chief Judge from 2018 to 2021. From 1991 to 1993 and again from 2001 to 2007, he was a nominee to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. His federal appellate nomination from 2001 to 2007 is the longest in history not to be acted upon by the United States Senate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Keisler</span> American lawyer (born 1960)

Peter Douglas Keisler is an American lawyer whose 2006 nomination by President George W. Bush to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit became embroiled in partisan controversy. He is a partner at the firm of Sidley Austin in Washington, D.C., and used to be the Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Civil Division at the U.S. Department of Justice. Upon the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, until November 9, 2007, he was also the Acting Attorney General of the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Helene White</span> American judge (born 1954)

Helene N. White is a senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Previously, she was a judge on the Michigan Court of Appeals.

Barry P. Goode is a judge in Contra Costa County, California, and a former federal judicial nominee to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Sarah Elizabeth Gibson is a law professor at the University of North Carolina School of Law and a former federal judicial nominee to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

Harry Alston Johnson III is an American lawyer, a law professor and a former federal judicial nominee to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

During President Bill Clinton's first and second terms of office, he nominated 24 people for 20 federal appellate judgeships but the nominees were not processed by the Republican-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee. Three of the nominees who were not processed were nominated after July 1, 2000, the traditional start date of the unofficial Thurmond Rule during a presidential election year. Democrats claim that Senate Republicans of the 106th Congress purposely tried to keep open particular judgeships as a political maneuver to allow a future Republican president to fill them. Of the 20 seats in question, four were eventually filled with different Clinton nominees, fourteen were later filled with Republican nominees by President George W. Bush and two continued to stay open during Bush's presidency. Senator Harry Reid, the Democratic leader of the United States Senate during the 110th Congress, and Senator Patrick Leahy, the Democratic leader of the Senate Judiciary Committee under Reid, repeatedly mentioned the controversy over President Clinton's court of appeals nominees during the controversy involving the confirmation of Republican court of appeals nominees during the last two years of Bush's second term. Republicans claimed that Democrats were refusing to confirm certain longstanding Bush nominees in order to allow a future Democratic president in 2009 to fill those judgeships.

During President George W. Bush's two term tenure in office, a few of his nominations for federal judgeships were blocked by the Senate Democrats either directly in the Senate Judiciary Committee or on the full Senate floor in various procedural moves, including the first use of a filibuster to block a Federal Appeals Court nominee. Republicans labeled it an unwarranted obstruction of professionally qualified judicial nominees.

During President Jimmy Carter's presidency, he nominated four people for four different federal appellate judgeships who were not processed by the Democratic-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee before Carter's presidency ended. None of the four nominees were renominated by Carter's successor, President Ronald Reagan. Three of the nominees who were not processed were nominated after July 1, 1980, the traditional start date of the unofficial Thurmond rule during a presidential election year. All four seats eventually were filled by appointees of President Ronald Reagan.

James Arthur Beaty Jr. is a former United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, and a former nominee to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leslie E. Kobayashi</span> American judge (born 1957)

Leslie Emi Kobayashi is a United States district judge for the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii.

Lisa Miyoko Ginoza is an American lawyer from Hawaii who has served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of Hawaii since 2024. She previously served as the chief judge of the Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals from 2018 to 2024.

References

  1. ↑ Who's Who in American Law, 2005-2006. Marquis Who's Who. 2005. p. 284.
  2. ↑ "Profile of Judge James E. Duffy, Jr". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2008-05-22.
  3. 1 2 3 "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2008-05-22.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. ↑ Top jurists represent diverse backgrounds | The Honolulu Advertiser | Hawaii's Newspaper
  5. ↑ Clinton calls on Congress to act on judicial nominations – January 4, 2001
  6. ↑ Bush Dumps Clinton Nominees, 62 Executive And Judicial Nominees Are Pulled... – CBS News
  7. ↑ Richard R. Clifton
  8. ↑ Selection panel limits judgeship picks | starbulletin.com | News | /2008/03/09/
Government offices
Preceded by
 Supreme Court of Hawaii Associate Justice
2003–2012		Succeeded by
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.