Stephen Reinhardt
Encyclopedia
Stephen Roy Reinhardt is a circuit
judge
on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
, with chambers in Los Angeles, California
. He was appointed in 1980 by President Jimmy Carter
.
and graduated three years later with a B.A.
in Government in 1951. In 1954, he received an LL.B. from Yale Law School
.
After law school, Reinhardt worked at the legal counsel’s office for the United States Air Force
as a lieutenant in Washington, D.C.
. Two years later, he clerked for district judge Luther Youngdahl
, a former governor of Minnesota
, in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia
. He then entered private practice, working for the law firm
of O’Melveny & Myers from 1958 until 1959 practicing entertainment law
. After two years at O’Melveny, he began working at a small firm in Los Angeles that became Fogel, Julber, Reinhardt, Rothschild & Feldman specializing in labor law.
Reinhardt served as a member of the United States Commission on Civil Rights
, California Advisory Committee from 1962 to 1974 and was its vice chairman from 1969 to 1974. He also served as member of the Democratic National Committee
and as an unpaid advisor to former Los Angeles mayor Tom Bradley
and California
governor Jerry Brown
. In 1975 he was appointed to the Los Angeles Police Commission, which he chaired from 1978 until his judicial confirmation in 1980.
Reinhardt continued his public service as Secretary of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee and as a member of the Board of Directors of the Los Angeles Amateur Athletic Foundation.
Reinhardt administered the oath of office to current Los Angeles Mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa
, on July 1, 2005.
. Stephen Reinhardt is married to Ramona Ripston
, who was Executive Director of the ACLU of Southern California
until her February 2011 retirement. Reinhardt has three children.
In 2003, Reinhardt admitted that he "was a liberal from a very young age. I think I was born that way." However, he does not believe that a Supreme Court reversal means that his opinion is "wrong" or that he "didn't follow the law." "The Supreme Court changes the law regularly. And this Supreme Court - which is the most activist Court there has ever been - is constantly changing the law. So if you really are faithful to the law, you're likely to get reversed because it [the Court] has cut back on rights."
Reinhardt's former clerk, Cornell
law professor Michael Dorf
said that when Reinhardt "believes himself clearly bound by Supreme Court precedent with which he disagrees, he states his disagreement but follows the precedent." Dorf accounts for Reinhardt's reversal rate by stating that "Reinhardt resolves cases under existing precedent as he believes those precedents should be read, without regard to whether five or more Justices of the Supreme Court are likely to reverse him."
The following are some of his more notable judicial opinions:
United States court of appeals
The United States courts of appeals are the intermediate appellate courts of the United States federal court system...
judge
Judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...
on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit is a U.S. federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:* District of Alaska* District of Arizona...
, with chambers in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
. He was appointed in 1980 by President Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
.
Education and practice
Reinhardt graduated from University High School in Los Angeles. He enrolled in Pomona CollegePomona College
Pomona College is a private, residential, liberal arts college in Claremont, California. Founded in 1887 in Pomona, California by a group of Congregationalists, the college moved to Claremont in 1889 to the site of a hotel, retaining its name. The school enrolls 1,548 students.The founding member...
and graduated three years later with a B.A.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in Government in 1951. In 1954, he received an LL.B. from Yale Law School
Yale Law School
Yale Law School, or YLS, is the law school of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Established in 1824, it offers the J.D., LL.M., J.S.D. and M.S.L. degrees in law. It also hosts visiting scholars, visiting researchers and a number of legal research centers...
.
After law school, Reinhardt worked at the legal counsel’s office for the United States Air Force
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
as a lieutenant in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
. Two years later, he clerked for district judge Luther Youngdahl
Luther Youngdahl
Luther Wallace Youngdahl was an American politician and judge from Minnesota. He served as an associate justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court from 1942 to 1946, then as Minnesota's 27th Governor from January 8, 1947 to September 27, 1951, and finally as a judge for the U.S...
, a former governor of Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
, in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia
United States District Court for the District of Columbia
The United States District Court for the District of Columbia is a federal district court. Appeals from the District are taken to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit The United States District Court for the District of Columbia (in case citations, D.D.C.) is a...
. He then entered private practice, working for the law firm
Law firm
A law firm is a business entity formed by one or more lawyers to engage in the practice of law. The primary service rendered by a law firm is to advise clients about their legal rights and responsibilities, and to represent clients in civil or criminal cases, business transactions, and other...
of O’Melveny & Myers from 1958 until 1959 practicing entertainment law
Entertainment law
Entertainment law or media law is a term for a mix of more traditional categories of law with a focus on providing legal services to the entertainment industry. The principal areas of Entertainment Law overlap substantially with the well-known and conventional field of intellectual property law...
. After two years at O’Melveny, he began working at a small firm in Los Angeles that became Fogel, Julber, Reinhardt, Rothschild & Feldman specializing in labor law.
Reinhardt served as a member of the United States Commission on Civil Rights
United States Commission on Civil Rights
The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights is historically a bipartisan, independent commission of the U.S. federal government charged with the responsibility for investigating, reporting on, and making recommendations concerning civil rights issues that face the nation.-Commissioners:The Commission is...
, California Advisory Committee from 1962 to 1974 and was its vice chairman from 1969 to 1974. He also served as member of the Democratic National Committee
Democratic National Committee
The Democratic National Committee is the principal organization governing the United States Democratic Party on a day to day basis. While it is responsible for overseeing the process of writing a platform every four years, the DNC's central focus is on campaign and political activity in support...
and as an unpaid advisor to former Los Angeles mayor Tom Bradley
Tom Bradley (politician)
Thomas J. "Tom" Bradley was the 38th Mayor of Los Angeles, California, serving in that office from 1973 to 1993. He was the first and to date only African American mayor of Los Angeles...
and California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
governor Jerry Brown
Jerry Brown
Edmund Gerald "Jerry" Brown, Jr. is an American politician. Brown served as the 34th Governor of California , and is currently serving as the 39th California Governor...
. In 1975 he was appointed to the Los Angeles Police Commission, which he chaired from 1978 until his judicial confirmation in 1980.
Reinhardt continued his public service as Secretary of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee and as a member of the Board of Directors of the Los Angeles Amateur Athletic Foundation.
Reinhardt administered the oath of office to current Los Angeles Mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa
Antonio Villaraigosa
Antonio Ramón Villaraigosa , born Antonio Ramón Villar, Jr., is the 41st and current Mayor of Los Angeles, California, the third Mexican American to have ever held office in the city of Los Angeles and the first in over 130 years. He is also the current president of the United States Conference of...
, on July 1, 2005.
Personal life
Reinhardt's mother divorced his father and married movie director Gottfried Reinhardt, the son of director Max ReinhardtMax Reinhardt (theatre director)
----Max Reinhardt was an Austrian theater and film director and actor.-Biography:...
. Stephen Reinhardt is married to Ramona Ripston
Ramona Ripston
Ramona Ripston served as the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California between 1972 and 2011.In her 38 years at the helm of ACLU/SC, Ripston has helped bring about substantial reforms in the region....
, who was Executive Director of the ACLU of Southern California
Southern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...
until her February 2011 retirement. Reinhardt has three children.
Judicial career
Reinhardt is known as one of the most liberal judges on the courts of appeals. He is also one of the most-reversed judges before the Supreme Court. Examples of opinions he wrote for the Ninth Circuit that were reversed are:- Safeco Insurance Co. of America v. Burr, 127 S.Ct. 2201 (2007)
- Gonzales v. CarhartGonzales v. CarhartGonzales v. Carhart, 550 U.S. 124 , is a United States Supreme Court case that upheld the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003. The case reached the high court after U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales appealed a ruling of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit in favor of...
, 127 S.Ct. 1610 (2007) - Ayers v. Belmontes, 127 S.Ct. 469 (2006)
- Garcetti v. CeballosGarcetti v. CeballosGarcetti v. Ceballos, 547 U.S. 410 , is a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States involving the First Amendment free speech protections for government employees. The plaintiff in the case was a district attorney who claimed that he had been passed up for a promotion for criticizing the...
, 126 S.Ct. 1951 (2006) - Texaco Inc. v. Dagher, 547 U.S. 1 (2006)
- Pliler v. Ford, 542 U.S. 225 (2002)
- Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. Echazabal, 536 U.S. 73 (2002)
- United States v. Arvizu, 534 U.S. 266 (2002)
- Major League Baseball Players Ass'n v. Garvey, 532 U.S. 504 (2001)
- Albertson's, Inc. v. Kirkingburg, 527 U.S. 555 (1999)
- Washington v. GlucksbergWashington v. GlucksbergWashington v. Glucksberg, 521 U.S. 702 , was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States unanimously held that a right to assistance in committing suicide was not protected by the Due Process Clause.-Facts:Dr...
, 521 U.S. 702 (1997) - Lambert v. Wicklund, 520 U.S. 292 (1997)
- United States v. Armstrong, 517 U.S. 456 (1997)
- I.N.S. v. Abudu, 485 U.S. 94 (1988)
- Heckler v. Lopez, 463 U.S. 1328 (1983)
In 2003, Reinhardt admitted that he "was a liberal from a very young age. I think I was born that way." However, he does not believe that a Supreme Court reversal means that his opinion is "wrong" or that he "didn't follow the law." "The Supreme Court changes the law regularly. And this Supreme Court - which is the most activist Court there has ever been - is constantly changing the law. So if you really are faithful to the law, you're likely to get reversed because it [the Court] has cut back on rights."
Reinhardt's former clerk, Cornell
Cornell Law School
Cornell Law School, located in Ithaca, New York, is a graduate school of Cornell University and one of the five Ivy League law schools. The school confers three law degrees...
law professor Michael Dorf
Michael C. Dorf
Michael C. Dorf is an American law professor and a noted U.S. constitutional law scholar. He is currently a Professor of Law at Cornell Law School. In addition to constitutional law, Professor Dorf has taught courses in civil procedure and federal courts...
said that when Reinhardt "believes himself clearly bound by Supreme Court precedent with which he disagrees, he states his disagreement but follows the precedent." Dorf accounts for Reinhardt's reversal rate by stating that "Reinhardt resolves cases under existing precedent as he believes those precedents should be read, without regard to whether five or more Justices of the Supreme Court are likely to reverse him."
The following are some of his more notable judicial opinions:
- Cardoza-Fonseca v. U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, 767 F.2d 1448 (9th Cir. 1985). The INS had conflated two different routes for seeking asylum and had improperly rejected an application made under one route based on the requirements of the second. This decision was upheld by the Supreme Court.
- Coleman v. Risley, 839 F.2d 434 (9th Cir. 1988). Standard to obtain asylum.
- Yniguez v. Arizonans for Official English, 939 F.2d 727 (9th Cir. 1991), adopted en banc, 69 F.3d 920 (9th Cir 1995). The English-only provision in the Arizona constitution was overly broad and violated the First Amendment right of free speech. This decision was vacated by the Supreme Court as moot because plaintiff Yniguez had voluntarily left the employment of the State of Arizona the day after the appeal was filed. 530 US 43. Justice Ginsburg's unanimous opinion for the Court also took a swipe at the Ninth Circuit for failing to certify this question to the state courts, holding that "A more cautious approach was in order. In addition, footnote 11 of Justice Ginsburg's decision chides the Ninth Circuit for failing to recognize that state courts are not bound by decisions of federal courts (except the Supreme Court), even on questions of federal law.
- Sanders v. Ratelle, 21 F.3d 1446 (9th Cir. 1994). The Sixth Amendment right to counsel can be infringed if counsel has a conflict of interest, even if the defendant has waived the conflict.
- Compassion in Dying v. Washington, 79 F.3d 790 (9th Cir. 1996) (en banc). A statute prohibiting doctors from prescribing life-ending medication for the terminally ill violated the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Supreme Court reversed the Ninth Circuit in Washington v. GlucksbergWashington v. GlucksbergWashington v. Glucksberg, 521 U.S. 702 , was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States unanimously held that a right to assistance in committing suicide was not protected by the Due Process Clause.-Facts:Dr...
(1997). - Ma v. Reno, 208 F.3d 815 (9th Cir. 2000). An alien cannot be held indefinitely in detention in the absence of a repatriation agreement with his or her country of origin.
- Silveira v. LockyerSilveira v. LockyerSilveira v. Lockyer, 312 F.3d 1052 , is a decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit holding that the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution does not guarantee individuals the right to bear arms...
, 312 F.3d 1052 (9th Cir. 2002). The right to bear arms is a collective right, not an individual right. This ruling was overruled by the Supreme Court in D.C. v. Heller (2008). - United States of America v. Approximately 64,695 Pounds of Shark Fins (9th Cir. 2008) http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-9th-circuit/1409588.html. Forfeiture of the shark fins was denied on the grounds that, although according to the Shark Finning Prohibition Act of 2000 any shark fins found aboard a fishing vessel without a corresponding shark carcass may be deemed the product of illegal harvesting, the vessel from which the fins were seized was not in fact a fishing vessel within the meaning of the act. The fins had been harvested by, and bought from, other vessels.
- In The Matter of Brad Levenson (2009) http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2009/03/17/levenson.pdf. In his role as Chair of the Ninth Circuit’s Standing Committee on Federal Public Defenders, Reinhardt ruled that the application of the Defense of Marriage ActDefense of Marriage ActThe Defense of Marriage Act is a United States federal law whereby the federal government defines marriage as a legal union between one man and one woman. Under the law, no U.S. state may be required to recognize as a marriage a same-sex relationship considered a marriage in another state...
in denying health insurance benefits to Levenson's same-sex spouse violated the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment.
Awards
Reinhardt has received the following awards:- 1987 Appellate Judge of the Year by the California Trial Lawyers Association.
- 1993 St. Thomas More Medallion Award by Loyola Law School.
- 1993 Donald Wright Award by the California Attorneys for Criminal Justice.
- 1995 Appellate Justice of the Year by the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles.
- 1998 Champion of Justice: Legal Award by the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.
- 2004 Award for Judicial Excellence by the Idaho Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.
- 2004 Meritorious Service Award by the University of Oregon Law School.