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The Nomination of Caitlin J. Halligan to the U.S.
Court of Appeals
First Deputy Solicitor General to NYS
Attorney General Eliot Spitzer:
* * * * AT THE SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE:
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITEE's WEBSITE:
RE:
Citizen Opposition to Confirmation of Caitlin J. Halligan
Dear Chairman Leahy and Democratic Majority Members:
This follows my telephone notification to the Senate Judiciary Committee Majority Office on Monday morning, March 7th, and then again yesterday morning, of the official misconduct of Caitlin J. Halligan as New York State Solicitor General, disqualifying her for any position of public trust, let alone for a judgeship.
Specifically, Ms. Halligan corrupted the judicial process to defeat a landmark public interest lawsuit against the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct, sued for corruption. She did this by countenancing the repudiation of ALL litigation standards by the Solicitor General’s office and the obliteration of ALL adjudicative standards by New York State judges, including as to judicial disqualification and disclosure.
Such misconduct is readily-verifiable and fully-documented by the lawsuit record, the particulars of which were brought to Ms. Halligan’s direct attention within days of her becoming Solicitor General by an October 2, 2001 letter to her, which I hand-delivered to her office.
Entitled, “Your Duty to Comply with Fundamental Rules of Supervisory and Professional Responsibility in the appeal…”, this October 2, 2001 letter is featured on CJA’s website, www.judgewatch.org, on a webpage devoted to our opposition to Ms. Halligan’s confirmation: http://www.judgewatch.org/web-pages/judicial-selection/federal/judicial-selection-fed-2011.htm.[1] It is the most convenient starting point for your verifying the litigation fraud she condoned and allowed her office to commit, warranting the relief I requested then and thereafter in motion papers: her referral to disciplinary and criminal authorities. That would have happened, but for Ms. Halligan’s success in depriving me – the petitioner in the lawsuit, acting for the public – of a fair and impartial tribunal, which she did both before New York’s Appellate Division, First Department and the New York Court of Appeals, covering up a similar deprivation in Supreme Court/New York County.
Inasmuch as Ms. Halligan did not respond to the October 2, 2001 letter – because doing so would have required her to concede the litigation fraud of the Solicitor General’s office and the judicial fraud of state judges without which the Commission could not prevail – she must be required to respond now – before any further consideration is given to her nomination. This would especially include her response to the “three ‘highlights’”, identified at page 7 of my October 2, 2001 letter and in my subsequent correspondence and motion papers as “dispositive” of both branches of my August 17, 2001 motion: the first branch being for judicial disqualification/disclosure and the second branch pertaining to the Attorney General’s disqualification and the Solicitor General’s litigation misconduct.
The full record of the lawsuit is accessible via our webpage pertaining to our opposition to Ms. Halligan’s confirmation, as well as via the left sidebar panel “Test Case-State (Commission)”. Nonetheless, I would be pleased to provide you with a hard copy – as well as to come to Washington to answer your questions and give testimony under oath.
Finally, so that you may glimpse the irreparable injury that Ms. Halligan caused the People of New York by her corrupting of the judicial process to protect a corrupted Commission on Judicial Conduct, I urge that you view the videos of the 2009 hearings on the Commission, held by the New York State Senate Judiciary Committee, posted on CJA’s website at: http://www.judgewatch.org/web-pages/judicial-discipline/nys/nys-sjc-hearing.htm
Thank you. [1] Also accessible via our website’s top panel “Latest News”.
pdf letter to Senate Judiciary Committee
Chairman Leahy & Democratic Majority Members
click here for:
Record in the Appellate Division, 1st Dept.
CJA's October 2, 2001 letter to Solicitor General Caitlin
J. Halligan
-- "RE: Your Duty to Comply with
Fundamental Rules of Supervisory and Professional Responsibility in
the appeal..."
Ex. G-1:
Assistant Solicitor General Carol Fischer's September 25, 2001
e-mail
CJA's October 9, 2001 letter to Solicitor General Halligan -- "RE: My August 17th Motion in the Appeal..." -- enclosing CJA's October 9, 2001 letter to Mr. Stern -- "RE: Pertinent Disclosure in Connection with my August 17th Motion, inter alia, for Special Assignment /Transfer of Appeal"
* * *
Senate Judiciary Committee Members:
Sheldon Whitehouse (Rhode Island) John Cornyn (Texas)
On the SAME DAY as Senate Judiciary
Committee Chairman Leahy & Ranking Member Grassley received CJA's
March 9, 2011 letters of citizen opposition to Caitlin Halligan's
confirmation, they received two other letters of opposition -- from
the
National Rifle Association of America (NRA) &
Gun Owners of America. Guess which letters neither
Ranking Member Grassley nor Chairman Leahy mentioned at the next
day's Senate Judiciary Committee Executive Business Meeting?
video of Senate Judiciary Committee's Executive Business Meeting, March 10,
2011 "Nominations to the D.C. Circuit deserve special scrutiny. Many view this court as the second in importance only to the Supreme Court of the United States. The Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit hears cases affecting all Americans. It is frequently the last stop for cases involving federal statutes and regulations. As we all know, Judges who sit on this court are frequently considered for and have been elevated to the Supreme Court. So there is a lot at stake with nominations to this court... ...As I stated, we must carefully review the qualifications of nominees to this court. This committee has multiple precedents establishing a very heightened level of scrutiny given to nominees for the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. ...I would urge for a rigorous review of the nominee..."
As for Chairman Leahy, he introduced a March 4, 2011 letter of prominent attorneys expressing "enthusiastic support" for Ms. Halligan.
Official Results of Senate Judiciary Committee's Executive Business
Meeting -- March 10, 2011:
(Democrat-Arizona) (Republican-Kentucky)
CJA's March 14, 2011 letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid
-- "RE Citizen Demand for Withdrawal from Today's Senate Executive
Calendar &/or Senate Hold on the Confirmation of Caitlin J. Halligan
to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia
Circuit" (with cc's to press & academia)
Senate Executive Calendar for Tuesday, March 15, 2011 -- see Cal. #43, Message #5
* * *
CJA's March 15, 2011 e-mail to Wintta Woldemariam, Counsel to NY Home-State Senator Kirsten Gillibrand -- "Subject: CJA's Request to NY Home-State Senator Kirsten Gillibrand RE: Confirmation of Former NY Solicitor General Caitlin Halligan to the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit"
CJA's April 7, 2011 letter to Senator Kirsten Gillibrand -- ATT:
Winnta Woldemariam -- "RE: Awaiting Senator
Gillibrand's Response to the Center for Judicial Accountability's
Citizen Opposition to Senate Confirmation of Caitlin Halligan to the
U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit"
CJA's April 7, 2001 message sent via Senator Kirsten Gillbrand's
website -- with acknowledgment
* * *
Senate Executive Calendar for Wednesday, March 16, 2011 -- see Cal. #43, Message #5
Senate Executive Calendar for
Thursday,
March 17, 2011 -- see Cal. #43, Message #5
Senate Executive Calendar for Thursday, March 31, 2011 -- See Cal.
#43, Message #5
Senate Executive Calendar for Friday, April 8, 2011 -- See Cal. #43,
Message #5
Senate Executive Calendar for Thursday, April 14, 2011 -- See Cal.
#43, Message #5
Senate Executive Calendar for Thursday, May 5, 2011 -- See Cal. #43, Message #5
Senate Executive Calendar for Thursday, May 12, 2011 -- See Cal. #43, Message #5
Senate Executive Calendar for Tuesday, May 17, 2011 -- See Cal. #43, Message #5
Senate Executive Calendar for Thursday, May 19, 2011 -- See Cal. #43, Message #5
Senate Executive Calendar for Tuesday, May 24, 2011 -- See Cal. #43, Message #5
Senate Executive Calendar for Friday, June 3, 2011 -- See Cal. #43,
Message #5
Senate Executive Calendar for Tuesday, June 28, 2011 -- See Cal. #43, Message #5
Senate Executive Calendar for Friday, July 1, 2011 -- See Cal. #43, Message #5
Senate Executive Calendar for Monday, July 11, 2011 -- See Cal. #43, Message #5
Senate Executive Calendar for Friday, September 2, 2011 -- See Cal. #43, Message #5
* * * *
OTHER OPPOSITION CJA's March 17, 2011 e-mail to National Rifle Association of America (NRA), with a copy to Gun Owners of America (GOA) -- "Subject: The Senate's Betrayal of NRA, GOA, & The American People by its Public Posturing on the Nomination of Halligan to the US Court of Appeals to the DC Circuit"
CJA's March 23, 2011 e-mail to GOA, with copy to NRA --
''Subject: The Senate's Betrayal of NRA, GOA, & The American People
by its Public Posturing on the Nomination of Halligan to the
US Court of Appeals to the DC Circuit" * * * * THE SUPPORTERS
CJA's March 22, 2011
letter to Nan Aron,
President/Alliance for Justice -- "RE: Championing the
Citizen's Role in Federal Judicial Selection: Request that Alliance
for Justice Withdraw its Support of Caitlin Halligan's Nomination to
the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit & that it Call upon
Senate Leadership to Remove her Name from the Senate's Executive
Calendar &/or Place a Hold on her Confirmation"
click here for pertinent pages from Alliance for
Justice's website -- click here for CJA's referred-to past correspondence with Alliance for Justice
--
CAC's March 11, 2011 blog "A Note to Senator Grassley: Ten <
Eleven" by VP Judith E. Schaeffer
CJA's March 21, 2011 e-mail to Judicial Action Group -- "RE: Caitlin Halligan's nomination to the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit"
March 28, 2011 letter from William
Windsor to his two U.S. Senators --
Academia Tested: CJA's March 11, 2001 e-mail to Mann, Wittes, Binder, & Wheeler -- "Subject: More Than Politics -- The Role of the Citizen in Federal Judicial Selection: Building Scholarship that Does Not Presently Exist"
CJA's March 14, 2011 e-mail: "Subject: Caitlin Halligan's Confirmation on Today's Senate Executive Calendar"
CJA's April 19, 2011 e-mail to Darrell West, Vice President of Brookings & Director of its Governance Studies Program -- "Subject: Being True to the Brookings' 'mission' of high-quality, independent research...that [s]trengthen[s] American democracy" (with cc's to Mann, Wittes, Binder, Wheeler)
The Press in Action:
CJA's March 14, 2011 e-mail: "Subject: Caitlin Halligan's Confirmation on Today's Senate Executive Calendar"
CJA's March 21, 2011 e-mail: "Subject: Political Posturing on the Caitlin Halligan Nomination to the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit"
CJA's March 23, 2011 e-mail to Ed Whelan -- "Subject: UPDATE on Political Posturing on the Caitlin Halligan Nomination to the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit" (cc to Gary Marx, Carrie Severino, Media Matters)
Ed Whelan's March 23, 2011 e-mail: "Subject: RE: UPDATE on Political Posturing on the Caitlin Halligan Nomination to the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit" (cc to Gary Marx, Carrie Severino, Media Matters)
CJA's March 23, 2011 e-mail to Ed Whelan -- "Subject: thank you for your response -- UPDATE on Political Posturing on the Caitlin Halligan Nomination to the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit"
Subsequent Media Matters coverage --
December 2, 2011 "Myths And Falsehoods About Judicial Nominee Caitlin Halligan"
Brett Decker's March 14, 2011 e-mail -- "Subject: Re: Caitlin
Halligan's Confirmation on Today's Senate Executive Calendar"
CJA's March 15, 2011 e-mail -- Washington Bureau, National Bureau, Metro Bureau, Editorial Board, John Eligon, William Glaberson, James Barron -- "Subject: On Today's Senate Calendar: Confirmation of Former NY Solicitor General Caitlin Halligan to the US Court of Appeals to the DC Circuit"
March 15, 2011 e-mail acknowledgment from nytnews@nytimes.com
Subsequent New York Times coverage --
December 14,
2011 "Opinionator: Rock Bottom",
Linda Greenhouse
December 6, 2011 "Senate Republican filibuster blocks Obama D.C. Circuit nominee Caitlin Halligan", Washington Post blog
CJA's March 17, 2011 e-mail -- "'WITHOUT PRINTED REPORT': The
Senate Executive Calendar for Caitlin Halligan's nomination to the
US Ct of Appeals for the DC Circuit"
March 21, 2011 BLT item -- "Morning Wrap -- Veteran v. Rookie"
by Mike Scarcella
CJA's July 1, 2011 e-mail to Jamelle Bouie -- "Subject:
CORRECTING: 'Please Stay on the Line. Your nominations are
very important to us"
* * * * Other Press
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