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The Nomination of Caitlin J. Halligan to the U.S. Court of Appeals
for the District of Columbia Circuit

First Deputy Solicitor General to NYS Attorney General Eliot Spitzer:
January 2001 - September 24, 2001

NYS Solicitor General: 
September 24, 2001 - January 2007

*   *   *
White House Press Release: September 29, 2010
"President Obama Names Two to U.S. Circuit Courts" --
  "At every step of [her] career[]...unwavering integrity"


*   *   *   *

AT THE SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE:

SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITEE's WEBSITE: 
(1) Judicial Nominations and Confirmations
  (2)   FAQ -- Frequently Asked Questions
(3) video of Senate Judiciary Committee's February 4, 2011 hearing on Caitlin Halligan's nomination 
(44:30 - 49:44)
(4) Caitlin Halligan's updated Senate Judiciary Committee questionnaire
& February 22, 2011 responses to further questions
 
*   *   *   *

[this webpage from March 7- until the posting of the below letter: March 9]

MARCH 9, 2011 LETTER
TO THE U.S. SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE (Majority Side),
FROM CJA DIRECTOR ELENA SASSOWER

RE: Citizen Opposition to Confirmation of Caitlin J. Halligan to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit – on the Agenda of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s March 10, 2011 Executive Business Meeting

 

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.fn  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.

 

 PDF:  CJA's March 9, 2011 letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Leahy & Democratic Majority Members

   PDF: CJA's March 9, 2011 letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Grassley & Republican Minority Members

 

* * *

click here for:  October 2001 letters to brand new Solicitor General Halligan, part of record before Appellate Division, 1st Dept.


click here for: 
Record in the Appellate Division, 1st Dept.


click here for:
Record in the NY Court of Appeals


* * *

QUESTION:
Can you find any factual findings as to the litigation fraud committed by the Solicitor General's Office either at the Appellate Division or at the New York Court of Appeals?

 

 

 

 

*   *   *

 

                                            Senate Judiciary Committee Members:                      

        Democratic Majority:                                         Republican Minority:         
Patrick Leahy, Chairman (Vermont)              Chuck Grassley, Ranking Member (Iowa)
Herb Kohl (Wisconsin)                                  Orrin G. Hatch (Utah)
Dianne Feinstein (California)                        Jon Kyl (Arizona)
Chuck Schumer (New York)                           Jeff Sessions (Alabama)
Dick Durban (Illinois)                                     Lindsay Graham (South Carolina)

Sheldon Whitehouse (Rhode Island)             John Cornyn (Texas)
Amy Klobuchar (Minnesota)                          Michael S. Lee (Utah)
Al Franken  (Minnesota)                                Tom Coburn  (Oklahoma)
Christopher A. Coons (Delaware)
Richard Blumenthal   (Connecticut)

 

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?  
                                                                       See video below:
           

video of Senate Judiciary Committee's Executive Business Meeting, March 10, 2011 
(see 25:40 - 51:30 -- judicial nominations beginning with Caitlin Halligan)      

Ranking Member Grassley's failure to identify CJA's March 9th letters is all the more stunning as he made a lengthy presentation, reading from a prepared statement entitled "D.C. Circuit Court Nominee Faces Scrutiny" , purporting:
 

      "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:
"Caitlin Joan Halligan, to be United States Circuit Judge for the District of Columbia Circuit
Ordered Reported By Roll Call Vote, 10-8"

*   *   *   *


ON TO THE SENATE...     

 

SENATE LEADERSHIP:   

Harry Reid, Senate Majority Leader       (Democrat-Arizona)        

Mitch McConnell, Senate Minority Leader    (Republican-Kentucky)

                                                                                     

 

CJA's March 14, 2011 letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid -- "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)

CJA's March 14, 2011 letter to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell -- "
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 Monday, March 14, 2011
"Calendar No.............43   
Message No..............5          
Nominee, Office and Predecessor ......Caitlin Joan Halligan, of New York, to be United States Circuit Judge for the District of Columbia Circuit, vice John G. Roberts, Jr., elevated.
Reported By..........Mar 10, 2011  Reported by Mr. Leahy, Committee on the Judiciary, without printed report."

 

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 -- "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 -- "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"
 

  click here for: Senator Gillibrand's website with its agenda of transparencey & openness to make government more accountable 
 

CJA's April 7, 2001 message sent via Senator Kirsten Gillbrand's website -- with acknowledgment

April 7, 2001 e-mail from Jordan Baugh, Legislative Aide to Senator Kirsten Gilibrand -- "Re: Halligan Nomination"

 

*   *   *
             

 

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 Monday, March 28, 2011 -- see Cal. #43, Message #5

Senate Executive Calendar for Tuesday, March 29, 2011 -- See Cal. #43, Message #5
 

Senate Executive Calendar for Thursday, March 31, 2011 -- See Cal. #43, Message #5

Senate Executive Calendar for Monday, April 4, 2011 -- See Cal. #43, Message #5


Senate Executive Calendar for Wednesday, April 6, 2011 -- See Cal. #43, Message #5

Senate Executive Calendar for Thursday, April 7, 2011 -- See Cal. #43, Message #5

 

Senate Executive Calendar for Friday, April 8, 2011 -- See Cal. #43, Message #5

Senate Executive Calendar for Tuesday, April 12, 2011 -- See Cal. #43, Message #5

 

Senate Executive Calendar for Thursday, April 14, 2011 -- See Cal. #43, Message #5

Senate Executive Calendar for Monday, May 2, 2011 -- See Cal. #43, Message #5

Senate Executive Calendar for Wednesday, May 4, 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 Thursday, June 14, 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

 

 

*   *   *   *

 

CJA's OUTREACH
 

     
postscript:  the origin of CJA's advocacy vs Caitlin Halligan's confirmation

 

 

 

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