John Clifford Wallace (born December 11, 1928) is a
Senior United States circuit judge of the
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (in case citations, 9th Cir.) is the U.S. federal court of appeals that has appellate jurisdiction over the U.S. district courts in the following federal judicial districts:
* District ...
and previously was a United States district judge of the
.
Education and career
Born in
San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United State ...
,
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
,
Wallace received a
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...
degree from
San Diego State University
San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system ...
in 1952, and a
Bachelor of Laws
Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Ch ...
from
UC Berkeley School of Law
The University of California, Berkeley, School of Law (commonly known as Berkeley Law or UC Berkeley School of Law) is the law school of the University of California, Berkeley, a public research university in Berkeley, California. It is one of 1 ...
in 1955. He served in the
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
as a Second Class Petty Officer from 1946 to 1949. He was in private practice in San Diego from 1955 to 1970, at the law firm of Gray Cary Ames & Frye.
Federal judicial service
Wallace was nominated by President
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
on October 7, 1970, to the
, to a new seat authorized by 84 Stat. 294. He was confirmed by the
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and pow ...
on October 13, 1970, and received his commission on October 16, 1970. His service terminated on July 14, 1972, due to his elevation to the Ninth Circuit.
Wallace was nominated by President Nixon on May 22, 1972, to a seat on the
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (in case citations, 9th Cir.) is the U.S. federal court of appeals that has appellate jurisdiction over the U.S. district courts in the following federal judicial districts:
* District ...
vacated by
James Marshall Carter
James Marshall Carter (March 11, 1904 – November 18, 1979) was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and previously was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for t ...
. He was confirmed by the Senate on June 28, 1972, and received his commission on June 28, 1972.
Wallace served as Chief Judge of the Ninth Circuit from 1991 to 1996. He assumed
senior status
Senior status is a form of semi- retirement for United States federal judges. To qualify, a judge in the federal court system must be at least 65 years old, and the sum of the judge's age and years of service as a federal judge must be at leas ...
on April 8, 1996.
As a senior judge, Wallace has a reduced caseload, but he continues to hear cases in the Ninth Circuit, and he sits
by designation
A visiting judge is a judge appointed to hear a case as a member of a court to which he or she does not ordinarily belong. In United States federal courts, this is referred to as an assignment "by designation" of the Chief Justice of the Unit ...
from time to time as a visiting judge on other federal appellate courts.
When
Potter Stewart
Potter Stewart (January 23, 1915 – December 7, 1985) was an American lawyer and judge who served as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1958 to 1981. During his tenure, he made major contributions to, among other areas, ...
announced he was stepping down from
the Supreme Court in June 1981, Wallace was initially believed to be the favorite for Stewart's seat, but he lost out to
Sandra Day O'Connor because
Ronald Reagan had made a campaign promise to appoint the first woman to the Court. Wallace was apparently not considered for the next vacancy after the departure of Chief Justice
Warren Burger
Warren Earl Burger (September 17, 1907 – June 25, 1995) was an American attorney and jurist who served as the 15th chief justice of the United States from 1969 to 1986. Born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Burger graduated from the St. Paul Colleg ...
five years later, but after the retirement of
Lewis F. Powell Jr.
Lewis Franklin Powell Jr. (September 19, 1907 – August 25, 1998) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1972 to 1987.
Born in Suffolk, Virginia, he graduat ...
in 1987 and
the rejection of Robert Bork, Wallace reemerged as a possible high court nominee. Alongside
Pasco Bowman II of
the Eighth Circuit, however, Wallace was viewed by the Senate's Democratic majority as the most controversial amongst the thirteen or fourteen nominees proposed after Bork was rejected.
[Epstein, Aaron; ‘3 High Court Hopefuls Deemed OK’; '']The Miami Herald
The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by the McClatchy Company and headquartered in Doral, Florida, a city in western Miami-Dade County and the Miami metropolitan area, several miles west of Downtown Miami.[Mormon
Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into severa ...]
faith, strong support for the death penalty
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...
based upon the Bible
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...
,[‘Alternates to Bork Surfacing: Nominees’; '']El Paso Times
The ''El Paso Times'' is the newspaper for the US city of El Paso, Texas. The newspaper has an approximate daily circulation of 65,000 and 125,000 on Sundays.
The paper is the only English-language daily in El Paso (when the ''El Paso Herald-Pos ...
'', October 11, 1987, pp. 1A, 4A and belief that strict separation of church and state
The separation of church and state is a philosophical and jurisprudential concept for defining political distance in the relationship between religious organizations and the state. Conceptually, the term refers to the creation of a secular sta ...
was not mandated by the Constitution were all viewed unfavourably by Republican officials aware of a requirement for Democratic support and consultation.[Hanrahan, John; ‘Consultation on New Court Nominee Pleases Democrats’; ''The Herald (]Jasper, Indiana
Jasper is a city in, and the county seat of, Dubois County, Indiana, United States, located along the Patoka River. The population was 16,703 at the 2020 census making it the 48th largest city in Indiana. On November 4, 2007, Dubois County retur ...
)'', October 28, 1987, p. 22 Democrats themselves voiced strong objection to Wallace as an excessively ideological candidate akin to Bork, and he was further hindered by his 1984 ruling that rejected an appeal by female athletes to include longer-distance races for women in the Summer Olympics. Powell's seat ultimately went to Anthony Kennedy
Anthony McLeod Kennedy (born July 23, 1936) is an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1988 until his retirement in 2018. He was nominated to the court in 1987 by Presid ...
, who was then serving alongside Wallace on the Ninth Circuit.
On July 31, 2018, Wallace wrote an opinion ruling against the sheriff Joe Arpaio
Joseph Michael Arpaio (; born June 14, 1932) is an American former law enforcement officer and politician. He served as the 36th Sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona for 24 years, from 1993 to 2017, losing reelection to Democrat Paul Penzone i ...
. He was joined by Judges Susan P. Graber and Marsha Berzon. On October 22, 2019, Wallace wrote a 2—1 opinion that prohibited religious exemptions for businesses that did not want to participate in the healthcare system due to support of contraceptives. Wallace was joined by Graber, over the dissent of Judge Andrew Kleinfeld
Andrew Jay Kleinfeld (born June 12, 1945) is an American lawyer and jurist serving as a senior U.S. circuit judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit since 2010. He served as an active judge on the Ninth Circuit from 1991 to 2010. ...
.
See also
* List of United States federal judges by longevity of service
This is a list of Article III United States federal judges by longevity of service. The judges on the lists below were presidential appointees who have been confirmed by the Senate, and who served on the federal bench for over 40 years. It includ ...
References
Sources
*J. Clifford Wallace Papers, MSS 7730; 20th Century Western and Mormon Manuscripts; L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University.
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wallace, J. Clifford
1928 births
Living people
20th-century American judges
Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Judges of the United States District Court for the Southern District of California
San Diego State University alumni
UC Berkeley School of Law alumni
United States court of appeals judges appointed by Richard Nixon
United States district court judges appointed by Richard Nixon
United States Navy sailors