Pamela Ann Rymer (January 6, 1941 - September 21, 2011) was a

United States circuit judge In the United States, federal judges are judges who serve on courts established under Article Three of the U.S. Constitution. They include the chief justice and the associate justices of the U.S. Supreme Court, the circuit judges of the U.S. Cou ...

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 a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Central District of California.

Education and career

Born in Knoxville,

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

, Rymer earned an

Artium Baccalaureus 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 years ...

degree from

Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States, closely follo ...

in 1961 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 Chi ...

from Stanford Law School in 1964. She was Director of Political Research and Analysis for the

Goldwater Barry Morris Goldwater (January 2, 1909 – May 29, 1998) was an American politician and United States Air Force officer who was a five-term U.S. Senator from Arizona (1953–1965, 1969–1987) and the Republican Party nominee for president ...

for President Committee in 1964. From 1965 to 1966, she was vice president of Rus Walton and Associates in Los Altos,

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. Rymer then entered private practice from 1966 through 1983 in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, California. She was also a member and chairman of the California Post-Secondary Education Commission from 1974 to 1984.

Federal judicial service

On January 31, 1983, Rymer was nominated by President

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

to a seat on the United States District Court for the Central District of California vacated by Judge

William Percival Gray William Percival Gray (March 26, 1912 – February 10, 1992) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Central District of California. Education and career Born in Los Angeles, California, Gray received an ...

. She 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 February 23, 1983, and received her commission the following day. Her service terminated on May 23, 1989, due to elevation to the Ninth Circuit. In 1987, Reagan attempted to elevate Rymer to a seat on the

vacated by the elevation of Anthony Kennedy to the

Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

, but was rebuffed in the Senate. However, on February 28, 1989, President

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; pr ...

nominated Rymer to the same seat, and this time, she was confirmed by the United States Senate on May 18, 1989, receiving her commission on May 22, 1989.

Stanford service

Rymer served on the

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

Board of Trustees A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

from 1991 to 2001. In 2010, Rymer received the Stanford Medal for her volunteer work for the university, where two scholarship funds had been created in her name.

Death

Rymer died on September 21, 2011. During her 22 years on the Ninth Circuit, Rymer sat on more than 800 panels and wrote 335 panel decisions. One of the more notable opinions was in ''Planned Parenthood v. American Coalition of Life Activists'' (2002), which held that threats on the Internet against doctors who performed abortions were not protected by the

First Amendment First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

. Fellow judge

Stephen Trott Stephen Spangler Trott (born December 12, 1939) is a Senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Education and career Born in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, Trott received a Bachelor of Arts degree ...

said she was a "brilliant jurist" and "a joy to work with".

References

External links