Joseph Tyree Sneed III (July 21, 1920 – February 9, 2008) was a Republican United States Deputy Attorney General and then a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit for nearly 35 years until his death. He was the father of Carly Fiorina, a former

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

Hewlett-Packard The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company headquartered in Palo Alto, California. HP developed and provided a wide variety of hardware components ...

Early life

Joseph Tyree Sneed III was born on July 21, 1920 in Calvert, Texas. He was the son of Cara Carlton (Weber) and Harold Marvin Sneed (January 6, 1883 – Dec 27, 1934), a rancher and landowner. He spent his youth working summers as a

cowboy A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the '' vaquer ...

on his uncle's ranch in the Texas Panhandle. Sneed received his Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Southwestern University in 1941. He served as a

Staff Sergeant Staff sergeant is a rank of non-commissioned officer used in the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. History of title In origin, certain senior sergeants were assigned to administrative, supervi ...

in the Army Air Corps during World War II. Sneed attended the University of Texas School of Law, where he received his Bachelor of Laws, Order of the Coif in 1947. He was also a visiting student at the London School of Economics and the University of Ghana. He subsequently received a Doctor of Juridical Science from

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

in 1958.

Career

Academia

Sneed was an assistant professor of law at the University of Texas School of Law from 1947 to 1951. He became an associate professor in 1951 and was made a full professor in 1954. He taught at the University of Texas until 1957. Sneed was a professor of law at

Cornell Law School Cornell Law School is the law school of Cornell University, a private Ivy League university in Ithaca, New York. One of the five Ivy League law schools, it offers four law degree programs, JD, LLM, MSLS and JSD, along with several dual-deg ...

from 1957 to 1962, followed by the Stanford Law School from 1962 to 1971. He was professor of law and dean of the Duke University School of Law from 1971 to 1973.

Judicial service

Sneed was nominated by President Richard Nixon to a seat vacated (formerly occupied) by Judge

Frederick George Hamley Frederick George Hamley (October 24, 1903 – May 5, 1975) was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Education and career Born in Seattle, Washington, Hamley received a Bachelor of Arts degree ...

on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on July 25, 1973. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on August 3, 1973, and received his judicial commission on August 24, 1973. He assumed senior status on July 21, 1987. Sneed ruled in favor of three-strikes law; LGBT employment discrimination; and the eviction of substance abusers by their landlords. He was part of a three-judge panel that replaced Whitewater special prosecutor Robert B. Fiske with Kenneth Starr in 1994.

Personal life

Sneed married Madelon Juergens Sneed in 1944. She was a portrait and abstract

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...

who died in 1998. Together they had a son and two daughters, including Carly Fiorina. They resided in San Francisco, California.

Death

Sneed died on February 9, 2008, in San Francisco at the age of 87.

References

Sources

External links

*
''New York Times'' coverage of Whitewater

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sneed, Joseph Tyree III 1920 births 2008 deaths United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II California Republicans Cornell University faculty Duke University faculty Harvard Law School alumni Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit United States court of appeals judges appointed by Richard Nixon 20th-century American judges Deans of law schools in the United States Lawyers from San Francisco People from Calvert, Texas Southwestern University alumni Stanford Law School faculty University of Texas School of Law alumni University of Texas at Austin faculty United States Deputy Attorneys General United States Army Air Forces soldiers