Paul V. Niemeyer
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Paul Victor Niemeyer (born April 5, 1941) is 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. ...
of the
United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (in case citations, 4th Cir.) is a federal court located in Richmond, Virginia, with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts: * District of Maryland ...
and a former United States District Judge of the
United States District Court for the District of Maryland The United States District Court for the District of Maryland (in case citations, D. Md.) is the federal district court whose jurisdiction is the state of Maryland. Appeals from the District of Maryland are taken to the United States Court ...
.


Education and career

Niemeyer was born in
Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ni ...
,
New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
. He attended
Kenyon College Kenyon College is a private liberal arts college in Gambier, Ohio. It was founded in 1824 by Philander Chase. Kenyon College is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. Kenyon has 1,708 undergraduates enrolled. Its 1,000-acre campus is ...
( Artium Baccalaureus, 1962), where he played on the school's baseball team. He then studied at the
University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It is Germany's sixth-oldest university in continuous operatio ...
, before pursuing his legal education at
Notre Dame Law School Notre Dame Law School is the professional graduate law school of the University of Notre Dame. Established in 1869, it is the oldest continuously operating Catholic law school in the United States. ND Law is ranked 22nd among the nation's "Top 1 ...
( Juris Doctor, 1966). He was admitted to the
Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
bar and practiced commercial law at Piper & Marbury (now
DLA Piper DLA Piper is a multinational law firm with offices in over 40 countries throughout the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. In 2021, it had a total revenue of US$3.47 billion, an average profit per equity partner of U ...
) in
Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
,
Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
, from 1966 to 1988. In 1984, Niemeyer co-authored the ''Maryland Rules Commentary'', a treatise on the rules of procedure in the Maryland state courts. From 1973–88, he was a member of the Maryland Court of Appeals Standing Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure. In 2006, Niemeyer published ''A Path Remembered: The Lives of Gerhart & Lucie Niemeyer''. Niemeyer's father, Gerhart Niemeyer (1907–1997), was a political philosopher and professor of government at the
University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic university, Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend, Indiana, South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin fo ...
. Niemeyer is married and has three sons. Niemeyer's father was a conservative political philosopher and friend of William F. Buckley, Jr. Upon Hitler's rise, in 1933, Niemeyer's father left Germany for Spain and then the US. Niemeyer, like his father, studied at the University of Munich. The ''New York Times'' obituary of June 29, 1997, states that Niemeyer's father: "wrote that fascism, communism and other such modern mass movements were the legacy of disoriented philosophers. He said their ideas corroded the cultural mettle of a society and spawned ideologies with a limited view of humanity."


Federal judicial service


District court service

Niemeyer was nominated by President Ronald Reagan on September 11, 1987, to the
United States District Court for the District of Maryland The United States District Court for the District of Maryland (in case citations, D. Md.) is the federal district court whose jurisdiction is the state of Maryland. Appeals from the District of Maryland are taken to the United States Court ...
, to fill the seat vacated by Judge Frank Albert Kaufman. 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 February 19, 1988, and received his commission on February 22, 1988. Niemeyer served on the district court until he commenced service on the
United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (in case citations, 4th Cir.) is a federal court located in Richmond, Virginia, with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts: * District of Maryland ...
on August 10, 1990.


Court of appeals service

On May 11, 1990, President George H. W. Bush nominated Niemeyer to the
United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (in case citations, 4th Cir.) is a federal court located in Richmond, Virginia, with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts: * District of Maryland ...
to fill the seat vacated by Judge
Harrison Lee Winter Harrison Lee Winter (April 18, 1921 – April 10, 1990) was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and previously was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Di ...
. Niemeyer was confirmed by
unanimous consent In parliamentary procedure, unanimous consent, also known as general consent, or in the case of the parliaments under the Westminster system, leave of the house (or leave of the senate), is a situation in which no member present objects to a prop ...
of 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 August 3, 1990, and received his commission on August 7, 1990. His chambers are located in Baltimore. In 1993, Niemeyer became a member of the Advisory Committee on Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. He served as chair of the committee from 1996 through 2000. Niemeyer is a member of the American Law Institute and has taught Appellate Practice at
Duke Law School Duke University School of Law (Duke Law School or Duke Law) is the law school of Duke University, a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. One of Duke's 10 schools and colleges, the School of Law is a constituent academic unit th ...
.


Notable cases

On July 28, 2014, Niemeyer dissented from a 4th Circuit ruling that struck down Virginia's ban on
same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being Mexico, constituting ...
as unconstitutional. In his dissent, he argued that under a
rational basis test In U.S. constitutional law, rational basis review is the normal standard of review that courts apply when considering constitutional questions, including due process or equal protection questions under the Fifth Amendment or Fourteenth Amendme ...
Virginia's ban should be deemed constitutional. On April 19, 2016, Niemeyer dissented in part from a 4th Circuit ruling (''
G.G. v. Gloucester County School Board ''G.G. v. Gloucester County School Board'' is a case dealing with transgender rights. The case involves a transgender boy attending a Virginia high school, who sued the local school board after he was forced to use girls' restrooms based on his a ...
'') in an appeal from the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia at Newport News where the majority of the 4th Circuit panel reversed the district court's dismissal of a transgender boy's claims under Title IX. Niemeyer's dissent states: "This unprecedented holding overrules custom, culture, and the very demands inherent in human nature for privacy and safety ... More particularly, it also misconstrues the clear language of Title IX and its regulations"; and "And finally, it reaches an unworkable and illogical result". The Majority rejected Niemeyer's assertions, concluding that "the record is devoid of any evidence tending to show that he plaintiff'suse of the boys' restroom creates a safety issue." Further, the Majority rejected Niemeyer's "suggestion that . . . the enforcement of separate restroom facilities
ould be Ould is an English surname and an Arabic name ( ar, ولد). In some Arabic dialects, particularly Hassaniya Arabic, ولد‎ (the patronymic, meaning "son of") is transliterated as Ould. Most Mauritanians have patronymic surnames. Notable p ...
impossible because it 'would require schools to assume gender identity based on appearances, social expectations, or explicit declarations of identity.' Accepting uch aposition would equally require the school to assume 'biological sex' based on 'appearances, social expectations, or explicit declarations of iological sex' Certainly, no one is suggesting mandatory verification of the 'correct' genitalia before admittance to a restroom. The Department f Justicess vision of sex-segregated restrooms which takes account of gender identity presents no greater 'impossibility of enforcement' problem than does the issent's'biological gender' vision of sex-segregated restrooms." On May 25, 2017, Niemeyer wrote a dissent when the ''
en banc In law, an en banc session (; French for "in bench"; also known as ''in banc'', ''in banco'' or ''in bank'') is a session in which a case is heard before all the judges of a court (before the entire bench) rather than by one judge or a smaller p ...
'' circuit upheld a lower court's injunction against the President's travel ban by a vote of 10–3 in '' International Refugee Assistance Project v. Trump''. The decision would later be overruled by the Supreme Court in ''
Trump v. Hawaii ''Trump v. Hawaii'', No. 17-965, 585 U.S. ___ (2018), was a landmark United States Supreme Court case involving Presidential Proclamation 9645 signed by President Donald Trump, which restricted travel into the United States by people from sever ...
'' (2018). In March 2018, Niemeyer wrote a dissent when the circuit denied ''
en banc In law, an en banc session (; French for "in bench"; also known as ''in banc'', ''in banco'' or ''in bank'') is a session in which a case is heard before all the judges of a court (before the entire bench) rather than by one judge or a smaller p ...
'' rehearing to a divided panel's conclusion that the Bladensburg Peace Cross memorial from World War I now violated the Constitution's
Establishment Clause In United States law, the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, together with that Amendment's Free Exercise Clause, form the constitutional right of freedom of religion. The relevant constitutional text ...
. The Fourth Circuit's judgment was then reversed by the U.S. Supreme Court in '' American Legion v. American Humanist Association'' (2019). In August 2020, Niemeyer dissented from the 2–1 majority in G. G. v. Gloucester County School Board. In a 2–1 decision, the court ruled for Gavin Grimm, a transgender man who had sued the Gloucester County School Board in Virginia who had prohibited him from using the boys' bathroom. Niemeyer wrote in dissent “I readily accept the facts of Grimm’s sex status and gender identity and his felt need to be treated with dignity. Affording all persons the respect owed to them by virtue of their humanity is a core value underlying our civil society. At the same time, our role as a court is limited. We are commissioned to apply the law and must leave it to Congress to determine policy. In this instance, the School Board offered its students male and female restrooms, legitimately separating them on the basis of sex. It also provided safe and private unisex restrooms that Grimm, along with all other students, could use. These offerings fully complied with both Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause.”


References


External links


FJC Bio


* {{DEFAULTSORT:Niemeyer, Paul Victor 1941 births 20th-century American judges Duke University School of Law faculty Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit Judges of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland Kenyon College alumni Living people Notre Dame Law School alumni People from Princeton, New Jersey United States court of appeals judges appointed by George H. W. Bush United States district court judges appointed by Ronald Reagan