Raymond Corley Fisher (July 12, 1939 – February 29, 2020) 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. ...

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 ...

Education and legal training

Fisher attended University High School, earned his

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 at the

University of California at Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduates and 2,983 graduate students enrolled in 2021–2022. It is part of the U ...

in 1961, and his

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

Stanford Law School Stanford Law School (Stanford Law or SLS) is the law school of Stanford University, a private research university near Palo Alto, California. Established in 1893, it is regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world. Stanford La ...

in 1966, where he was president of the

Stanford Law Review The ''Stanford Law Review'' (SLR) is a legal journal produced independently by Stanford Law School students. The journal was established in 1948 with future U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher as its first president. The review produces s ...

.Attorney Raymond C. Fisher of Los Angeles Appointed to U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
''Media Release: United States Courts for the Ninth Circuit'' (October 18, 1999). One of his professors at Stanford was

Joseph Tyree Sneed III 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 de ...

, who would later be one of Fisher's colleagues on the Ninth Circuit. He clerked for Judge J. Skelly Wright of the

United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (in case citations, D.C. Cir.) is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. It has the smallest geographical jurisdiction of any of the U.S. federal appellate co ...

from 1966 to 1967. He then clerked for Justice William J. Brennan Jr. of the

United States Supreme Court 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 ...

from 1967 to 1968.

Professional career

Fisher was in private practice from 1968 to 1997 in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

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 ...

. He also served as a special assistant to

California Governor The governor of California is the head of government of the U.S. state of California. The governor is the commander-in-chief of the California National Guard and the California State Guard. Established in the Constitution of California, the g ...

Jerry Brown Edmund Gerald Brown Jr. (born April 7, 1938) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as the 34th and 39th governor of California from 1975 to 1983 and 2011 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected Secretary of ...

in 1975. He was a member of the Los Angeles City Civil Service Commission from 1984 to 1989 and was deputy general counsel to the

Independent Commission on the Los Angeles Police Department The Independent Commission on the Los Angeles Police Department, informally known as the Christopher Commission, was formed by then-mayor of Los Angeles Tom Bradley in April 1991, in the wake of the Rodney King beating. It was chaired by attorne ...

in 1990. Fisher then served as president of the Los Angeles Police Commission from 1995 to 1997 and Associate Attorney General from 1997 to 1999.

Federal judicial service

Fisher was nominated by President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

for the seat vacated by Judge David R. Thompson on the

on March 15, 1999.Henry Weinstein
Raymond Fisher Picked for U.S. Appeals Court
''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

'' (March 16, 1999). 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 ...

in a 69–29 voteDavid Stout
Senate Rejects Judge Chosen By President For U.S. Court
''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' (October 6, 1999). on October 5, 1999, and received his commission on October 12, 1999. In 2004, Fisher granted the ''

habeas corpus ''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a recourse in law through which a person can report an unlawful detention or imprisonment to a court and request that the court order the custodian of the person, usually a prison official, t ...

'' petition of a death row inmate whose jury had considered invalid sentencing factors, which the Supreme Court of the United States then reversed, by a vote of 5-4. In 2006, Judge Fisher dissented when the circuit upheld a county’s practice of requiring home searches of welfare recipients. He took

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 March 31, 2013. Fisher died on February 29, 2020.

References

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