Richard Randall “Rick” Clifton (born November 13, 1950) is a

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Education and legal training

Clifton received 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 at Princeton University and a

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

from Yale Law School. After law school, he clerked for Ninth Circuit Judge Herbert Choy.

Professional career

Following his clerkship, he was in private practice in Honolulu, Hawaii until his appointment to the federal bench. He also taught for several years at the

William S. Richardson School of Law The William S. Richardson School of Law is the professional graduate law school of the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Located in Honolulu, Hawaii, the school is named after its patriarch, former Hawaii State Supreme Court Chief Justice William S. ...

at the University of Hawaii as an adjunct professor.

Federal judicial service

He was nominated to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit by

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

on September 4, 2001 to fill a seat vacated by Cynthia Holcomb Hall. The United States Senate confirmed him on July 30, 2002 by a 98–0 vote. He was Bush's first appointment to the Ninth Circuit. He received his commission on July 30, 2002. He assumed senior status on December 31, 2016.

Notable cases

In 2006, he was one of the judges on the panel that upheld the imprisonment of journalist Josh Wolf. On February 7, 2017, Judge Clifton along with fellow Ninth Circuit judges

William Canby William Cameron Canby Jr. (born May 22, 1931) is a Senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, sitting in Phoenix, Arizona. As both a professor at Arizona State University College of Law and ...

and

Michelle Friedland Michelle Taryn Friedland (born July 4, 1972) is a United States federal judge, United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Biography Early life and education Friedland was born in Berkeley, Californi ...

heard oral arguments on a motion from the Trump administration to stay the temporary restraining order in

State of Washington v. Trump ''State of Washington and State of Minnesota v. Trump'', 847 F.3d 1151 (9th Cir. 2017), was a lawsuit that challenged the lawfulness and constitutionality of Executive Order 13769, an executive order signed by U.S. President Donald Trump. A few ...

, part of the ongoing court cases related to Executive Order 13769. A live audio feed of the telephonic argument was broadcast nationwide. On February 9, the three judges denied the request for a stay of the temporary restraining order. In July 2018, Clifton dissented when the court found that Hawaii's licensing requirement to openly carry firearms violated the

Second Amendment to the United States Constitution The Second Amendment (Amendment II) to the United States Constitution protects the Right to keep and bear arms in the United States, right to keep and bear arms. It was ratified on December 15, 1791, along with nine other articles of the Un ...

. On July 3, 2019, in a follow-up ruling to the February 2017 ruling, Clifton and

Michelle T. Friedland Michelle Taryn Friedland (born July 4, 1972) is a United States federal judge, United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Biography Early life and education Friedland was born in Berkeley, Californi ...

upheld a district court's halting of parts of Donald Trump's wall.

N. Randy Smith Norman Randy Smith (born August 11, 1949) is a senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He lives and maintains chambers in Pocatello, Idaho. Background A native of southeastern Idaho, Smith ...

issued a dissent, and on July 26, the Supreme Court overturned Friedland and Clifton by a 5-3 vote on ideological lines with

Stephen Breyer Stephen Gerald Breyer ( ; born August 15, 1938) is a retired American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1994 until his retirement in 2022. He was nominated by President Bill Clinton, and repl ...

saying he would temporarily block the construction of the wall but allow funding to be set aside for it. On November 29, 2019, Clifton temporarily halted the execution of Barry Lee Jones, who was convicted of one count of sexual assault, 3 counts of child abuse, and a felony murder.http://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2019/11/29/18-99006.pdf

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Clifton, Richard Randall 1950 births 21st-century American judges Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Living people People from Framingham, Massachusetts United States court of appeals judges appointed by George W. Bush New Trier High School alumni William S. Richardson School of Law faculty 20th-century American lawyers