William Cameron Canby Jr. (born May 22, 1931) 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, sitting in Phoenix, Arizona. As both a professor at

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

College of Law and a Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, Canby has become known as an authority on American Indian law. He has authored law review articles, a major textbook, and the West Nutshell Series primer on the subject. While still a professor at ASU, Canby successfully argued the case of '' Bates v. State Bar of Arizona'', in which the Supreme Court held that the First Amendment allows lawyers to advertise in a manner that is not misleading to members of the general public.

Education and legal training

Born in

Saint Paul Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...

, Minnesota, Canby earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale University in 1953 on an

ROTC The Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC ( or )) is a group of college- and university-based officer-training programs for training commissioned officers of the United States Armed Forces. Overview While ROTC graduate officers serve in all ...

scholarship, graduating

summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...

and Phi Beta Kappa. He then earned a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1956, graduating Order of the Coif, before clerking for Justice Charles Evans Whittaker of the United States Supreme Court.

Professional career

Canby was a lieutenant in the

JAG Corps The Judge Advocate General's Corps, also known as JAG or JAG Corps, is the military justice branch or specialty of the United States Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marine Corps and Navy. Officers serving in the JAG Corps are typically called judg ...

of the United States Air Force from 1956 to 1958. He was in private practice in Saint Paul from 1959 to 1962 before joining the Peace Corps. He was an Associate Director of the Peace Corps for Ethiopia from 1962 to 1963 and then Deputy Director for Ethiopia from 1963 to 1964. He was then Director for Uganda from 1964 to 1966. He was a special assistant to United States Senator Walter Mondale in 1966 before leaving government service. He was a special assistant to President

Harris Wofford Harris Llewellyn Wofford Jr. (April 9, 1926 – January 21, 2019) was an American attorney, civil rights activist, and Democratic Party politician who represented Pennsylvania in the United States Senate from 1991 to 1995. A noted advocate of na ...

of the

State University of New York at Old Westbury The State University of New York College at Old Westbury (SUNY at Old Westbury) is a public college in Old Westbury, New York, with portions in the neighboring town of Jericho, New York. It enrolls just over 5,000 students. History The State Uni ...

in 1967 and then a professor of law at

from 1967 to 1980 and during that time was Director of the Office of Indian Law at the

Arizona State University College of Law The Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law (ASU Law) is one of the professional graduate schools at Arizona State University in Phoenix, Arizona. The school is located in the Beus Center for Law and Society on ASU's downtown Phoenix campus. The law ...

. From 1970 to 1971 he was a visiting

Fulbright The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...

professor of law at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda.

Federal judicial service

Canby was nominated by President Jimmy Carter on April 2, 1980, to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit vacated by Judge

Ozell Miller Trask Ozell Miller Trask (July 4, 1909 – May 5, 1984) was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Education and career Born in Wakita, Oklahoma, Trask received an Artium Baccalaureus degree from W ...

. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on May 21, 1980, and received his commission on May 23, 1980. Canby assumed senior status on May 23, 1996.

Notable rulings

In 1995, Canby held that the

Tenth Amendment The Tenth Amendment (Amendment X) to the United States Constitution, a part of the Bill of Rights, was ratified on December 15, 1791. It expresses the principle of federalism, also known as states' rights, by stating that the federal governmen ...

was not violated by provisions of the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act that required local and state law enforcement officials to conduct background checks of handgun buyers. The Supreme Court reversed in ''

Printz v. United States ''Printz v. United States'', 521 U.S. 898 (1997), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that certain interim provisions of the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act violated the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constit ...

''. In 2001, Canby wrote a unanimous panel decision holding that the

Americans with Disabilities Act The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 or ADA () is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability. It affords similar protections against discrimination to Americans with disabilities as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ...

required the Professional Golfers Association to allow disabled golfer

Casey Martin Casey Martin (born June 2, 1972) is an American professional golfer and the current men's golf head coach at the University of Oregon. Early life Martin was born in Eugene, Oregon and still resides there. He was educated at Stanford Universit ...

to use a golf cart when competing. The opinion was affirmed by the Supreme Court in ''

PGA Tour, Inc. v. Martin ''PGA Tour, Inc. v. Martin'', 532 U.S. 661 (2001), was a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States involving the applicability of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 to professional golf tours. The PGA Tour, the main organizer of ...

''. On February 4, 2017, Canby and Judge

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 ...

rejected the Trump administration's request for an administrative stay pending the Ninth Circuit's review of an emergency motion to stay the district court's 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. On February 7 Canby, Friedland, and Judge

Richard Clifton Richard Randall “Rick” Clifton (born November 13, 1950) is a senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Education and legal training Clifton received an Artium Baccalaureus degree at Princ ...

heard oral arguments on the emergency motion to stay, with an audio feed of the telephonic argument broadcast nationwide. On February 9, the three judges denied the request for a stay of the temporary restraining order.

References

External links