Why Not Perry Mason?
In a comparison with the famous attorney, recent nomine to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals William Myers comes up short, despite the fact that his adversary does not actually exist.
Mr. Myers, nominated to a post where an essential function is to correct errors made by judges in jury trials, has never picked a jury, made a closing argument to a jury, questioned a witness before a jury, or participated in any way in a jury trial. All of his very limited practice (according to his questionnaire, he has only handled about 12 cases in his life and in some of those he was not the lead attorney) has been in non-jury cases.
Mr. Myers, nominated to a post where an essential function is to correct errors made by judges in jury trials, has never picked a jury, made a closing argument to a jury, questioned a witness before a jury, or participated in any way in a jury trial. All of his very limited practice (according to his questionnaire, he has only handled about 12 cases in his life and in some of those he was not the lead attorney) has been in non-jury cases.
posted by Management at 10:56 PM
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Why Not Raymond Burr? -- William Myers Edition
It is one of the tasks of The United States Circuit Court of Appeals to correct any errors made in the District Courts. Those errors may be in evidence rulings, motion practice, jury instructions, or in any one of the whole panoply of issues that arise in criminal and civil cases brought in federal courts under federal or state law.
In order to fulfill the error correction role, the best experience for a Circuit Court judge is long years as a trial judge. That experience will provide familiarity with the entire range of issues likely to come before the Circuit Court.
Perhaps the second best experience for a Circuit Court nominee is long years of practice as a lawyer in the state and federal courts. The experience of trying cases will help the nominee understand the myriad of issues presented to a court engaged in error correction.
A person without trial or judging experience is a poor pick for the Circuit Court of Appeals. A complete lack of such experience calls into the question whether the nominee is qualified to fulfill the error correction function of the Court. This post will look at the experience of William Myers.
William G. Myers, III, is President Bush’s nominee for the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. His bio is here, his resume is here and his answers to the Senate Judiciary Committee Questionnaire (pdf) are at the link.
Eric recently wrote that Raymond Burr, by virtue of having played Perry Mason on TV, had more courtroom experience than William Myers. He was not exaggerating by much.
Reviewing the answers to the Senate Judiciary Committee Questionnaire, we first note that Mr. Myers has the very same amount of experience as a judge as Raymond Burr. That is, none at all.
When it comes to criminal cases, Mr. Burr has the clear advantage over Mr. Myers. Burr tried 256 cases, albeit as a fictional lawyer trying fictional cases before fictional juries on television. Mr. Myers has never handled any criminal matter as a judge, lawyer, actor, or (presumably) defendant. Fictitious experience is not really very helpful on the Circuit Court but it is better than none.
When it comes to civil jury trial work, Burr and Myers are dead even. As far as I know, Perry Mason limited his practice to the criminal side. He never took or tried a civil jury case.
Mr. Myers, nominated to a post where an essential function is to correct errors made by judges in jury trials, has never picked a jury, made a closing argument to a jury, questioned a witness before a jury, or participated in any way in a jury trial. All of his very limited practice (according to his questionnaire, he has only handled about 12 cases in his life and in some of those he was not the lead attorney) has been in non-jury cases.
That is right, President Bush’s nominee to the Unites States Circuit Court for the 9th Circuit has never handled a criminal case and has never in his life appeared before a jury.
Forget Raymond Burr, Barbara Hale played Della Street. In that capacity she got to watch an actor play a lawyer and present fictional cases to a fictional jury on television. That is more experience with juries than Myers can claim.
Each judicial nominee is asked by the Senate Judiciary Committee to list the ten most significant cases in his or her career.
The list Myers submitted is instructive. In one, he successfully challenged a plan to go to a four day school week. In another, he unsuccessfully tried to probate a tape recording, claiming it was a holographic will. Those are not exactly earth shattering cases.
In two of Myers’ “most significant cases,” his role was to file an amicus brief. Thus, in 20% of Mr. Myers' "most significant cases", he represented neither the plaintiff nor the defendant. He represented some interest group that was only tangentially related to the litigation. He examined no witnesses and presented no evidence in those cases. He just wrote a brief.
Perhaps most telling is that in one of Myers most significant cases he described his involvement as follows:
I facilitated review of filings and client participation in the case in concert with co-counsel. Attended hearings as co-counsel.
In other words, Mr. Myers looked over pleadings someone else wrote, talked to the clients, and then went to court to watch another lawyer work. Folks, if that is one of Mr. Myers’ “most significant cases,” he has no business on the 9th Circuit bench. Perhaps the co-counsel, who did all the heavy lifting in one of Myers’ most significant cases, should be up for the 9th Circuit.
We have now mentioned half of the most significant cases in Myers' career. It would be remarkably charitable to describe Mr. Myers' trial experience as thin. If an associate came to my firm with that degree of trial experince, I would have him or her second chair a few cases before permitting him to try our least important case to a jury by himself.
Now, if the 9th Circuit needs letters to the editor promoting the rights of ranchers, Myers will be their go to guy. By my count, he has published forty or so of them. If they need speeches promoting the agenda of ranchers, Myers will be very able. He has given dozens of them.
Alas, if they need a judge to decide whether jury instructions in a federal criminal case were in error, Myers is less qualified than Raymond Burr or Barbara Hale.
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