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The U.S. Senate this month confirmed a homosexual man to a federal district court docket seat in San Francisco –marking the primary time an brazenly homosexual nominee has been appointed to the district court docket for what is usually thought-about the world’s gayest metropolis.
The U.S. Senate confirmed Patrick Casey Pitts by a vote of 53 to 46 on June 14, with solely two Republicans –Susan Collins and Lindsey Graham— voting sure. The no votes included each senators from Texas and Florida. The one Republican presidential candidate within the Senate, Tim Scott of South Carolina, didn’t vote.
Pitts is a labor-side lawyer and associate within the public curiosity legislation agency of Altshuler Berzon in San Francisco. He’ll now be a part of the district court docket for the Northern District of California, protecting San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, and Eureka.
Pitts’ affirmation makes him the seventh brazenly LGBT federal district court docket appointee nominated by President Biden. President Obama had named solely three brazenly LGBT to federal district court docket seats by his second yr; however he ultimately named 10 in all.
In February, the Senate confirmed three different brazenly LGBT judges nominated by Biden to a federal district bench: Daniel Calabretta, to the Jap District of California (in Sacramento); Ana C. Reyes, to the District of D.C.; and Gina R. Mendez-Miro, to the District of Puerto Rico. President Biden has additionally appointed two lesbians to the Second. Circuit U.S. Court docket of Appeals (Beth Robinson and Alison Nathan). The Senate accredited Calabretta on a vote of 51 to 45 (4 not voting); it accredited Reyes on 51 to 47; and accredited Mendez-Miro 54 to 45.
And in March, the Senate confirmed Jamar Ok. Walker on a 52 to 41 vote (7 not voting) to a district court docket seat for the Jap District of Virginia, in Norfolk.
Biden nominated most of those district court docket judges final fall, and a few court docket watchers posting feedback on numerous web sites predicted the nominations would fail. Many polls in fall of 2022 have been suggesting Republicans would regain management of the Senate and reject President Biden’s nominees. However Democrats held onto the Senate final November, and the nominations have been resubmitted with the beginning of the brand new Congressional session.
Six Republican senators posed 187 inquiries to Pitts by means of written queries, asking about numerous judicial points and circumstances. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas requested Pitts to clarify his understanding of a number of gay-related opinions on the Supreme Court docket, together with Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado and Fulton v. Philadelphia. Every time, Pitts merely relayed the essential factors of the bulk opinion. Cruz additionally pressed him repeatedly on selections involving spiritual views, reminiscent of on the Supreme Court docket’s approval of post-game prayer on a public highschool soccer subject. Pitts once more merely restated every opinion’s primary factors.
Senator Mike Lee of Utah made word of a paper Pitts had co-authored. Entitled “Making use of Bostock to Bargaining, Advantages, and Litigation,” the paper mentioned the landmark choice written by Justice Neil Gorsuch that held “An employer who fires a person merely for being homosexual or transgender defies” Title VII of the federal Civil Rights Act. Lee quoted a line from the article which acknowledged that the opinion was based mostly on Gorsuch’s “perception that the which means of ‘intercourse’ needed to be decided by reference to its ‘unique public which means . . . on the time of [Title VII’s] enactment’ in 1964.”
“Do you agree with Justice Gorsuch’s ‘perception’ that phrases needs to be outlined based on unique public which means? Or ought to which means change as social norms and linguistic conventions evolve?” requested Lee.
Pitts replied that the Supreme Court docket’s 2020 choice in Bostock v. Clayton County held that courts “usually interpret[] a statute in accord with the strange public which means of its phrases on the time of its enactment.”
“If confirmed, I’ll faithfully apply binding Supreme Court docket and Ninth Circuit precedents concerning statutory interpretation, together with Bostock.”
Pitts graduated from Yale College and Yale College Legislation College. He clerked for Ninth Circuit U.S. Court docket of Appeals Decide Stephen Reinhardt, then joined the Altshuler Berzon legislation agency. Pitts participated in actions of Bay Space Legal professionals for Particular person Freedom and helped the Nationwide Heart for Lesbian Rights symbolize a trans-man in Louisiana whose employer ordered they current as feminine at work. Pitts was additionally lead writer of a quick within the Sixth Circuit, opposing a legislation banning same-sex marriage. And he has been a member of San Francisco’s homosexual working group, the Frontrunners, since 2013. The American Bar Affiliation rated Pitts “certified” for the job.
President Biden has now appointed a complete of 9 LGBT judges to the federal bench (two appeals court docket and 7 district court docket). President Obama appointed 11 (one appeals court docket and 10 district court docket); President Trump appointed two (one appeals, one district).
Whereas Pitts is the primary brazenly homosexual nominee to be confirmed to the federal district court docket in San Francisco, Decide Vaughn Walker got here out as homosexual after retiring from his seat on the San Francisco federal district court docket. Walker presided over and dominated within the case difficult the constitutionality of Proposition 8, a voter-approved initiative to ban same-sex marriage. He dominated the initiative to be unconstitutional.
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