The departure of the longest-serving active judge on the Denver-based 10th Circuit Court of Appeals gives President Barack Obama the chance to even the panel.
There are currently four active judges who were appointed by Democratic presidents on the federal court, which is one step below the Supreme Court. But the departure this summer of Judge Deanell Tacha, who announced her resignation earlier this year, means there will be two vacancies on the 12-member court for Obama to fill.
Obama last week appointed former Kansas Attorney General Steve Six to take Tacha’s seat. Once he makes a pick for the other vacancy — and gets both that choice and Six confirmed — the panel will be evenly split between Republican and Democratic appointees.
Carl Tobias, a professor at the University of Richmond’s law school who tracks judicial nominations, said the openings don’t necessarily mean the court will tack leftward. Tobias said Obama hasn’t appointed overly liberal judges.
“There certainly is the potential to make the court more ideological balanced, but I haven’t seen that with Obama’s nominees,” Tobias said. “They haven’t been very ideological, nationwide.”
Tacha was appointed to the court in 1985 by President Ronald Reagan. She at one point served as the panel’s chief judge, and her 25 years on the appellate bench make her currently the longest-serving active judge.
Tacha announced earlier this year that she will step down in June to become the dean of the Pepperdine University law school in California. Tacha, a Kansan, previously worked as a law professor and associate dean at the University of Kansas.
In an interview, Tacha said it has been a privilege to serve on the appeals court for so long and said she is excited to go to work shaping the future of legal education.
“In some ways I had always missed the university world,” she said.
Tacha’s departure is Obama’s third opportunity to appoint a judge to the 10th Circuit court, which presides over appeals from Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah and Wyoming. In March 2010, he appointed Utah law professor Scott Matheson Jr. to a seat vacated by a Republican-appointed judge. There is currently a vacancy on the court after Judge Robert Henry, an Oklahoman appointed by President Bill Clinton, stepped down last year.
Judges on the appellate court come from the six states within the circuit, and Tobias said it is customary to appoint a judge from the same state as the resigning judge.
There are currently three Coloradans on the court, the most from any state.
John Ingold: 303-954-1068 or jingold@denverpost.com
