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Richard Clifton

Nonpartisan

United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit

Tenure

2016 - Present

Years in position

8

Prior offices:

United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit

Years in office: 2002 - 2016

Education

Bachelor's

Princeton University, 1972

Law

Yale Law School, 1975

Personal

Birthplace

Framingham, MA

Richard R. Clifton is afederal judge onsenior status with theUnited States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. He joined the court in 2002 after being nominated by PresidentGeorge W. Bush (R).

Early life and education

Born in Farmingham, Massachusetts, Clifton graduated from Princeton University with his bachelor's degree in 1972, and from Yale Law School with hisJ.D. in 1975.^[1]

Professional career

• 2002-present:United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit

• 2016-present: Senior judge
• 2002-2016: Judge

• 1977-2002: Private practice,Honolulu, Hawaii
• 1978-1980; 1983-1989: Adjunct professor, Richardson School of Law, University of Hawaii
• 1975-1976: Law clerk, Hon.Herbert Choy,United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit

Judicial career

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals

Nomination Tracker
Nominee Information
Name: Richard R. Clifton
Court:United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit
Progress
Confirmed 391 days after nomination.
ANominated: June 22, 2001
AABA Rating:Unanimously Qualified
Questionnaire:
AHearing: May 9, 2002
Hearing Transcript:Hearing Transcript
QFRs:(Hover over QFRs to read more)
AReported: May 16, 2002
AConfirmed: July 18, 2002
AVote: 98-0
AReturned: August 3, 2001

Clifton was nominated to theUnited States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit by PresidentGeorge W. Bush on June 22, 2001, to a seat vacated byCynthia Holcomb Hall, as Hall elected to takesenior status. Under Rule XXXI, paragraph six, of the standing rules of theUnited States Senate, Clifton's nomination was returned to the president. President Bush resubmitted the nomination on August 3, 2001. TheAmerican Bar Association rated CliftonUnanimously Qualified for the nomination.^[2] Hearings on Clifton's nomination were held before theUnited States Senate Committee on the Judiciary on May 9, 2002, and his nomination was reported by U.S. Sen.Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) on May 16, 2002. Clifton was confirmed on a 98-0 recorded vote of theSenate on July 18, 2002, and he received his commission on July 30, 2002. Clifton elected to take senior status beginning December 31, 2016.^[1][3][4]

Noteworthy cases

Slidewaters v. Washington State Department of Labor and Industries (2020)

See also:Lawsuits about state actions and policies in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, 2020-2021

Slidewaters v. Washington State Department of Labor and Industries: On July 14, 2020, Chief JudgeThomas Rice of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington refused to enjoin enforcement of Gov. Jay Inslee’s (D) emergency COVID-19 business restrictions. A waterpark, Slidewaters at Lake Chelan, which had been forced to shutter summer operations as a result of the restrictions, sought the injunction. In its initial motion for a temporary restraining order, the waterpark challenged Inslee’s Proclamation 20-05, proclaiming a state of emergency for all counties in Washington; Proclamation 20-25.4, a four-phase plan for reopening the state; and Department of Labor and Industries (LNI) emergency rule WAC 296-800-14035, which established mechanisms to enforce the mandatory business closures. Though the temporary restraining order was denied on June 12, 2020, the plaintiff continued to seek a preliminary injunction, arguing, "(1) Governor Inslee does not have the authority to issue the emergency proclamations; (2) LNI does not have authority to issue an emergency rule based on the governor's unlawful emergency proclamations; and (3) defendants' actions have violated plaintiffs' substantive due process rights." Rice rejected these arguments, finding that Washington law allows a governor to proclaim a state of emergency during times of disorder. Rice also ruled that LNI acted within its power to issue emergency rules based on the governor's proclamation. Lastly, Rice dismissed the plaintiff's substantive due process claim: "It is not the court's role to second-guess the reasoned public health decisions of other branches of government." The plaintiff appealed the decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.^[5][6][7][8]

On July 8, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed Rice's decision. JudgeRichard Clifton, writing for a unanimous three-judge panel, said, "Defendants have the authority under Washington law to impose the restrictions and ... doing so does not violate Slidewaters' asserted rights under the U.S. Constitution." The Ninth Circuit found that the state's actions were rationally connected to the legitimate state interest of mitigating the spread of COVID-19.^[9]

See also

• United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit

External links

• Judge Clifton's biography from theFederal Judicial Center

Footnotes

v • e Federal judges who have served theU.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Active judges	Chief Judge: Mary Murguia  •  Mark Bennett (Hawaii)  •  Kim McLane Wardlaw  •  Morgan Christen  •  Ronald Gould  •  Johnnie Rawlinson  •  Consuelo Maria Callahan  •  Milan Smith  •  Jacqueline Nguyen  •  Lucy H. Koh  •  Sal Mendoza, Jr.  •  John B. Owens  •  Michelle T. Friedland  •  Lawrence VanDyke  •  Bridget S. Bade  •  Danielle Forrest  •  Ryan Nelson (Idaho)  •  Eric Miller (Washington)  •  Patrick Bumatay  •  Daniel Collins (California)  •  Kenneth Kiyul Lee  •  Ana de Alba  •  Gabriel Sanchez (California)  •  Holly Thomas  •  Daniel Bress  •  Jennifer Sung  •  Roopali Desai  •  Anthony Johnstone  •  Eric Tung
Senior judges	Mary Schroeder  •  Andrew Hurwitz  •  Diarmuid O'Scannlain  •  Andrew Kleinfeld  •  Sidney Thomas  •  Barry Silverman  •  Susan Graber  •  Margaret McKeown (California)  •  William Fletcher (California)  •  Richard Paez  •  Marsha Berzon  •  Richard Tallman  •  Richard Clifton  •  Jay Bybee  •  Carlos Bea  •  Sandra Ikuta  •  Randy Smith (Federal appeals judge)  •  John Clifford Wallace  •  Dorothy Wright Nelson  •  William Canby  •  Stephen Trott  •  Ferdinand Francis Fernandez  •  Michael D. Hawkins  •  Atsushi Wallace Tashima  •
Former judges	Anthony Kennedy  •  Lorenzo Sawyer  •  Joseph McKenna (Supreme Court)  •  William Ball Gilbert  •  Erskine Mayo Ross  •  William Henry Hunt (U.S. 9th Circuit Court)  •  Wallace McCamant  •  Frank Sigel Dietrich  •  William Henry Sawtelle  •  Francis Arthur Garrecht  •  William Denman  •  Clifton Mathews  •  Bert Emory Haney  •  William Healy  •  Homer Bone  •  William Edwin Orr  •  Walter Pope  •  Dal Lemmon  •  Richard Harvey Chambers  •  Stanley Nelson Barnes  •  Oliver Hamlin  •  Gilbert Jertberg  •  Charles Merton Merrill  •  Montgomery Koelsch  •  Benjamin Duniway  •  Walter Raleigh Ely, Jr.  •  James Marshall Carter  •  Shirley Hufstedler  •  Eugene Allen Wright  •  John Francis Kilkenny  •  Ozell Trask  •  Herbert Choy  •  J. Blaine Anderson  •  Thomas Tang  •  Cecil Poole  •  William Albert Norris  •  Charles Edward Wiggins  •  Frederick Hamley  •  Alex Kozinski  •  Matthew Hall McAllister  •  William Morrow  •  Frank Rudkin  •  Harry Pregerson  •  Stephen Reinhardt  •  Pamela Rymer  •  Raymond Fisher  •  James R. Browning  •  Alfred Goodwin  •  Joseph Sneed  •  Procter Hug  •  Betty Binns Fletcher  •  Otto Skopil  •  Joseph Farris  •  Arthur Alarcon  •  Warren Ferguson  •  Robert Boochever  •  Cynthia Holcomb Hall  •  Robert Beezer  •  Melvin Brunetti  •  Edward Leavy  •  David R. Thompson (Federal judge)  •  Thomas G. Nelson (Federal judge)  •  Curtis Dwight Wilbur  •  Albert Lee Stephens, Sr.  •  Albert Lee Stephens, Jr.  •  William Orr (9th Circuit)  •  John Kilkenny  •  Paul Watford  •
Former Chief judges	William Denman  •  Walter Pope  •  Richard Harvey Chambers  •  Mary Schroeder  •  Sidney Thomas  •  James R. Browning  •  Alfred Goodwin  •  John Clifford Wallace  •  Procter Hug  •  Albert Lee Stephens, Sr.  •

v • e Federal judges nominated byGeorge W. Bush
2001	Armijo •Bates •Beistline •Blackburn •Bowdre •Bunning •Bury •Caldwell •Camp •Cassell •Cebull •Clement •Clifton •Crane •Eagan •Engelhardt •Friot •Gibbons •Granade •Gregory •Gritzner •Haddon •Hartz •Heaton •Hicks •Howard •Johnson •Jorgenson •Krieger •Land •Leon •Mahan •Martinez •Martone •McConnell •Melloy •Mills •O'Brien •Parker •Payne •Prost •Reeves •Riley •Robinson •Rogers •Royal •Shedd •B. Smith •L. Smith •Walton •Wooten •Zainey
2002	Africk •Anderson •Autrey •Baylson •Cercone •Chesler •Clark •Collyer •Conner •Conti •Corrigan •Davis •Davis •Dorr •England •Ericksen •Fuller •Gardner •Godbey •Griesbach •Hanen •Hovland •Hudson •Jones •Jordan •Kinkeade •Klausner •Kugler •Leighton •Linares •Moses •Marra •Martinez •Martini •Mays •McVerry •Phillips •Raggi •Reade •Rose •Rufe •Savage •Schwab •Smith •St. Eve •Walter •White •Wolfson
2003	Adams •Altonaga •Bea •Benitez •Bennett •Boyle •Brack •Breen •Browning •Burns •Bybee •Callahan •Campbell •Cardone •Carney •Castel •Chertoff •Cohn •Colloton •Conrad •Coogler •Cook •Cooke •Crone •Der-Yeghiayan •Drell •Duffey •Duncan •Erickson •Feuerstein •Figa •Filip •Fischer •Fisher •Flanagan •Floyd •Frost •Gibson •Greer •Gruender •Guirola •Hall •Hardiman •Hayes •Herrera •Hicks •Holmes •Holwell •Hopkins •Houston •Irizarry •Jones •Junell •Karas •Kravitz •Martinez •McKnight •Minaldi •Montalvo •Mosman •Otero •Pickering •Prado •Pratter •Proctor •Quarles •Robart •Roberts •Robinson •Rodgers •Rodriguez •Sabraw •Sanchez •Saylor •Selna •Sharpe •Simon •Springmann •Stanceu •Steele •Stengel •Suko •Sutton •Sykes •Titus •Townes •Tymkovich •Van Antwerpen •Varlan •Wake •Wesley •White •Woodcock • Yeakel
2004	Alvarez •Benton •Boyko •Covington •Diamond •Harwell •Kelley •Schiavelli •Schneider •Starrett •Watson
2005	Alito •Barrett •Batten •Bianco •Brown •Burgess •Conrad •Cox •Crotty •Delgado-Colon •Dever •DuBose •Griffin •Griffith •Johnston •Kendall •Larson •Ludington •Mattice •McKeague •Neilson •Owen •Pryor •Roberts •Sandoval •Schiltz •Seabright •Smoak •Van Tatenhove •Vitaliano •Watkins •Zouhary
2006	Besosa •Bumb •Chagares •Cogan •Gelpi •Golden •Gordon •Gorsuch •Guilford •Hillman •Holmes •Ikuta •D. Jordan •K. Jordan •Kavanaugh •Miller •Moore •Shepherd •Sheridan •Smith •Whitney •Wigenton
2007	Anderson •Aycock •Bailey •Bryant •Davis •DeGiusti •Dow •Elrod •Fairbank •Fischer •Frizzell •Gutierrez •Hall •Hardiman •Haynes •Howard •Jarvey •Jones •Jonker •Kapala •Kays •Laplante •Limbaugh •Lioi •Livingston •Maloney •Mauskopf •Mendez •Miller •Neff •O'Connor •O'Grady •O'Neill •Osteen •Ozerden •Reidinger •Sammartino •Schroeder •Settle •Smith •Snow •Southwick •Suddaby •Sullivan •Thapar •Tinder •Van Bokkelen •Wood •Wright •Wu
2008	Agee •Anello •Arguello •Brimmer •Gardephe •Goldberg •Jones •Kethledge •Lawrence •Matsumoto •Melgren •Murphy •Scriven •Seibel •Slomsky •Trenga •Waddoups •White