Sidney Thomas
Sidney Runyan Thomas is afederal judge onsenior status with theUnited States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He joined the court in 1996 after being nominated by PresidentBill Clinton (D). Thomas served as chief judge from December 1, 2014, to December 1, 2021.[1][2][3]
On March 29, 2022, Thomas announced he would assumesenior status upon the appointment of his successor.[4] He assumedsenior status on May 5, 2023.Anthony Johnstone was nominated by PresidentJoe Biden (D) to replace Thomas on theUnited States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on September 6, 2022.[2]
Early life and education
Born in Bozeman,Montana, Thomas graduated from Montana State University with his bachelor's degree in 1975, and from the University of Montana School of Law with hisJ.D. in 1978.[2]
Professional career
- 1996-2023: Judge,United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
- 2023-present:Senior judge
- 1982-1995: Adjunct instructor of law, Rocky Mountain College,Billings, Mont.
- 1978-1995: Private practice, Billings, Mont.[2]
Judicial career
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
 |
| Nominee Information |
| Name: Sidney R. Thomas |
| Court:United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit |
| Progress |
| Confirmed 167 days after nomination. |
 ANominated: July 19, 1995 |
| AABA Rating:Unanimously Well Qualified |
| Questionnaire: |
| AHearing: October 24, 1995 |
| QFRs:(Hover over QFRs to read more) |
| AReported: November 9, 1995 |
| AConfirmed: January 2, 1996 |
| AVote: Voice vote |
Thomas was nominated to serve on theUnited States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit by PresidentBill Clinton on July 19, 1995, to a seat vacated byDorothy Wright Nelson. TheAmerican Bar Association rated ThomasUnanimously Well Qualified for the nomination.[5] Hearings on Thomas' nomination were held before theUnited States Senate Committee on the Judiciary on October 24, 1995, and his nomination was reported by U.S. Sen.Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) on November 9, 1995. Thomas was confirmed on a voice vote of theU.S. Senate on January 2, 1996, and he received his commission on January 4, 1996. Thomas served aschief judge of the circuit from December 1, 2014, to December 1, 2021.[1][2][6]
Supreme Court candidate
According to a White House source ofThe Associated Press, Judge Thomas was interviewed by PresidentObama on April 29, 2010, as a possible candidate to replaceJohn Paul Stevens to theSupreme Court of the United States. Thomas was also interviewed by the vice president of the United States, Joe Biden.[7]
Noteworthy cases
Divided Ninth Circuit panel rules class action waivers violate labor law
- See also:United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (Stephen Morris et al. v. Ernst & Young, LLP, No. 13-16599)
- See also:United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (Stephen Morris et al. v. Ernst & Young, LLP, No. 13-16599)
On August 22, 2016, a three-judge panel of theNinth Circuit Court of Appealsreversed andremanded a decision of theUnited States District Court for the Northern District of California. Ernst & Young required its employees to sign agreements that mandated any work-related claims be submitted to individual arbitration. The agreements contained a waiver against any concerted action; that is, the employees could neither initiate nor join any class action or collective action proceedings against the company in any forum. Further, claims in arbitration were required to be brought in separate proceedings. Two employees filed a class action against the firm. The district court granted Ernst and Young's motion to dismiss and to compel arbitration in the case in accordance with the terms of the arbitration agreement, but writing for a 2-1 panel JudgeSidney Thomasreversed andremanded the lower court's decision, holding that such waivers violated Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). Thomas wrote,[8]
| “ | The NLRA establishes a core right to concerted activity. Irrespective of the forum in which disputes are resolved, employees must be able to act in the forum together. The structure of the Ernst & Young contract prevents that. Arbitration, like any other forum for resolving disputes, cannot be structured so as to exclude all concerted employee legal claims. As the Supreme Court has instructed, when 'private contracts conflict with' the NLRA, 'they obviously must yield or the Act would be reduced to a futility.'[9] | ” |
Thomas went on to reject Ernst & Young's argument that such waivers were permitted under the Federal Arbitration Act. TheU.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear argumentsin this case during itsOctober 2017 term.
- For more, seeEpic Systems Corporation v. Lewis
- For more, seeNLRB v. Murphy Oil
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑1.01.1San Francisco Gate, "Sidney Thomas becomes chief judge of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court," November 30, 2014
- ↑2.02.12.22.32.4Federal Judicial Center, "Thomas, Sidney Runyan," accessed December 7, 2021
- ↑U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, "Gavel Passing Brings New Chief Judge to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals," December 1, 2021
- ↑United States Courts for the Ninth Circuit, "Ninth Circuit Chief Judge Emeritus Sidney R. Thomas to Take Senior Status," March 29, 2022
- ↑American Bar Association, "Ratings of Article III judicial nominees, 104th Congress," accessed July 11, 2016
- ↑United States Congress, "PN 529 - Sidney R. Thomas - The Judiciary," accessed July 11, 2016
- ↑Google News "AP Source: Obama Interviews Thomas for high court," April 29, 2010(dead link)
- ↑U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit,Stephen Morris et al. v. Ernst & Young, LLP et al., August 22, 2016
- ↑Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by - | United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit 1996-2023 | Succeeded by Anthony Johnstone |
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|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Adams •Ambrose •Barnes •Brinkema •Bucklew •Chasanow •Coffman •Daughtrey •Ferguson •Ginsburg •Hagen •Jackson •Lancaster •Leval •Lindsay •Messitte •Michael •Piersol •Saris •Schwartz •Seybert •Shanahan •Shaw •Stearns •Trager •Vazquez •Wilken •Wilson | ||
| 1994 | Baer •Barkett •Batts •Beaty •Benavides •Bennett •Berrigan •Biery •Block •Borman •Breyer •Briones •Bryson •Bucklo •Burgess •Burrage •Cabranes •Calabresi •Carr •Casellas •Castillo •Chatigny •Chin •Cindrich •Coar •Collins •Cooper •Cote •Currie •Davis •Dominguez •Downes •Duval •Friedman •Furgeson •Garcia •Gertner •Gettleman •Gillmor •Gilmore •Gleeson •Haggerty •Hamilton •Hannah •Hawkins •Henry •Holmes •Hood •Hull •Hurley •Jack •Jones •Jones •Kaplan •Katz •Kern •Kessler •Koeltl •Lisi •Manning •McKee •McLaughlin •Melancon •Miles-LaGrange •Moore •Motz •Murphy •O'Malley •O'Meara •Oliver •Paez •B. Parker •F. Parker •R. Parker •Perry •Ponsor •Pooler •Porteous •Rendell • Riley •Robertson •Rogers •Ross •Russell •Sands •Sarokin •Scheindlin •Silver •Squatrito •Stewart •Sullivan •Tatel •Thompson •Timlin •Urbina •Vanaskie •Vance •Walls •Wells •Williams | ||
| 1995 | Arterton •Atlas •Black •Blake •Briscoe •Tena Campbell •Todd Campbell •Chesney •Cole •Collier •Daniel •Davis •Dennis •Dlott •Donald •Duffy •Economus •Evans •Fallon •Folsom •Gaughan •Goodwin •Heartfield •Hunt •Illston •Jones •King •Kornmann •Lawson •Lenard •Lucero •Lynch •McKinley •Moody •Moore •Moskowitz •Murphy •Murtha •Nugent •O'Toole •Orlofsky •Pogue •Sessions •C. Smith •O. Smith •Stein •Thornburg •Tunheim •Wallach •Wardlaw •Webber •Whaley •Winmill • Wood | ||
| 1996 | Broadwater •Clevert •Fenner •Gershon •Gottschall •Greenaway •Hinkle •Jones •Kahn •Laughrey •Lemmon •Marten •Miller •Molloy •Montgomery •Pregerson •Rakoff •Sargus •Tashima •Thomas •Zapata | ||
| 1997 | Adelman •Bataillon •Breyer •Caputo •Casey •Chambers •Clay •Damrell •Droney •Friedman •Gajarsa •Garland •Gilman •Gold •Gwin •Hall •Hayden •Hull •Ishii •Jenkins •Kauffman •Kennedy •Kimball •Kollar-Kotelly •Lazzara •Marbley •Marcus •Middlebrooks •Miller •Moon •Pratt •Rendell •Sippel •Siragusa •Snyder •Thrash | ||
| 1998 | Aiken •Barbier •Barzilay •Berman •Buttram •Carter •Collins •Dawson •Dimitrouleas •Fletcher •Fogel •Frank •Graber •Hellerstein •Herndon •James •Johnson •Kane •Kelly •G. King •R. King •Lasnik •Lee •Lemelle •Lindsay •Lipez •Manella •Matz •McCuskey •McKeown •McMahon •Mickle •Mollway •Mordue •Moreno •Morrow •Munley •Murphy •Pallmeyer •Pauley •Polster •Pooler •Rawlinson •Ridgway •R. Roberts •V. Roberts •Sack •Scott •Seitz •Seymour •Shea •Silverman •Sleet •Sotomayor •Steeh •Story •Straub •Tagle •Tarnow •Trauger •Traxler •Tyson •Wardlaw •Whelan •Young | ||
| 1999 | Alsup •Barry •Brown •Buchwald •Cooper •Eaton •Ellison •Feess •Fisher •Gould •Guzman •Haynes •Hibbler •Hochberg •Hurd •Huvelle •Jordan •Katzmann •Kennelly •Linn •Lorenz •Lynn •Marrero •Murguia •Pannell •Pechman •Pepper •Phillips •Schreier •Stewart •Underhill •Ward •Williams •Wilson | ||
| 2000 | Ambro •Antoon •Battani •Berzon •Bolton •Brady •Bye •Cavanaugh •Daniels •Darrah •Dawson •Dyk •Fuentes •Garaufis •Garcia-Gregory •Hamilton •Huck •Hunt •Lawson •Lefkow •Lynch •Martin •McLaughlin •Moody •Murguia •Paez •Pisano •Presnell •Rawlinson •Reagan •Schiller •Singal •Steele •Surrick •Swain •Tallman •Teilborg •Tucker •Whittemore | ||
Federal courts:
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court:District of Montana • U.S. Bankruptcy Court:District of Montana
State courts:
Montana Supreme Court•Montana District Courts•Montana Courts of Limited Jurisdiction•Montana Water Court•Montana Workers' Compensation Court
State resources:
Courts in Montana •Montana judicial elections •Judicial selection in Montana
- Pages using DynamicPageList3 parser function
- Appointed by Bill Clinton
- Confirmed 1996
- Federal Article III judges
- Federal judiciary nominee, July 1995
- Former chief judge
- Former chief judge, United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit
- Judge on senior status, United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit
- Senior federal judge
- United States of America
- Noteworthy case
- Judge on senior status, Ninth Circuit
- Former chief judge, Ninth Circuit
