Paul V. Niemeyer

Paul Niemeyer
Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
Assumed office
August 7, 1990
Appointed by George H. W. Bush
Preceded by Harrison Winter
Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland
In office
February 22, 1988 – August 7, 1990
Appointed by Ronald Reagan
Preceded by Frank Kaufman
Succeeded by Benson Legg
Personal details
Born (1941-04-05) April 5, 1941
Princeton, New Jersey, U.S.
Alma mater Kenyon College
University of Munich
University of Notre Dame

Paul Victor Niemeyer (born April 5, 1941) is a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

Biography

Niemeyer was born in Princeton, New Jersey. He attended Kenyon College (A.B., 1962), where he played on the school's baseball team. He then studied at the University of Munich, before pursuing his legal education at Notre Dame Law School (J.D., 1966). Niemeyer was admitted to the Maryland bar and practiced commercial law at Piper & Marbury (now DLA Piper) in Baltimore, Maryland from 1966 to 1988. In 1984, Niemeyer co-authored the Maryland Rules Commentary,[1] a treatise on the rules of procedure in the Maryland state courts. From 1973 to 1988, he was a member of the Maryland Court of Appeals Standing Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure.[2] In 2006, Niemeyer published A Path Remembered: The Lives of Gerhart & Lucie Niemeyer.[3] Niemeyer's father, Gerhart Niemeyer (1907–1997),[4] was a political philosopher and professor of government at the University of Notre Dame. Niemeyer is married and has three sons.

Niemeyer's father was a conservative political philosopher and friend of William F. Buckley, Jr. Upon Hitler's rise, in 1933, Niemeyer's father left Germany for Spain and then the US. Niemeyer, like his father, studied at the University of Munich. The New York Times obituary of 29 June 1997, states that Niemeyer's father: "wrote that fascism, communism and other such modern mass movements were the legacy of disoriented philosophers. He said their ideas corroded the cultural mettle of a society and spawned ideologies with a limited view of humanity."[5]

Judiciary

Niemeyer was nominated by President Ronald Reagan on September 11, 1987 to the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, to fill the seat vacated by Frank A. Kaufman. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on February 19, 1988, and received his commission on February 22, 1988. Niemeyer served on the district court until his appointment to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. He was nominated to the Fourth Circuit by President George H. W. Bush on May 11, 1990, to fill the seat vacated by Harrison Lee Winter. Niemeyer was confirmed with the unanimous consent of the United States Senate on August 3, 1990, and received his commission on August 7, 1990. In 1993, Niemeyer became a member of the Advisory Committee on Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. He served as chair of the committee from 1996 through 2000. Niemeyer is a member of the American Law Institute and has taught Appellate Practice at Duke Law School. His chambers are located in Baltimore, Maryland.

On 28 July 2014, Niemeyer dissented from a 4th Circuit ruling that struck down Virginia's ban on same-sex marriage as unconstitutional. In his dissent, he argued that under a rational basis test Virginia's ban should be deemed constitutional.[6]

On 19 April 2016, Niemeyer dissented in part from a 4th Circuit ruling (G. G. v. Gloucester County School Board) in an appeal from the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia at Newport News where the majority of the 4th Circuit panel reversed the district court's dismissal of a transgender boy's claims under Title IX. Niemeyer's dissent states: "This unprecedented holding overrules custom, culture, and the very demands inherent in human nature for privacy and safety"; "More particularly, it also misconstrues the clear language of Title IX and its regulations"; and "And finally, it reaches an unworkable and illogical result".[7] The Majority rejected Niemeyer's assertions, concluding that "the record is devoid of any evidence tending to show that [the plaintiff's] use of the boys’ restroom creates a safety issue."[8] Further, the Majority rejected Niemeyer's "suggestion that . . . the enforcement of separate restroom facilities [would be] impossible because it 'would require schools to assume gender identity based on appearances, social expectations, or explicit declarations of identity.' Accepting [such a] position would equally require the school to assume 'biological sex' based on 'appearances, social expectations, or explicit declarations of [biological sex].' Certainly, no one is suggesting mandatory verification of the 'correct' genitalia before admittance to a restroom. The Department [of Justices]’s vision of sex-segregated restrooms which takes account of gender identity presents no greater 'impossibility of enforcement' problem than does the [dissent's] 'biological gender' vision of sex-segregated restrooms."[9]

In a 4 May 2016 letter regarding North Carolina House Bill 2 (H.B. 2), the US Department of Justice stated: H.B. 2 ... is facially discriminatory against transgender employees on the basis of sex because it treats transgender employees, whose gender identity does not match their “biological sex,” as defined by H.B. 2, differently from similarly situated non-transgender employees .... The US Department of Justice further stated: "Courts often consider Title VII and Title IX precedent together when analyzing discrimination claims" and "the Department sent letters addressed to ... the University of North Carolina similarly notifying them of our conclusion that they have engaged in violations of Title VII, as well as violations of Title IX and its implementing regulations".[10]

Clerks

Clerk Started Finished School (Year)
Sean Eskovitz[11] 1995 1996
Jeffrey Klein 1997 1998 Harvard (1997)
Neil Richards 1997 1998 Virginia (1997)
Steven Warshawsky 1997 1998 Georgetown (1997)
Kevin Walsh 2002 2003 Harvard (2002)
Donald E. Childress III (Trey) 2004 2005 Duke (2004)
Paul Nathanson 2004 2005 Harvard (2004)
Karen Servidea 2004 2005 Virginia (2004)
Katie Bagley 2005 2006 Virginia (2005)
Bryan Killian 2005 2006 Harvard (2005)
Micah Schwartzman 2005 2006 Virginia (2005)
Jeffrey Davidson 2006 2007 Yale (2006)
Matthew Krueger 2006 2007 Minnesota (2006)
Michael Nemelka 2006 2007 Virginia (2006)
Brian Foster 2007 2008 Notre Dame (2007)
Ajeet Pai 2007 2008 Virginia (2007)
Keri Steffes 2007 2008 Yale (2007)
Andrew Blair-Stanek 2008 2009 Yale (2008)
Alison Buckley 2008 2009 Northwestern (2008)
Destiny Duron-Deas 2008 2009 Duke (2008)
Dave Baltmanis 2009 2010 Northwestern (2009)
Christopher DiPompeo 2009 2010 Penn (2009)
Nikki Ellington 2009 2010 Virginia (2008)
Elise Borochoff 2010 2011 Harvard (2010)
Kevin King 2010 2011 Northwestern (2010)
Kathryn Ladewski 2010 2011 Michigan (2010)
Justin Murray 2011 2012 Georgetown (2010)
Jonathan David Shaub 2011 2012 Northwestern (2011)
Luke McCloud 2011 2012 Harvard (2011)

References

  1. ↑ http://bookstore.lexis.com/bookstore/product/7123.html
  2. ↑ http://www.courts.state.md.us/rules/index.html
  3. ↑ http://www.isi.org/books/bookdetail.aspx?id=5613b690-d069-49ae-9dfe-814f7e0c5919
  4. ↑ http://www.phillysoc.org/gerhart.htm
  5. ↑ Saxon, Wolfgang (1997-06-29). "Gerhart Niemeyer, Scholar Of Political Philosophy, 90". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-04-19.
  6. ↑ Gerstein, Josh (28 July 2014). "Court: Virginia same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional". Politico. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
  7. ↑ "United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit". www.ca4.uscourts.gov. Retrieved 2016-04-19.
  8. ↑ "United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit". www.ca4.uscourts.gov. Retrieved 2016-04-19.
  9. ↑ "United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit". www.ca4.uscourts.gov. Retrieved 2016-04-19.
  10. ↑ http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/05/north-carolina-hb2/481347/
  11. ↑ Office of the Governor (February 22, 2011). "Governor Brown Announces Appointments". State of California. Retrieved July 29, 2011.

External links

Legal offices
Preceded by
Frank Kaufman		 Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland
1988–1990 		Succeeded by
Benson Legg
Preceded by
Harrison Winter		 Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
1990–present 		Incumbent
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, May 05, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.