John Mercer Walker Jr. (born December 26, 1940) is a senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He served as chief judge from September 30, 2000, to September 30, 2006, when he assumed senior status.Daniel Wise, Walker to Assume Senior Status; Law Professor Tapped, N.Y. Law Journal, June 30, 2006 Accessed August 6, 2013. He was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, appointed in 1985 by President Ronald Reagan before being elevated to the Second Circuit in 1989.
Early life and education Walker was born in New York City. He graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy in 1958 and received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale University in 1962, then received his Juris Doctor from the University of Michigan Law School in 1966.
Walker is married to Katharine K. Walker, has a daughter and three stepsons, and lives in Madison, Connecticut. He is the son of Dr. John M. Walker and Elsie Louise Mead. His uncle is George Herbert Walker Jr., co-founder of the New York Mets. He is a first cousin of United States President George H. W. Bush, the two having a grandfather in common, George Herbert Walker. His father's sister, Dorothy, was the mother of the 41st President. He is also a first cousin once removed, of President George W. Bush and his brother, former Governor of Florida Jeb Bush.
Early career Walker served in the Marine Corps Reserves from 1963 until 1968.Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, Ronald Reagan: "Nomination of John M. Walker, Jr., To Be an Assistant Secretary of the Treasury," The American Presidency Project, May 13, 1981 Accessed August 6, 2013. From 1966 until 1968, he was State Counsel to the Republic of Botswana, sponsored by an Africa-Asia Public Service Fellowship, where he drafted a codification of tribal law and was the country's principal prosecutor in the regular (non-tribal) criminal courts.
Walker was in private practice in New York City from 1969 to 1970. From 1970 to 1975 he served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Criminal Division in the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, where he prosecuted drugs and business fraud cases. In 1975 he returned to private law practice with the New York firm of Carter, Ledyard & Milburn, where he was a partner in commercial litigation.
In 1981 Walker became Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, responsible for policy in law enforcement, regulatory, and trade matters, and with oversight of the Customs Service, Secret Service, Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and the Office of Foreign Assets Control. As Assistant Secretary, he helped establish the Iran–United States Claims Tribunal and served as a U.S. representative to Interpol. He led the development of Treasury's drug interdiction and financial enforcement programs. He also oversaw the Treasury's review of Secret Service operations following the attempt to assassinate President Ronald Reagan. Among the shortcomings of the Secret Service that the review identified and remedied were inadequate reserve personnel and the use of unencrypted radio communications. For his Treasury service, Walker received the Alexander Hamilton Award, Treasury's highest award. His work caught the attention of New York Senator Alphonse D'Amato who supported him for the position of district judge.
Federal judicial service
District court service Walker was nominated by President Ronald Reagan on June 25, 1985, to a seat on the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York vacated by Judge Morris E. Lasker. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on July 19, 1985, and received commission on July 22, 1985. His service terminated on December 19, 1989, due to elevation to the court of appeals. He was succeeded by Judge Sonia Sotomayor. As a district judge, Walker presided over a variety of civil and criminal proceedings, including notably the 1989 tax fraud trial of billionaire hotel magnate Leona Helmsley, whom he sentenced to four years in jail.
Court of appeals service Walker was nominated by President George H. W. Bush on September 21, 1989, to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit vacated by Judge Irving Kaufman. He was confirmed by the Senate on November 22, 1989, and received his commission on November 27, 1989. He served as Chief Judge from September 30, 2000 to September 30, 2006. He assumed senior status on September 30, 2006. He was succeeded by Judge Debra Ann Livingston.
Walker was awarded the Learned Hand Medal for "excellence in Federal Jurisprudence" by the Federal Bar Council"Learned Hand Award Established by the Federal Bar Council in 1962" Federal Bar Council Accessed August 12, 2013. and in 2006 the Robert L. Haig Award for "distinguished public service" by the New York State Bar Association, and the J. Edward Lumbard Award for "outstanding service" by the Southern District of New York U.S. Attorney's Office.
Judicial administration
Walker has served as Special Counsel to the U.S. Administrative Conference (1987–1992) and president of the Federal Judges' Association (1993–1995). As chief judge, Walker was engaged with all three levels of federal court administration. He led the Court of Appeals, chaired the Second Circuit Judicial Council with responsibility for all of the courts within the Second Circuit (consisting of the states of Connecticut, New York, and Vermont), and on the national level was a member of the Judicial Conference of the United States, chaired by the Chief Justice of the United States (2000–2006). He was also selected by Chief Justice William Rehnquist to be a member of the Conference's Executive Committee (2003–2006) and its Budget Committee (1990–1999). He was selected by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. to be a member of its Committee on International Judicial Relations (2006–2012), and to be the Chair of the Conference's Committee on Judicial Conduct and Disability (2009–2013). As Chief Judge of the Second Circuit, Walker managed the dislocations from the courthouse at 40 Foley Square in lower Manhattan caused by the terrorist attacks of 9/11/2001, oversaw the establishment by Judge Jon O. Newman of a separate calendar for a sudden crush of 5,000 immigration appeals in 2005, and obtained funding for the total renovation of the Thurgood Marshall Courthouse at 40 Foley Square which was completed under the supervision of Chief Judge Walker and his successor, Chief Judge Dennis Jacobs.
Court cases Walker has authored several hundred decisions in various areas of federal law including influential precedents in the areas of constitutional law, criminal law, criminal and civil procedure, securities law, bankruptcy law, intellectual property law, and international law, including the following selected appeals.
Constitutional law National Abortion Federation v. Gonzales, 437 F.3d 278, 296 (2d Cir. 2006) (Walker, C.J., concurring). In a concurring opinion, Walker criticized the evidentiary standard adopted by the Supreme Court in Stenberg v. Carhart, 530 U.S. 914 (2000), which allowed facial challenges against abortion laws to succeed with only speculative showings that the challenged regulations might work an unconstitutional result. This standard, Walker observed, was "both unclear and difficult" for lower courts "to apply with any certainty" and left legislatures without sufficient constitutional guidance on how challenges could be made against their enactments. Justice Anthony Kennedy cited Walker's reasoning approvingly in Gonzales v. Carhart, 550 U.S. 124 (2007), which distinguished Stenberg and upheld the constitutionality of the federal partial-birth abortion statute enacted by Congress in 2003. Rweyemamu v. Cote, 520 F.3d 198 (2d Cir. 2008), formally adopting the ministerial exception to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act in the Second Circuit. Rweyemamu was cited favorably by Chief Justice John Roberts in the unanimous opinion of the U.S. Supreme Court in Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 565 U.S. 171 (2012).565 U.S. ___, ___,132 S. Ct. 694, 705 n.2 (2012).
Civil procedure Sumitomo Copper Litigation v. Credit Lyonnais Rouse, Ltd., 262 F.3d 134 (2d Cir. 2001), setting forth the basis for interlocutory appeal of a district court's certification of a class action lawsuit.
Securities Novak v. Kasaks, 216 F.3d 300 (2d Cir. 2000), interpreting the pleading standard for securities fraud actions set forth under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. SEC v. Obus, 693 F.3d 276 (2d Cir. 2012), applying and clarifying the misappropriation theory for insider trading liability.
Intellectual property Computer Associates Int. Inc. v. Altai Inc., 982 F.2d 693 (2d Cir. 1992), a leading decision on how to establish copyright infringement for software Castle Rock Entertainment, Inc. v. Carol Publishing Group, 150 F.3d 132 (2d Cir. 1998), the "Seinfeld Aptitude Test" case, a ruling on the determination of substantial similarity of works. NXIVM Corp. v. The Ross Institute, 364 F.3d 471 (2d Cir. 2004), deciding whether a fair use defense was available when copyrighted materials were obtained in bad faith. Cartoon Network, LP v. CSC Holdings, Inc., 536 F.3d 121 (2d Cir. 2008), regarding the use of digital video recorders to time shift the playback of copyright video content. 1-800 Contacts, Inc. v. WhenU.com, Inc., 414 F.3d 400 (2d Cir. 2005), regarding trademark infringement in online pop-up advertisements.
Judicial philosophy Walker is a strong advocate of judicial independence for both courts in the United States and in other countries. He has condemned the growing politicization of the judicial nomination and confirmation process for federal judges.John M. Walker Jr., "The Unfortunate Politicization of Judicial Confirmation Hearings" The Atlantic, July 9, 2012. The "political theater" that judicial nominees are subjected to in the Senate, he writes, "politicizes the judiciary, misrepresents the judiciary's role in our democracy, demeans highly qualified nominees, and unjustifiably delays or jettisons confirmations." An independent judge, in his view, is one who faithfully applies existing law to the facts of the case at hand, giving due respect to precedent, and resists the temptation to effectively rewrite legislative enactments. The independent judge "must remain detached and impartial -- and free not merely from personal or financial interests" but also free of "any responsibility to party or social faction" and "must not be concerned with whether an outcome will incur public approbation or wrath."
Teaching and scholarship Since 2000, Walker has been a Lecturer in Law at Yale Law School, where he has taught constitutional litigation with fellow Second Circuit judges Guido Calabresi and Susan L. Carney and with district judges Mark Kravitz and Jeffrey Meyer.
From 1996 to 2000, Walker was an adjunct professor at New York University School of Law and a member of NYU's Institute of Judicial Administration and Appellate Judges Seminar. He has also served on the Board of the U.S. Association of Constitutional Law since 1997 and the CEELI Institute in Prague since 2006.
Rule of law initiatives Walker is actively involved in initiatives to promote the rule of law, strengthen judiciaries and foster cooperation among judges around the world, especially in Eastern and Central Europe, China and the Middle East. He was a member of the U.S. delegation to the G8 Experts Conference on the Rule of Law in Berlin in 2007."Experts Conference on the Rule of Law" Federal Foreign Office, Germany, 2007 Accessed August 13, 2013.
Central and Eastern Europe