President Obama nominated him today to sit on the 11th Circuit. He will be terrific on the court of appeals but will be sorely missed on the district court where he was known for his smarts, his patience, for treating everyone with respect and for calling 'em right down the middle.Here's the press release from the White House:
President Obama Nominates Judge Adalberto José Jordán to the United States Court of Appeals
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, President Obama nominated Judge Adalberto José Jordán to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
“Judge Adalberto José Jordán will bring an unwavering commitment to fairness and judicial integrity to the federal bench,” President Obama said. “His impressive legal career is a testament to the kind of thoughtful and diligent judge he will be on the Eleventh Circuit. I am honored to nominate him today.”
Judge Adalberto José Jordán: Nominee for the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
Judge Adalberto José Jordán has served as a District Judge on the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida in Miami since 1999. He also teaches as an adjunct professor of law at University of Miami School of Law, where he has taught since 1990, and Florida International University College of Law, where he has taught since 2007. Judge Jordán was born in Havana, Cuba, and immigrated to the United States with his parents at the age of six. He received his B.A. magna cum laude from the University of Miami in 1984, and his J.D. summa cum laude from University of Miami School of Law in 1987. After graduating from law school, he served as a law clerk to the Honorable Thomas A. Clark of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit from 1987 to 1988, and the following year he served as a law clerk to the Honorable Sandra Day O’Connor of the Supreme Court of the United States. In 1989, Judge Jordán joined the Miami law firm of Steel Hector & Davis LLP (now Squire Sanders & Dempsey) as a litigation associate, eventually specializing in appellate practice and becoming a partner in 1994. Later that year, he joined the United States Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of Florida, serving as an Assistant United States Attorney in the appellate division and handling criminal and civil appeals on behalf of the government. Judge Jordán became appellate division chief in the office in 1998, and also served as special counsel to the United States Attorney for legal policy. Since being appointed to the District Court bench in 1999, Judge Jordán has presided over nearly 200 trials on a wide range of civil and criminal matters. In addition, he has frequently sat by designation on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
He deserves it. A true example of what a judge should be.
ReplyDeleteTruly deserving! He will be missed here. Some day, he will be a Supreme Court Justice. He has a brilliant legal mind.
ReplyDeleteJohn B. Thompson, J.D.
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August 4, 2011
The Honorable Patrick J. Leahy, Chairman Via Fax to 202-224-3479
United States Senate Judiciary Committee
The Honorable Chuck Grassley, Ranking Member Via Fax to 202-224-6020
United States Senate Judiciary Committee
Washington, D.C.
Re: Presidential Nomination of Judge Adalberto J. Jordan to the Eleventh Circuit
Dear Senators Leahy and Grassley:
I strenuously object to, and request the opportunity to testify against, the nomination of US District Court Judge Adalberto J. Jordan to sit on the US Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. There are others who stand ready, willing, and able to do so as well.
I practiced law for thirty-two years in South Florida, and near the end of that career I had the misfortune of appearing before Judge Jordan in a civil rights action I filed against The Florida Bar. He was arbitrary, he was disrespectful, and, far more disturbingly, he did not follow the law.
For example, in that civil rights case, Judge Jordan knowingly misrepresented, and wildly so, the holding in an obscure Alaska case upon which to base a bizarre order, which he then had to vacate when he was caught misrepresenting that case.
Subsequently, when both of the respective Chief Judges of the US District Courts for the Southern and Northern Districts of Florida ruled, as a matter of law, that no dues-paying Florida Bar member could preside in a case against The Florida Bar, such as mine, Judge Jordan refused to recuse himself from my case. He did this despite the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeal’s acceptance and endorsement of those two Chief Judge’s disqualification orders and the Eleventh Circuit’s appointment of judges from another state to preside over those Florida Bar cases. ...