As we've mentioned, Judge Stark has been nominated to the Federal Circuit. He had his nomination hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week. The full video is available on the Judiciary Committee web site: Link to Video.
In the video, Judge Stark's introduction by Delaware Senators Carper and Coons starts at 49:27, and Judge Stark himself appears at 1:04:42. The introductions are about 7 minutes long, and the questions run for about 30 minutes.
Some highlights about Judge Stark, mostly from the introductions:
- 14 years on the bench
- 6000 civil and criminal cases
- 2400 patent cases
- 93 trials (63 patent trials)
- 2100 written opinions
- Only 2% of his opinions reversed or affirmed with criticism
As someone who has seen Judge Stark speak many times (and preside over many hearings and trials), it was interesting to see him display his usual calm judicial temperament when asked questions relating to issues like the first amendment and gun rights. I'm no expert, but it's hard to imagine that he will have any issues getting through the confirmation process.
The highlight of the hearing for some District of Delaware litigators may be this short exchange with Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, which starts at 1:08:35:
Judge Stark: . . . if there is ambiguity, I then look to binding precedent from the Supreme Court and from the Court of Appeals, and if that still does not answer the question, . . . then I will turn to other canons of statutory construction, and that could include consideration of legislative history . . .
Senator Durbin: And occasionally a reference to a recording artist?
Judge Stark: [laughing] . . . I'm not sure that I've made any reference to recording artists in any of my writings. At least, my writings as a judge.
I expect that, sadly, our District of Delaware Federal Bar Association events may feature far fewer Taylor Swift references once Judge Stark is appointed to the Federal Circuit!
Correction: A prior version of this post noted that Judge Stark had sat by designation on the Federal or Third Circuit Courts of Appeal a total of 54 times, which is what Senator Coons mentioned. I later removed it because I suspected it might have been a slight misstatement. I've since heard that the correct number is four times on a total of 54 cases—still impressive!
If you enjoyed this post, consider subscribing to receive free e-mail updates about new posts.
