hardiman, thomas hon
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font><div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1rem; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Besides Gorsuch, Trump last year <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/06/us/politics/neil-gorsuch-trump-supreme-court-nominee.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit;">reportedly</a> interviewed 3rd Circuit Judge Thomas <b>Hardiman</b>, 6th Circuit Judge <b>Amul Thapar</b> (Thapar at the time was a federal district judge; he later became Trump's first lower-court nominee), and 11th Circuit Judge <b>William Pryor Jr</b>.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1rem; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Other judges considered frontrunners include DC Circuit Judge Brett <b>Kavanaugh</b>, a Kennedy clerk and a veteran of the George W. Bush administration; 6th Circuit Judge Raymond Kethledge, also a Kennedy clerk; and 7th Circuit Judge Amy Coney Barrett, a former law professor who was nominated and confirmed last year to the appeals court.</font></p></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font><div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; font-family: Georgia, Times, sans-serif; font-size: 19px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Trump announced Monday morning that he had settled on a nominee for the vacant seat on the Supreme Court — and one formerly dark-horse candidate has emerged as the judge with quite possibly the inside track to score the nod.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; font-family: Georgia, Times, sans-serif; font-size: 19px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Thomas Hardiman, a 51-year-old judge who sits on the 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals, has caught the attention of observers to fill the void left by the late Justice Antonin Scalia for several reasons.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; font-family: Georgia, Times, sans-serif; font-size: 19px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">With Democrats threatening to block Trump's Supreme Court pick, it's noteworthy that Hardiman was voted onto the appeals court in 2007 by a 95-0 tally. Both Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, voted to approve him.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; font-family: Georgia, Times, sans-serif; font-size: 19px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>Hardiman also has the backing of Trump's closest judicial source: his sister.</b></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; font-family: Georgia, Times, sans-serif; font-size: 19px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Maryanne Trump Barry, a fellow 3rd Circuit judge, holds a high opinion of Hardiman. As an adviser who spoke with the president <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/trump-supreme-court-pick-234202" target="blank" style="color: rgb(25, 109, 141); text-decoration: none;">told Politico</a>, "Maryanne is high on Hardiman."</span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; font-family: Georgia, Times, sans-serif; font-size: 19px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">And those who know the conservative judge say there's another trait that could be attractive to Trump.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; font-family: Georgia, Times, sans-serif; font-size: 19px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">"I don't know that I can think of anybody that seemed as down-to-earth as he is," Carter Phillips, a Washington, DC, lawyer who has argued before the Supreme Court more than any other attorney in private practice, told Business Insider.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; font-family: Georgia, Times, sans-serif; font-size: 19px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Phillips said he has argued a pair of cases in front of Hardiman, been a part of a few panels with the Pittsburgh-based judge, and had a handful of Hardiman's former clerks work at his law firm, <b>Sidley Austin.</b></p></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">PPG bs?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></div><div><p style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 0px; letter-spacing: -0.01em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">hose who have followed Judge Hardiman’s career are not surprised by the president’s interest in him, describing him as principled, well-prepared and with a demeanor and temperament that are excellent.</font></p><p style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 0px; letter-spacing: -0.01em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“He has been regarded as an up-and-coming judge,” said Rob Byer, who has argued before Judge Hardiman on the 3rd Circuit three times.</font></p><p style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 0px; letter-spacing: -0.01em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 2003, at age 37, Judge Hardiman was nominated by President George W. Bush to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. Just four years later, he was elevated to the Circuit Court, which handles cases from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and the Virgin Islands.</font></p><p style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 0px; letter-spacing: -0.01em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Former U.S. District Judge Robert Cindrich hired Judge Hardiman to join his law firm as a young lawyer new to Pittsburgh and witnessed his ascension to the federal bench.</font></p><p style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 0px; letter-spacing: -0.01em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“He was a superb District Court judge. He has people skills,” Mr. Cindrich said. “Everybody was treated fairly, with respect.”</font></p><p style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 0px; letter-spacing: -0.01em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A Notre Dame graduate who attended Georgetown University for law school, Judge Hardiman’s confirmation would diversify the academic makeup of the court, which has been criticized as being a cloistered group of out-of-touch Ivy Leaguers.</font></p><p style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 0px; letter-spacing: -0.01em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He’s a practicing judge, not an academic, like Justice Scalia, who taught at the University of Virginia and University of Chicago law schools before becoming a judge on the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in 1982 and a Supreme Court justice in 1986.</font></p><p style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 0px; letter-spacing: -0.01em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Justice Scalia had been thinking in an academic way about some of the larger issues raised by cases,” said Arthur Hellman, a professor of law at the University of Pittsburgh. “Judge Hardiman has been a lawyer and a judge, so that gives him an entirely different perspective. He hasn’t been looking at the big picture: ‘What would I do if I were interpreting constitutional law?’ ”</font></p><p style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 0px; letter-spacing: -0.01em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He’s more moderate than some of the other judges Mr. Trump had considered.</font></p><p style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 0px; letter-spacing: -0.01em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“He’s conservative, but not wildly so. That makes him confirmable,” Mr. Hellman said. “I’m confident Judge Hardiman would be wonderful at the confirmation hearing. It would be very, very difficult for senators to vote against him.”</font></p><p style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 0px; letter-spacing: -0.01em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">University of Richmond law professor Carl Tobias, who tracks court vacancies, said Judge Hardiman hasn’t heard enough high-profile cases for opponents to build strong arguments against him.</font></p><div class="inform-embed ndn_embed ndn_embedContainer ndn-widget-embed-1 ndn_widget_VideoPlayer-Single ndn_embedded" data-config-id="2" data-type="VideoPlayer/Single" data-tracking-group="90295" data-playlist-id="13434" data-video-id="31892619" data-site-section="ppgazette" id="ndn-widget-embed-1" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); width: 675px; height: 379.688px;"><div class="ndn_floatContainer ndn_floatContainer_disabled" style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; border: 0px; border-radius: 0px; position: relative; width: 675px; height: 379.688px; top: auto; right: auto; bottom: 0px; left: 0px;"><div class="ndn_playerContainer ndn_floatContainer_contents inform-viewer-container" id="inform-viewer-container-0" style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; border: 0px; border-radius: 0px; position: static; width: 675px; height: 379.688px;"><div class="inform-viewer-module-inform inform-viewer-module ndn_videoPlayer ndn_videoPlayer_largeView ndn_videoPlayer_view1198 ndn_videoPlayer_view1022 ndn_videoPlayer_view999 ndn_videoPlayer_view849 ndn_videoPlayer_view784 ndn_videoPlayer_view766 ndn_videoPlayer_view702 inform-viewer-module-active" style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; border: 0px; border-radius: 0px; position: absolute; width: 675px; height: 379.688px; top: 0px; z-index: 1001; overflow: hidden;"><div class="ndn_infoOverlayContainer ndn_playerOverlay" style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; border: 0px; border-radius: 0px; position: absolute; top: 0px; z-index: 21; width: 675px;"><div class="ndn_videoInfo" style="padding: 12px 85px 55px 12px; margin: 0px; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; border: 0px; border-radius: 0px; position: relative; z-index: 200;">
</div></div><div class="ndn_startOverlayContainer ndn_playerOverlay" style="position: absolute; top: 0px; left: 0px; z-index: 20; width: 675px; height: 379.688px; background: none; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; border: 0px; border-radius: 0px;"><div class="backstretch" style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; border: 0px; border-radius: 0px; left: 0px; top: 0px; overflow: hidden; height: 380px; width: 675px; z-index: -999998; position: absolute;">img</div></div><div id="inform-player-container-1" style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; border: 0px; border-radius: 0px; width: 675px; height: 379.688px;"><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" em="em">
</span></div><div id="inform-player-container-1" style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; border: 0px; border-radius: 0px; width: 675px; height: 379.688px;"><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" em="em">Among his cases that have garnered attention, Judge Hardiman upheld a jail’s right to conduct strip searches, even for suspects detained for traffic offenses, and he wrote a dissent in 2013 arguing against a majority opinion that reversed a school’s ban on bracelets for breast-cancer awareness that said, “I [heart] boobies.”</span></div></div></div></div></div><p style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 0px; letter-spacing: -0.01em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“In our cases, he’s tended to be deferential to the government,” said Witold Walczak, legal director for the ACLU of Pennsylvania.</font></p><p style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 0px; letter-spacing: -0.01em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mr. Byer, who also has participated in panel events with Judge Hardiman, said the judge does not monopolize an argument but asks good, perceptive questions.</font></p><p style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 0px; letter-spacing: -0.01em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“He’s not afraid to disagree with his colleagues,” he said.</font></p><p style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 0px; letter-spacing: -0.01em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But at the same time, added Howard Bashman, another appellate attorney who argued the NFL concussion settlement issue before him, Judge Hardiman is easy to get along with and willing to build consensus.</font></p><p style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 0px; letter-spacing: -0.01em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“That’s important at the Supreme Court.”</font></p><p style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 0px; letter-spacing: -0.01em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mr. Bashman praised Judge Hardiman’s opinion writing but said he suspects that Judge Gorsuch, whose mother was director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under President Ronald Reagan, is the more likely nominee.</font></p><p style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 0px; letter-spacing: -0.01em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Judge Hardiman has been known to attract the highest-quality law clerks — a sign of his reputation as a jurist, Mr. Byer said.</font></p><p style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-top: 0px; letter-spacing: -0.01em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Richard Heppner Jr., who went to Harvard Law, served as one of four law clerks for Judge Hardiman in 2010. The one-year appointment, he said, was a great experience....</font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div></div></div>