President Barack Obama nominated Caitlin Halligan ’88 for a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on Sept. 29. Halligan is currently general counsel for the Manhattan district attorney's office.
The D.C. circuit is considered the second most powerful court in the United States, though it has the smallest geographical jurisdiction of any federal appeals court. Four of the nine justices on the current Supreme Court — Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Antonin Scalia, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Clarence Thomas — previously served on the D.C. circuit court.
Provost Christopher Eisgruber ’83, a judicial scholar, said that the D.C. circuit rules on many cases that never make it to the Supreme Court because it is located in the nation's capital.
"The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is especially prominent with regard to regulatory issues, since many cases involving federal agencies get filed in Washington," he explained.
Halligan, who is 43, has been an adjunct faculty member at Columbia Law School since 2005, where she teaches a seminar on federalism and constitutional law. She served as solicitor general of New York from 2001 to 2006, arguing three different cases before the U.S. Supreme Court during that period.
In 2007, Halligan became a partner at Weil, Gotshal & Manges in New York, where she led the firm's appellate practice until taking her current position at the district attorney's office last January. From 2007 to 2009, she also acted as a pro bono counsel to the board of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, which is rebuilding the Lower Manhattan area following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Politics professor Jonathan Kastellec said that although Halligan's legal career has been impressive, time is her largest obstacle. He noted that Obama's previous judiciary nominees have taken unusually long to be approved by the Senate, which adjourned last Friday to focus on campaigns for the midterm elections in November.
"Given the current rate, her chances of being confirmed by this Congress are probably close to zero," Kastellec said.
There are currently 22 other federal judiciary nominees awaiting Senate approval. The D.C. circuit has two openings, and Halligan is Obama's first nominee to the court. The Senate will reconvene for a short session in November before adjourning for the year.
"The Congress will expire at the end of the year," Kastellec explained. "Obama will have to renominate her if she is not approved by then. My sense is that he might just be laying the groundwork."
Kastellec added that if Halligan is renominated, her chances of being approved by the next Congress would be higher, but not guaranteed.
Halligan graduated cum laude from Princeton with a bachelor's degree in history, authoring a thesis titled "Origin and Development of Labor Radicalism in Pullman, Illinois, 1881–1894," and went on to receive her law degree with high honors from Georgetown.
Halligan declined to comment for this story.
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