Джон Мерсер Уолкер: Американ судьясының өмірбаяны мен қызметі

American judge (born 1940)

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. 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.

Walker was born in New York City. 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.

Walker served in the Marine Corps Reserves from 1963 until 1968. 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. 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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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. 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."

Walker has worked across Central and Eastern Europe to promote the development of judicial institutions in individual countries and to foster collaboration among judiciaries across the region and the United States. In 2011, he was instrumental in organizing the first Conference of the Chief Justices of Central and Eastern Europe, hosted by the CEELI Institute in Prague, which was attended by the chief justices, presidents and high officers of the supreme courts that region of the world. Chief Justice of the United States John G. Roberts, Jr. delivered the opening remarks and participated in the first conference. The Conference, now an ongoing institution that meets annually in a different member country, provides a unique forum for the heads of judiciaries of 24 former communist countries to share their experiences, discuss problems and offer solutions, while developing ongoing personal relationships. The Chief Justices Conference arose out of CEELI's Judicial Integrity Round Tables. In 2006, while on a trip to Hungary, Walker saw a need for closer communication among the chief justices of Central and Eastern European countries. He then led the roundtable discussions on judicial integrity among the heads of the Supreme Court in the region at the CEELI Institute in Prague in 2007 and 2010. He worked with Kondi's successor, Chief Justice Shpresa Beçaj, to host the second Chief Justices Conference in Tirana in 2012. President Moisiu awarded Judge Walker the "Medal of Special Merit" for his work in Albania. Elsewhere in Eastern Europe, Walker has discussed law reform issues with leaders in various countries where he has also given remarks and met with law school faculty and students, bar associations and judges. In 2008 he helped organize a conference on rule of law and law school accreditation in Georgia where he discussed rule of law issues with President Mikheil Saakashvili, having worked on law reform the previous year with Chief Justice of the Georgian Supreme Court Konstantin Kublashvili.

Since 1986, Walker has been active in rule of law programs and exchanges with China. He has participated in exchanges with Chinese judges in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenyang, Xiamen and Haikou. He has lectured or spoken on U. S. law and rule of law topics in Beijing at the National Judges College, National Prosecutors College, Peking University, Renmin University, China University of Political Science and Law, and Beijing Normal University; in Shanghai at Fudan University, East China University of Political Science and Law and at the joint China program of Zhejiang University Guanghua Law School and Thomas Jefferson Law School in Hangzhou. He has conferred on issues of legal reform with Chinese officials including President of the Supreme People's Court (SPC) Xiao Yang, SPC vice president Wan Exiang, Procurator General of the Supreme People's Procuratorate Cao Jianming, vice chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Huang Mengfu, and Director of the State Council Information Office Wang Chen. In 2002, he helped arrange with U. S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor a judicial delegation to meet in Beijing with the Supreme People's Court to discuss problems of local protectionism by courts and accompanied Justice O'Connor to a meeting with President of China Jiang Zemin in Zhongnanhai. In 2009, working with China law expert professor Jerome Cohen and other American scholars and judges, Walker led the American delegation at the inaugural Sino American Dialogue on the Rule of Law and Human Rights, a Track II dialogue co sponsored by the National Committee on U. S. China Relations and the China Foundation for Human Rights Development, in Nantong and thereafter in other venues. More recently, working with experts at Yale and Stanford and with the Supreme People's Court, he has participated in workshops in China and submitted papers to support a system of precedent in China, known as the "Guiding Cases System," under the auspices of the Supreme People's Court. Elsewhere in Asia, Walker participated in rule of law programs in 2010 in Thailand and in 2012 in South Korea where he met with the Chief Justices of the Supreme Court and Constitutional Court and with judges and law students and faculty.

Walker spoke at "Arab Judicial Forum 2003: Judicial Systems in the 21st Century," a conference on judicial reform in the Middle East that was held in Bahrain in 2003 and attended by 17 countries, and the "Regional Forum on the Role of Civil Society in Promoting the Rule of Law in the Arab Region" held in Jordan in 2008. He has also been engaged with training programs for Iraqi officials and judges held in Iraq, Jordan and Bahrain. He has conferred with the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Iraq, Medhat al Mahmoud, on issues relating to the rule of law and human rights.

On the evening of October 17, 2006, while driving home, Walker's Ford Escape automobile struck a police officer, Daniel Picagli, who was directing traffic in a rainstorm at a road construction site for AT&T in New Haven, Connecticut. There were no construction signs or traffic cones marking off the site. Picagli died four days later on October 21, 2006. "He had been wearing a black raincoat and a reflective vest". Police Chief Francisco Ortiz said the "officers did not feel it was necessary to test Walker for drugs or alcohol". A police investigation reported that Walker "was traveling at a slow speed through the dark and rainy construction site." The prosecutor declined to press charges, saying nothing indicated "intentional, negligent or reckless conduct" by Walker.

John M. Walker Jr., Qihu v. Tencent, the Chinese Supreme People's Court Offers Antitrust Insight for the Digital Age. Commentary on Guiding Case No. 78 for China Guiding Cases Project, Stanford Law School, https://cgc. law. stanford. edu/, posted in Chinese to assist Chinese judges and lawyers on technology related antitrust principles (2017). John M. Walker Jr., The Role of Precedent in the United States, China Guiding Cases Project, Stanford Law School, https://cgc. law. stanford. edu/commentaries.15 John Walker, posted in Chinese to assist training of Chinese judges and lawyers on use of precedent (2016). John M. Walker Jr., Advancing the Rule of Law Abroad, 43 Int'l Law 61 (2009). John M. Walker Jr., Politics and the Confirmation Process: Thoughts on the Roberts and Alito Hearings, in Bench Press: The Collision of Courts, Politics, and the Media (Keith J. Bybee ed. 2007)
John M. Walker Jr., Politics and the Confirmation Process: The Importance of Congressional Restraint in Safeguarding Judicial Independence, 55 Syracuse L. Rev. 1 (2004). John M. Walker Jr., An Outline of American Criminal Procedure, Investigation, Trial and Judicial Review, Lecture delivered at the Chinese University of Politics and Law, Beijing, China (September 2002). John M. Walker Jr., A Liberty of Restraint, Remarks at the Law Day Dinner, May 1, 2002, 76 St. John's L. Rev. 595 (2002). John M. Walker Jr., Judicial Tendencies in Statutory Interpretation, 58 N. Y. U. Ann. Surv. Am. L. 203 (2001). John M. Walker Jr., Foreword, Second Circuit Survey, 21 Quinnipiac L. Rev. 1 (Summer 2001). Andreas F. Lowenfeld, Lawrence W. Newman, John M. Walker Jr., Revolutionary Days: The Iran Hostage Crisis and the Hague Claims Tribunal, A Look Back, Juris Publishing, Inc. (1999). John M. Walker Jr., Comments on Professionalism, 2 J. Inst. for Study Legal Ethics 111 (1999). John M. Walker Jr., Harmless Error Review in the Second Circuit, 63 Brook. L. Rev. 395 (1997). John M. Walker Jr., Domestic Adjudication of International Human Rights Violations Under the Alien Tort Statute, 41 St. Louis U. L. J. 539 (1997). Sharon E. Grubin and John M. Walker Jr., Report of the Second Circuit Task Force on Gender, Racial, and Ethnic Fairness in the Courts, N. Y. U. Ann. Surv. Am. L. 9 (1997). John M. Walker Jr., Current Threats to Judicial Independence and Appropriate Responses: A Presentation to the American Bar Association, 12 St. John's J. Legal Comment (Fall 1996). John M. Walker Jr., Protectable "Nuggets": Drawing the Line Between Idea and Expression in Computer Program Copyright Protection, 44 J. of the Copyright Soc'y of the USA Vol. 44, No. 2 (Winter 1996). John M. Walker Jr., Is the Commission Fulfilling its Mandate? : A Review of the Sentencing Commission's 1994 Annual Report, 8 Federal Sentencing Reporter, Number 2 (September/October, 1995). John M. Walker Jr., The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974: An Overview of ERISA Preemption, 17 Am. J. Trial Advoc. 529 (Fall 1993). John M. Walker Jr., The Second Circuit Review 1991 1992 Term Loosening the Administrative Handcuffs: Discretion and Responsibility Under the Sentencing Guidelines, 59 Brook. L. Rev. 551 (1993). John M. Walker Jr., Common Law Rules and Land Use Regulations: Lucas and Future Takings Jurisprudence, 3 Seton Hall Const. L. J. 3 (Spring 1993). John M. Walker Jr., Jessica D. Litman, Susan G. Braden, Anthony L. Clapes, Henry B. Gutman, Rochelle Coper Dreyfuss, and Marci A. Hamilton Copyright Protection: Has Look & Feel Crashed?, 11 Cardozo Arts & Ent. L. J. 721 (1992). John M. Walker Jr., U. S. v. Sells: Engineering a Result to Promote Grand Jury Secrecy, 21 Am. Crim. L. Rev. 99 (1983).