By Clerquette
The other day, Clerquette put out the call for scrumptious tidbits of news and gossip ... and you, dear readers, delivered with a delightful amuse-bouche of juicy inside scoop.
Thanks to the Article III Groupies among us whose starry eyes are fixed upon the [undeniably glamorous] Third Circuit, Clerquette is informed and believes that the District of New Jersey's very own Judge Joseph Greenaway will be nominated to fill the seat vacated by former - now Justice - Judge Samuel Alito.
Judge Greenaway was born (in London - how quaint!) in 1957, and graduated from Columbia University ('78) and Harvard Law School ('81). Then-Citizen Greenaway began his legal career in style, clerking for Judge Vincent Lyons Broderick in the estimable Southern District of New York. After a post-clerkship layover at Kramer, Levin, Nessin, Kamin, & Frankel, his "interest in public service beckoned" (according to one bio), and he trod the well worn path from BigLaw to the United States Attorney's Office. Judge Greenaway did God's work as an Assistant United States Attorney in Newark, New Jersey for five years before he was lured away by Johnson & Johnson, where he tended to the needs of Big Pharma as in-house counsel. His apotheosis came in 1996, when he was appointed to the bench by lovable rouge/President, Bill Clinton.
By all accounts, Judge Greenaway is a popular and even-tempered jurist, who is well-regarded by both government and defense lawyers. But he is, perhaps, best known to his friends and colleagues in the DNJ for his love of golf, which is reported to exert a not-inconsiderable influence over his schedule during the sparkling days of spring, the balmy days of summer, and the crisper days of autumn. A tipster notes, however, that while Judge Greenaway's love of the game is legendary, so is his tendency to rely on the kindness of strangers (and others) for an invitation to the 'dance floor.' Last we heard, Judge Greenaway did not belong to his own club, preferring instead sample the many storied courses that grace the Garden State. Can you blame him? Clerquette is guessing that there is no shortage of partners who are eager for some ex parte greens-time with Judge Joe.
Of course, technically speaking, the seat for which Judge Greenaway is rumored to be under consideration is no more distinguished than the "average" spot on the Court of Appeals (as if!). But, between you and I, Clerquette thinks that a seat vacated by one who has ascended to membership in the Supremes is probably sprinkled with a bit of gold dust in the process. So Clerquette barely fluttered a well-curled eyelash when she heard that Judge Greenaway has also been mentioned as a possible Obama pick for (drumroll please) the Supreme Court. Our tipsters may be dreamers, but they're not the only ones: take judicial notice, readers, of this Wikipedia entry, which lists Judge Greenaway as one of the District Court judges who name has been mentioned as a potential Obama nominee. Chalk it up to luck, plate tectonics, or some other mysterious force, but Clerquette has to wonder if, just maybe, those who move on up to the (North)East side leave a trail of breadcrumbs in their wake...
Of course, a Greenaway nomination might have a neutralizing, er, we mean "balancing" effect on the High Court. Judge Greenaway has identified "sentencing criminal defendants" as the "hardest task (emotionally)" that he faces as a judge, and, according to one tipster (of the more conservative strain), at a recent professional conclave cited Charles Hamilton Houston as his judicial inspiration. Although Houston is regarded as a pivotal, and revered, figure in the fight against icky Jim Crow laws, Judge Greenaway's embrace of the Houston-ism that holds that a "lawyer is either a social engineer or a parasite" apparently left some of the Federalists in the audience reaching for their pocket squares to dab at the alarm-induced sweat on their collective brows.
Clerquette awaits news of Judge Greenaway's future, and wonders whether he will come to rest on the totally fab Third Circuit, or "play through" on his way to the Promised Land.
Email: [email protected]
Comments