Chief Circuit Judge to speak at Syracuse University about the impact of politics on the selection of judges

Chief Circuit Judge to speak at Syracuse University about the impact of politics on the selection of judgesJanuary 22, 2004Nicci Brownnicbrown@syr.edu

Judge John M. Walker, Jr., Chief Circuit Judge on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals will present a lecture on the influence of politics on judicial selection during a visit to Syracuse University College of Law Monday, Jan. 26 at 4:30 p.m. The lecture, titled “Politicalization of Judicial Selection: Distortion Based on Misconceptions of the Role of the Judge,” will take place in Room 200 of MacNaughton Hall. It is free and open to the public.

As chair of the Second Circuit Judicial Council Walker is responsible for the administration of federal courts in Connecticut, New York and Vermont. He served as a district judge for the Southern District of New York for four years before his judicial appointment to the Second Circuit in 1989. He was appointed Chief Circuit Judge in 2000.

A former Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Walker was responsible for Treasury policy in law enforcement, regulatory and trade matters. He also handled the management, funding, and operations of the Treasury’s law enforcement bureaus: the U.S. Customs Service; the U.S. Secret Service; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms; and the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center and Office of Foreign Assets Control.

In addition to being the 2004 “jurist in residence” at Syracuse University College of Law, Walker is an adjunct professor at New York University Law School, a visiting lecturer at Yale Law School and is on the teaching faculty of the Institute of Judicial Administration’s Appellate Judges Seminar. He holds a J.D. from University of Michigan Law School.

Paid visitor parking is offered on a space-available basis in the Irving and University Avenue Garages.