Andrew Kleinfeld

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Andrew Jay Kleinfeld



Incumbent
Assumed office 
September 16, 1991
Nominated by George H. W. Bush
Preceded by Alfred Goodwin
Succeeded by Incumbent

Born June 12, 1945
New York, NY
Spouse(s) Judith Kleinfeld

Andrew Jay Kleinfeld (born June 12, 1945 in New York City) is a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, stationed in Fairbanks, Alaska.

He is married to Professor Judith Kleinfeld.

Contents

[edit] Education and professional career

Kleinfeld attended Wesleyan University (B.A. 1966) and Harvard Law School (J.D., 1969). After law school, he clerked for two years for Justice Jay Rabinowitz of the Supreme Court of Alaska. He was then in private practice in Fairbanks until his elevation to the bench.

[edit] Federal judicial service

After completing his clerkship, Kleinfeld served for three years as a Magistrate in the United States District Court for the District of Alaska.

He was nominated for a full judgeship by president Ronald Reagan on March 26, 1986, confirmed by the United States Senate on May 14, 1986, and received commission on May 15, 1986.

On May 23, 1991, president George H.W. Bush nominated Kleinfeld to a seat on the Ninth Circuit, vacated by Alfred T. Goodwin. He was confirmed by the Senate on September 12, 1991, and received commission on September 16, 1991.

[edit] Judicial philosophy

Kleinfeld is generally considered a conservative judge, in contrast to the more liberal Ninth Circuit he serves in. He was the author of an unanimous panel decision that upheld the constitutionality of Proposition 209, an amendment to the California constitution that bans affirmative action in public institutions.[1]

[edit] Involvement in Wal-Mart discrimination case

In 2007, a Ninth Circuit panel affirmed the class action certification in Dukes v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., a lawsuit initiated by female employers of Wal-Mart against the company for gender discrimination. Kleinfeld wrote a sharply worded dissent, saying "this case poses a considerable risk of enriching undeserving class members and counsel, but depriving thousands of women actually injured by sex discrimination of their just due."[2]

[edit] Free speech

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Kleinfeld was the author of the unanimous panel decision of Morse v. Frederick, holding that a student who put up a banner supposedly supporting drug legalization was exercising his freedom of speech protected by the First Amendment, and the school principal acted unconstitutionally in suspending him. The school board appealed the decision to the Supreme Court, and the Supreme Court will hear it in March 19, 2007.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

This article incorporates facts obtained from the public domain Biographical Directory of Federal Judges compiled by the Federal Judicial Center.