Appeals Judge Illustrates 9th Circuit Perceptions With Hippies and Warriors
A federal judge has summed up perceptions of the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in pictures.
The 9th Circuit has been criticized for liberal rulings and a high reversal rate that reached 90 percent in the last U.S. Supreme Court session.
Speaking at a conference of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge Jay Bybee showed a slide of horse-riding warriors wielding swords, the National Law Journal reports. “This is how we appear to the Supreme Court,” he said.
Then Bybee showed 1960s hippies sprawled across a bus painted in psychedelic colors. “This is how other circuits see us,” he said.
“And this is how other circuits look to us,” he said, as he displayed a 1950s-era picture of Boy Scouts marching with American flags.
Bybee has had his own image problems. He formerly headed the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel where he signed a controversial memo authorizing harsh interrogation techniques. Law students protested an appearance by Bybee last February by putting trash bags over their heads that were intended to resemble hoods put on military prisoners.
