James A. Beaty Jr.
James A. Beaty Jr. | |
---|---|
Senior Judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina | |
In office June 30, 2014 – January 31, 2018 | |
Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina | |
In office 2006–2012 | |
Preceded by | Norwood Carlton Tilley Jr. |
Succeeded by | William Lindsay Osteen Jr. |
Judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina | |
In office October 11, 1994 – June 30, 2014 | |
Appointed by | Bill Clinton |
Preceded by | Richard Erwin |
Succeeded by | Loretta Copeland Biggs |
Personal details | |
Born | James Arthur Beaty Jr.[1] June 28, 1949 Whitmire, South Carolina |
Education | Western Carolina University (BA) University of North Carolina School of Law (JD) |
James Arthur Beaty Jr. (born June 28, 1949) is a former United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, and a former nominee to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
Early life, education, and career
Beaty was born in Whitmire, South Carolina. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Western Carolina University in 1971 and a Juris Doctor from the University of North Carolina School of Law in 1974. He entered private practice in Winston-Salem, North Carolina in 1974, and in 1981 he became a judge of the Superior Court of Forsyth County, North Carolina, a position he held until 1994.
Federal judicial service
On August 25, 1994, President
Nomination to the Fourth Circuit
On December 24, 1995, President Clinton nominated Beaty to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit to fill the vacancy created by the decision by Judge James Dickson Phillips Jr. to take senior status.[4] Almost immediately, Beaty's nomination ran into opposition from North Carolina Senator Jesse Helms, who was angry that Clinton after taking office had refused to renominate Helms' preferred candidate, Terrence Boyle. President George H. W. Bush had nominated Boyle to a Fourth Circuit seat in 1991, but the Senate never acted on the nomination, and the nomination lapsed with the end of Bush's presidency.
The
As a result of Helms' opposition, Beaty's nomination again did not receive a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee during 1997 or 1998. Clinton elected not to renominate Beaty to the Fourth Circuit in 1999. Ultimately, Beaty's nomination languished for more than 1,000 days, making it one of the longest appeals-court nominations in U.S. history never to be acted on by the
Continued controversy over the Fourth Circuit's North Carolina seat
The Fourth Circuit seat to which Beaty was nominated remained vacant until August 10, 2010, following the confirmation of James Andrew Wynn On August 5, 1999, President Bill Clinton nominated Wynn, an African American judge on the North Carolina Court of Appeals, to replace Beaty as his nominee for the open North Carolina seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Wynn's nomination also never received a hearing from the Senate Judiciary Committee or received a full vote from the Senate due to the resistance of Jesse Helms, who used his previous claim that the court did not need any more judges as his justification.[8][9]
Clinton renominated Wynn to the Fourth Circuit on January 3, 2001, but his nomination was returned by President Bush on March 20, 2001, along with 61 other executive and judicial nominations that Clinton had made.[10]
Twice, President George W. Bush tried to fill the North Carolina seat. Terrence Boyle was nominated by Bush on May 9, 2001, but his nomination was never brought to a vote on the floor of the Senate. His five-year nomination was the longest-pending of the Bush administration. Boyle had been originally nominated to the Fourth Circuit in 1991 by Bush's father, President George H. W. Bush.
Boyle's nomination was adamantly opposed by
On January 9, 2007, the White House announced that it would not be re-nominating Boyle to the Court of Appeals.[11] Boyle has clearly stated he did not withdraw his nomination.[12]
On July 17, 2007, Bush nominated
On November 4, 2009, President Barack Obama renominated Wynn for the seat on the Fourth Circuit to which he had previously been nominated. His nomination was confirmed by the full Senate on August 5, 2010, by unanimous consent.
See also
- Bill Clinton judicial appointment controversies
- List of African-American federal judges
- List of African-American jurists
References
- ^ Confirmation hearings on federal appointments: hearings before the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, One Hundred Third Congress, first session on confirmations of appointees to the federal judiciary.
- ^ "USDC/NCMD Winston-Salem Page". Archived from the original on 2007-06-13. Retrieved 2008-05-23.
- ^ "Judge Beaty retires from federal court - WS Chronicle". 1 February 2018.
- ^ "Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 36". Govinfo. U.S. Government. p. S2528. Retrieved 16 October 2021.
- ^ "Unpacking the Court". Washington Post. 13 June 1998. Retrieved 16 October 2021.
- The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer(January 5, 2000).
- ^ Senator Feinstein Declares Opposition to “Nuclear Option”, (May 10, 2005).
- The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer(May 8, 2001).
- ^ President Clinton Appoints Roger Gregory to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit Archived 2001-02-28 at the Wayback Machine, (December 27, 2000).
- ^ Associated Press, Bush Dumps Clinton Nominees, CBS News (March 20, 2001).
- ^ "NY Times". The New York Times.
- ^ www.newsobserver.com.
- ^ "News and Observer".
- ^ Nominations Sent to the Senate, The White House - Office of the Press Secretary (July 17, 2007).
- ^ http://www.charlotte.com/local/story/201332.html[permanent dead link]
External links
- James A. Beaty Jr. at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
- U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina Archived 2007-06-13 at the Wayback Machine