Scott Matheson Jr.

Scott Milne Matheson Jr.
Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
Assumed office
December 27, 2010
Appointed by Barack Obama
Preceded by Michael W. McConnell
Personal details
Born Scott Milne Matheson III[1]
(1953-07-15) July 15, 1953[2]
Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.
Political party Democratic
Education Stanford University (B.A.)
Magdalen College, Oxford (M.A.)
Yale Law School (J.D.)

Scott Milne Matheson Jr. (born Scott Milne Matheson III; July 15, 1953) is a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.[3] He has served on that court since 2010.

A native of Salt Lake City, Matheson graduated from Stanford University, attended Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, and received his law degree from the Yale Law School. After working in private practice for several years, Matheson became a law professor at the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law, where he served as dean from 1998 to 2006. Matheson was the United States Attorney for the District of Utah from 1993 to 1997.

Early life and education

Matheson was born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah. His father, Scott M. Matheson, served as governor of Utah from 1977 to 1985,[4] and his brother, Jim Matheson, served as a United States Representative from Utah from 2001 to 2015.

Matheson earned an Artium Baccalaureus degree from Stanford University in 1975, where he won the Anna Laura Meyers Prize for an outstanding undergraduate economics thesis,[1] a Master of Arts degree in modern history from Magdalen College, Oxford as a Rhodes scholar,[5] and a Juris Doctor from Yale Law School in 1980, where he served as a Note Editor for the Yale Law Journal.[5][6]

Professional career

After graduating from law school, Matheson worked as an associate attorney at the litigation firm Williams & Connolly in Washington, DC from 1981 to 1985.[1]

In 1985, Matheson joined the faculty of the S.J. Quinney College of Law at the University of Utah. There, Matheson primarily taught constitutional law, criminal law, and civil procedure.[1] Matheson was also extensively involved in law administration and law reform efforts, serving as a vice-chair of the Utah Constitutional Revision Committee, a chair of the Utah Supreme Court Advisory Committee on the Rules of Evidence, and a member of the Utah State Bar Commission. Matheson was also involved in efforts to expand legal aid in Utah, establishing a Pro Bono Initiative at the S.J. Quinney College of Law and serving on the Board of Trustees of the Legal Aid Society of Salt Lake.[1]

During his time as a law professor, Matheson contributed to various other institutions during leaves of absence. From 1988 to 1989, Matheson served as the Deputy County Attorney for Salt Lake County.[5] From 1989 to 1990, Matheson was a visiting professor in the Frank Stanton Chair on the First Amendment at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.[1] From 1993 to 1997, Matheson was the United States Attorney for the District of Utah.[5]

Matheson served as dean of the S.J. Quinney School of Law from 1998 to 2006.[5] After concluding his deanship, Matheson spent his one-year sabbatical as a Public Policy Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC.[5]

From 2007 to 2008, Matheson chaired the Utah Mine Safety Commission, which was formed in response to the Crandall Canyon Mine disaster and charged with improving mine safety and disaster response in the state.[1]

Matheson was also the unsuccessful Democratic candidate for Governor of Utah in 2004, losing to Republican Jon Huntsman Jr. with 41.4% of the vote.

Matheson is the author of the book Presidential Constitutionalism in Perilous Times (2009) and numerous law review articles.[7][6]

Federal judicial service

On March 3, 2010, President Barack Obama nominated Matheson to the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit to replace Michael W. McConnell, who resigned in August 2009 to return to academia.[5] Matheson's nomination was unanimously approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee.[8]

However, sources such as the Fox News Channel and conservative magazine The Weekly Standard alleged that Obama hoped to influence Matheson's brother, Representative Jim Matheson, to vote for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. According to The Salt Lake Tribune, "Rep. Jim Matheson called the claim simply absurd, as did the White House, Senator Orrin Hatch and pretty much everyone who knows the Mathesons."[9]

Hatch, an establishment conservative Republican from Utah, supported Matheson and helped shepherd the nomination through the Senate.[9] On December 22, 2010, the U.S. Senate confirmed the nomination. Matheson received his judicial commission on December 27, 2010.[6]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "United States Senate Judiciary Committee Questionnaire for Judicial Nominees" (PDF). www.judiciary.senate.gov. United States Senate Judiciary Committee. 2010.
  2. ↑ "Utah Politics: Scott Matheson Jr., Democrat". Deseret News. May 7, 1989. p. B2.
  3. ↑ Warchol, Glen (August 26, 2007). "Quinney College Professor, Former U.S. Attorney Scott Matheson Jr. to Lead Mine Disaster Investigation". Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved January 15, 2018.
  4. ↑ McCormick, John (1994), "Matheson, Scott M.", in Powell, Allan Kent, Utah History Encyclopedia, Salt Lake City, Utah: University of Utah Press, ISBN 0874804256, OCLC 30473917, archived from the original on January 9, 2013
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 President Obama Nominates Scott M. Matheson Jr. to the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, obamawhitehouse.archives.gov (March 3, 2010).
  6. 1 2 3 "Matheson, Scott Milne, Jr. - Federal Judicial Center". www.fjc.gov.
  7. ↑ ."Presidential Constitutionalism in Perilous Times". Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Archived from the original on June 5, 2011. Retrieved May 24, 2009.
  8. ↑ Burr, Thomas (June 10, 2010), "Matheson's court quest clears panel, awaits Hatch's help", The Salt Lake Tribune, retrieved July 11, 2017
  9. 1 2 Burr, Thomas; Canham, Matt (March 5, 2010), "Matheson quid pro quo rumor runs wild", The Salt Lake Tribune, archived from the original on March 7, 2010, retrieved March 6, 2010
Party political offices
Preceded by
Bill Orton		 Democratic nominee for Governor of Utah
2004		 Succeeded by
Bob Springmeyer
Legal offices
Preceded by
Michael W. McConnell		 Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
2010–present		 Incumbent
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