WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump has nominated Pittsburgh corporate and constitutional attorney David Porter to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, triggering what promises to be a rocky road toward confirmation.
Progressive activists scuttled a deal between the state’s U.S. senators to recommend him four years ago to then-President Barack Obama for a district court appointment as part of a package that also included more liberal nominees. Keystone Progress and its affiliate Why Courts Matter Pennsylvania collected 40,000 signatures opposing the nomination, and the deal was dropped.
Kadida Kenner of Why Courts Matter was surprised to learn Monday that Mr. Porter now is being nominated to an even higher court. “He is anti-labor, anti-union, anti-women’s rights, anti-workers’ rights, anti-civil rights and anti-LGBT rights,” she said. “This is going to get messy.”
Grove City College President Paul J. McNulty, Mr. Porter’s longtime friend, former boss and himself a former deputy U.S. attorney, said senators needn’t worry about Mr. Porter putting ideology ahead of fairness or precedent.
“We all have strong views on subjects but the question is whether or not … we understand where to draw the line and how to separate that,” he said. “He has the discipline to look at a situation, to look at the facts, to consider the law and to be fair and just call it as it is without being influenced by any kind of agenda or desire for a particular outcome. He has that kind of intellectual and personal discipline to see things as they are.”
He has known Mr. Porter since the late 1990s. Mr. Porter was then an intern for the Department of Justice, where Mr. McNulty was director of policy. Even then, Mr. McNulty viewed him as one of the smartest, hardest-working and most capable young lawyers he had ever met, he said.
Mr. Porter also has the support of many others, including past leaders of the Allegheny County Bar Association, the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, Pittsburgh Fire Fighters Local No. 1, and Wesley Family Services. In letters to Senate Judiciary Committee leaders, they described Mr. Porter as intelligent, able, courteous, professional, fair, accomplished and good-natured.
“I am a staunch Democrat. However, particularly at the Court of Appeals level, I believe it is more critical than ideology to have a solid, thoughtful judicial temperament coupled with character, intelligence and the ability to function in a judicial setting,” wrote Thomas M. Thompson, one of Mr. Porter’s law partners at Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney. “He has the type of legal judgment, respect for precedent, temperament and calming influence that is much needed on the bench no matter which political leaning.”
Democratic Sen. Bob Casey’s office did not respond to a request for comment Monday. Republican Sen. Pat Toomey’s office said the senator had no immediate comment on Mr. Porter.
Court observers said they’d be surprised if Mr. Casey supports the nomination. Traditionally, the Judiciary Committee does not schedule confirmation hearings without sign-offs known as “blue slips” from both of a nominee’s home-state senators. But the current chairman, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa has allowed two exceptions since the Trump election, so it would not be unprecedented for Mr. Porter to go through without Mr. Casey’s consent.
“My impression of Porter is he’s pretty out there [ideologically], and Casey knows that from past history. I don’t know why Casey would sign off now on somebody who he didn’t even think was qualified for the district bench,” said Carl Tobias, a University of Richmond law professor who tracks judicial vacancies.
Mr. Porter is a shareholder at the Pittsburgh office of Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney, where he has practiced law for 23 years. He previously served as law clerk to D. Brooks Smith when he was a judge for the Western District of Pennsylvania. Judge Smith now is chief of the 3rd Circuit, which hears cases from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and the Virgin Islands.
Washington Bureau Chief Tracie Mauriello: tmauriello@post-gazette.com; 703-996-9292 or on Twitter @pgPoliTweets.
First Published: April 10, 2018, 1:54 p.m.
Updated: April 10, 2018, 2:10 p.m.
