United States Circuit Court Judgeships - Appointment of Five Merit Selection Panels To Recommend Nominees for the Positions

The President today announced the appointment of five merit selection panels to recommend nominees for United States circuit court judgeships.

The five panels are the first of 13 to be named by President Carter in accordance with an Executive order he signed on February 15. The Executive order calls for one panel for each judicial circuit and two panels each for the geographically large fifth and ninth circuits.

Each panel has 11 members. They will submit, within 60 days, five names from which the President may select a nominee.

The panels announced today will fill one vacancy each in the first and the eastern and western fifth circuits and two vacancies each in the sixth and southern ninth circuits. (The only other current vacancies are in the tenth and fourth circuits.)

Letters have been sent by President Carter to the five panels announced today specifying the States or other areas from which the President wishes the panel to select candidates. The President's choice of States was based on tradition, population, and share of the circuit's workload.

The vacancies for which the panels will recommend nominees, and the areas from which they will choose, are as follows:

In the first circuit, for the vacancy created by the retirement of Edward W. McEntee, candidates to be chosen from New Hampshire and Puerto Rico;

In the eastern fifth circuit, for the vacancy created by the retirement of Walter P. Gewin, candidates to be chosen from Alabama;

In the western fifth circuit, for the vacancy created by the retirement of John Minor Wisdom, candidates to be chosen from Louisiana;

In the sixth circuit, for the vacancy created by the death of William E. Miller, candidates to be chosen from Tennessee; and for the vacancy created by the retirement of Wade H. McCree, candidates to be chosen from Michigan;

In the southern ninth circuit, for the vacancy created by the retirement of Ben C. Duniway, candidates to be chosen from Nevada; and for the vacancy created by the retirement of Richard H. Chambers, candidates to be chosen from Arizona.

Members of the panels announced today are:

For the first circuit:

PAUL A. FREUND, professor of law, Harvard, Cambridge, Mass., Chairman

RAE B. CONDON, executive director, Governor's Commission on Conflict of Interest, Providence, R.I.

SHANE DEVINE, attorney, Manchester, N.H.

CAROLYN DIK, activist on court reform, Worcester, Mass.

RICHARD K. DONAHUE, attorney, Lowell, Mass.

DANIEL M. KEYES, JR., attorney, Springfield, Mass.

REV. THOMAS R. PETERSON, president, Providence College, Providence, R.I.

MARTIN A. ROGOFF, professor of law, University of Maine, Portland, Maine

FLORENCE RUBIN, president, Massachusetts League of Women Voters, Boston, Mass.

WILLIAM SHAHEEN, attorney, Dover, N.H.

IDA MARIE WILSON, director of auditing, Sears & Roebuck, Augusta, Maine

For the eastern filth circuit:

DUBOSE AUSLEY, attorney, Tallahassee, Fla.,

Chairman

HENRY L. BOWDEN, attorney, Atlanta, Ga. DANNY E. CUPIT, attorney, Jackson, Miss.

CHARLOTTE DOMINICK, county treasurer, Jefferson County, Birmingham, Ala.

W. SPENCER LEE, attorney, Albany, Ga.

ED H. PRICE, JR., attorney, Bradenton, Fla.

MAMIE REECE, chair, Georgia Pardon and Parole Board, Atlanta, Ga.

TERESA SALDISE, attorney, Miami, Fla.

ARTHUR D. SHORES, Birmingham city council member, Birmingham, Ala.

ORMA R. SMITH, JR., attorney, Corinth, Miss.

FRANCENA THOMAS, director of minority Affairs, Florida International University, Miami, Fla.

For the western fifth circuit:

WILLIAM HARVIN, attorney, Houston, Tex.,

Chairman

JIM BOWMER, attorney, Temple, Tex.

DR. HECTOR GARCIA, medical doctor, Corpus Christi, Tex.

JAY HAKES, professor of political science, University of New Orleans, New Orleans, La.

HELEN HUNTER, Texas League of Women Voters, Houston, Tex.

EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON, member, State House of Representatives, Austin, Tex.

GABRIELLE K. McDONALD, attorney, Houston, Tex.

A. LINE PLAUCHE, attorney, Lake Charles, La.

GRETCHEN E. RAATZ, attorney, Austin, Tex.

IRMA RANGEL, member, State House of Representatives, Austin, Tex.

MARY ETHEL SIEFKEN, president, Independent Women's Organization; founder, Women Against Crime, New Orleans, La.

For the sixth circuit:

WILSON W. WYATT, attorney, Louisville, Ky.,

Chairman

KATHERINE R. BOWDEN, attorney, Lexington, Ky.

JOHN H. BUSTAMANTE, attorney, Cleveland, Ohio

DOUGLAS A. FRASER, vice president, United Auto Workers, Detroit, Mich.

MARTHA W. GRIFFITHS, attorney, former U.S. Representative, Romeo, Mich.

RUTH HOLMBERG, publisher, Chattanooga Times, Chattanooga, Tenn.

MARY JANE McDoNALD, assistant to the president, Denison University, Granville, Ohio

WALTER A. PORTER, attorney, Dayton, Ohio

JOHN SEIGENTHALER, publisher, Nashville Tennessean, Nashville, Tenn.

HONORABLE COLEMAN YOUNG, mayor of Detroit, Detroit, Mich.

STELLA ZANNONI, owner and manager of largest Italian market in Cleveland, Cleveland, Ohio

For the southern ninth circuit:

JOHN P. FRANK, attorney, Phoenix, Ariz.,

Chairman

MARCO BOUCHET, legislative analyst, city of Los Angeles, Calif.

SYLVIA CANO, deputy attorney general, State of California, Los Angeles, Calif.

JON R. COLLINS, attorney, Las Vegas, Net.

JOE MONTOYA, member, California State Assembly, El Monte, Calif.

BETH PACKARD, homemaker, active in community affairs, Flagstaff, Ariz.

PHILIP SCHAEFER, stockbroker, San Francisco, Calif.

RICHARD SILBERMAN, chairman, California Federal Selection Commission, San Diego, Calif.

ELIZABETH SNYDER, philanthropist, active in women's movement, Los Angeles, Calif.

JUDITH LESLIE SOLEY, attorney, Fresno, Calif.

BARBARA THORNTON, professor of political science, University of Nevada at Reno, Reno, Nev