Circuit Judge Rader to retire
Judge Randall Rader is to retire from the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit at the end of this month, he announced on Friday, June 13. His announcement came shortly after he said he was stepping down as chief judge on May 30.
Rader was succeeded as chief judge of the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals by circuit judge Sharon Prost, who has 40 years’ experience working in the legislative, executive and judicial branches of the US Federal Government.
Rader stepped down as chief judge after it emerged he had sent an e-mail to a lawyer who argued before him. Rader “praised the attorney’s performance” and urged him “to show the email to others”.
In an open letter to the other judges on the Federal Circuit dated May 23, Rader admitted “that I have engaged in conduct that crossed lines for the purpose of maintaining a judicial process whose integrity must remain beyond question”.
“Avoiding even the appearance of partiality is a vital interest of our courts, and I compromised that interest by transgressing limits on judges’ interactions with attorney before the courts. I was inexcusably careless,” he added.
Rader was appointed to the US Court of Federal Claims in 1988 by President Ronald Reagan. He was later nominated to the Federal Circuit in 1990 by President George H. W. Bush. In 2010, Rader succeeded Paul Michel as the chief judge of the Federal Circuit.
