Barry G. Silverman

Barry Silverman
Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Incumbent
Assumed office February 4, 1998
Appointed by	Bill Clinton
Preceded by	William Canby
Personal details
Born	(1951-10-11) October 11, 1951 New York City, New York, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Alma mater	Arizona State University, Tempe

Barry G. Silverman (born October 11, 1951) is a federal judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Education and Early Career

Born in Bronx, N.Y., Silverman attended Phoenix's Central High School in the late 1960s. Silverman earned his B.A. from Arizona State University in 1973 and his law degree from the Arizona State University College of Law in 1976. Silverman served as assistant city prosecutor for the city of Phoenix from 1976 until 1977 and was the deputy county attorney from 1977 until 1979, being assigned to the courtroom of future U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who at that time was an Arizona jurist. Silverman was a Maricopa superior court commissioner from 1979 until 1984. Then-Arizona Gov. Bruce Babbitt appointed Silverman a state superior court judge in 1984. In 1995, Silverman was appointed a United States magistrate judge in Phoenix.

Nomination to the Ninth Circuit and Confirmation

Nominated by William J. Clinton on November 8, 1997, to a seat vacated by William Cameron Canby, Jr.; Confirmed by the Senate on January 28, 1998, and received commission on February 4, 1998. Silverman's nomination enjoyed bipartisan support, with backing from Republican Sen. Jon Kyl, a key member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Silverman's nomination was sent by the Senate Judiciary Committee to the floor of the Senate on November 13, 1997. The full Senate confirmed Silverman in a voice vote on January 28, 1998. After Silverman's confirmation, he told the Jewish News of Greater Phoenix in an article that appeared on February 6, 1998 that he was "really grateful" to President Clinton, Sen. John McCain, Sen. Jon Kyl and Rep. Ed Pastor for their help and support in securing his confirmation. "I am going to try to live up to their confidence," he told the paper. In an article in the East Valley Tribune that ran on August 31, 2007, Silverman explained the support for him by two Republican senators by noting that he must have been a "registered Democrat that Republicans would be able to stomach. It just sort of fell in my lap, really."

Significant rulings

Since joining the Ninth Circuit, Silverman probably has become most known for writing the dissenting opinion for the 2-1 ruling in May 2002 that overturned a Sacramento federal judgement court's decision barring male prisoners the constitutional right to procreate and mail their sperm from jail. As the lone dissenting member of that earlier three-judge panel, Silverman famously wrote in September 2001 that the ruling would permit prisoners "to procreate from prison via FedEx," according to a September 6, 2001 article in the Los Angeles Times. Additionally, Silverman wrote the opinion for the 3-judge panel in Ides v. The Boeing Company, pertaining to the "whistleblower provision of the Sarbanes–Oxley Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1514A(a)(1)" ruling against the employees, that employee leaks to the media are not protected under the provisions of the law.

External links

• Federal Judicial Center Profile