AFJ Opposition to Gene Pratter's Nomination to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals
Advocacy Letter
Source: Alliance for Justice
Recipient: Senate Committee on the Judiciary
Date: 01/23/08
The Honorable Patrick J. Leahy
Chair, Committee on the Judiciary
United States Senate
224 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
The Honorable Arlen Specter
Ranking Member, Committee on the Judiciary
United States Senate
224 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
Dear Chairman Leahy and Senator Specter:
Alliance for Justice urges the Senate not to confirm Gene E.K. Pratter for a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. In presidential election years, the Senate has traditionally refrained from considering controversial judicial nominations. Judge Pratter's record, both on and off the bench, squarely places her within this category and raises serious questions about her fitness for a lifetime appointment to the second-highest court in the nation.
In her short tenure as a district court judge in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Judge Pratter has issued several decisions that indicate unjustified hostility toward plaintiffs' lawyers and a bias against employees seeking redress for workplace discrimination. For example, in EEOC v. Hora Inc., Judge Pratter ruled that the plaintiff's attorney had violated the Pennsylvania Rules of Professional Conduct by questioning the victim's co-workers about allegations of sexual harassment. Based on what she deemed an ethical infraction, Judge Pratter imposed a very severe sanction—disqualifying the attorney from representing her client. Judge Pratter's extremely narrow view of the ethical rules and the accompanying harsh punishment were summarily rejected by the Third Circuit. The Third Circuit was also critical of Judge Pratter's decision in Phillips v. Sheraton Society Hill, 2005, another employment discrimination case, in which Judge Pratter dismissed the plaintiff's claim with prejudice because the worker, who had no attorney, failed to allege that he had received a "right-to-sue" letter from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. In reversing Judge Pratter's decision, the Third Circuit stated "we are troubled by the fact that Phillips was given no opportunity to amend the complaint before the District Court sua sponte dismissed it."
In addition to her troubling hostility to employees and their lawyers, Judge Pratter's record off the bench raises questions about her fitness for promotion to a seat on the court of appeals. Prior to her appointment to the district court, Judge Pratter made questionable campaign contributions to politicians who had a central voice on her appointment to the federal bench. These included a $1,500 donation to Senator Specter in the months immediately preceding being interviewed by the Judiciary Committee and a $2,000 donation to President Bush on September 15, 2003 after two meetings with then-White House counsel Alberto Gonzalez (Judge Pratter's husband also made a $2000 contribution to President Bush at this time). When Judge Pratter made these contributions, no laws or ethics rules expressly forbade contributions by a nominee for a federal judgeship. However, the American Bar Association in February of 2007 adopted a revised Model Code of Judicial Conduct, Rule 4.1(A)(4) of which prohibits campaign contributions by judicial nominees. More importantly, many, including Senator Specter, have long publicly stated that such contributions are inappropriate once the candidate is under consideration by a judicial selection committee, as Judge Pratter was in Pennsylvania. Judge Pratter's engagement in these ethically dubious activities is cause for concern, especially given her status as a self-proclaimed legal ethics expert.
No nominee is entitled to a lifetime appointment, especially to a seat on the court of last resort for most litigants. We urge you to reject Judge Pratter's nomination in favor of a consensus nominee with a less troubling record on issues of fundamental importance to all Americans.
Sincerely,
Nan Aron
President
Alliance for Justice
3 Id. at 94.
