Sidney Thomas
2023 - Present
2
Sidney Runyan Thomas is a federal judge on senior status with the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He joined the court in 1996 after being nominated by President Bill Clinton (D). Thomas served as chief judge from December 1, 2014, to December 1, 2021.[1][2][3]
On March 29, 2022, Thomas announced he would assume senior status upon the appointment of his successor.[4] He assumed senior status on May 5, 2023. Anthony Johnstone was nominated by President Joe Biden (D) to replace Thomas on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on September 6, 2022.[2]
Early life and education
Born in Bozeman, Montana, Thomas graduated from Montana State University with his bachelor's degree in 1975, and from the University of Montana School of Law with his J.D. in 1978.[2]
Professional career
- 1996-2023: Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
- 2023-present: Senior judge
- 1982-1995: Adjunct instructor of law, Rocky Mountain College, Billings, Mont.
- 1978-1995: Private practice, Billings, Mont.[2]
Judicial career
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
 |
| Nominee Information |
| Name: Sidney R. Thomas |
| Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit |
| Progress |
| Confirmed 167 days after nomination. |
 Nominated: July 19, 1995
|
| ABA Rating: Unanimously Well Qualified
|
| Questionnaire: |
| Hearing: October 24, 1995
|
| QFRs: (Hover over QFRs to read more) |
| Reported: November 9, 1995
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| Confirmed: January 2, 1996
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| Vote: Voice vote
|
Thomas was nominated to serve on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit by President Bill Clinton on July 19, 1995, to a seat vacated by Dorothy Wright Nelson. The American Bar Association rated Thomas Unanimously Well Qualified for the nomination.[5] Hearings on Thomas' nomination were held before the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary on October 24, 1995, and his nomination was reported by U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) on November 9, 1995. Thomas was confirmed on a voice vote of the U.S. Senate on January 2, 1996, and he received his commission on January 4, 1996. Thomas served as chief judge of the circuit from December 1, 2014, to December 1, 2021.[1][2][6]
Supreme Court candidate
According to a White House source of The Associated Press, Judge Thomas was interviewed by President Obama on April 29, 2010, as a possible candidate to replace John Paul Stevens to the Supreme Court of the United States. Thomas was also interviewed by the vice president of the United States, Joe Biden.[7]
Noteworthy cases
Divided Ninth Circuit panel rules class action waivers violate labor law
- See also: United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (Stephen Morris et al. v. Ernst & Young, LLP, No. 13-16599)
- See also: United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (Stephen Morris et al. v. Ernst & Young, LLP, No. 13-16599)
On August 22, 2016, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed and remanded a decision of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. Ernst & Young required its employees to sign agreements that mandated any work-related claims be submitted to individual arbitration. The agreements contained a waiver against any concerted action; that is, the employees could neither initiate nor join any class action or collective action proceedings against the company in any forum. Further, claims in arbitration were required to be brought in separate proceedings. Two employees filed a class action against the firm. The district court granted Ernst and Young's motion to dismiss and to compel arbitration in the case in accordance with the terms of the arbitration agreement, but writing for a 2-1 panel Judge Sidney Thomas reversed and remanded the lower court's decision, holding that such waivers violated Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). Thomas wrote,[8]
| “ |
The NLRA establishes a core right to concerted activity. Irrespective of the forum in which disputes are resolved, employees must be able to act in the forum together. The structure of the Ernst & Young contract prevents that. Arbitration, like any other forum for resolving disputes, cannot be structured so as to exclude all concerted employee legal claims. As the Supreme Court has instructed, when 'private contracts conflict with' the NLRA, 'they obviously must yield or the Act would be reduced to a futility.'[9] |
” |
Thomas went on to reject Ernst & Young's argument that such waivers were permitted under the Federal Arbitration Act. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear arguments in this case during its October 2017 term.
- For more, see Epic Systems Corporation v. Lewis
- For more, see NLRB v. Murphy Oil
See also
External links
- Search Google News for this topic
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
- Biography from the Federal Judicial Center
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 San Francisco Gate, "Sidney Thomas becomes chief judge of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court," November 30, 2014
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Federal Judicial Center, "Thomas, Sidney Runyan," accessed December 7, 2021
- ↑ U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, "Gavel Passing Brings New Chief Judge to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals," December 1, 2021
- ↑ United States Courts for the Ninth Circuit, "Ninth Circuit Chief Judge Emeritus Sidney R. Thomas to Take Senior Status," March 29, 2022
- ↑ American Bar Association, "Ratings of Article III judicial nominees, 104th Congress," accessed July 11, 2016
- ↑ United States Congress, "PN 529 - Sidney R. Thomas - The Judiciary," accessed July 11, 2016
- ↑ Google News "AP Source: Obama Interviews Thomas for high court," April 29, 2010 (dead link)
- ↑ U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, Stephen Morris et al. v. Ernst & Young, LLP et al., August 22, 2016
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by - |
United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit 1996-2023 |
Succeeded by Anthony Johnstone |
| |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 |
Adams • Ambrose • Barnes • Brinkema • Bucklew • Chasanow • Coffman • Daughtrey • Ferguson • Ginsburg • Hagen • Jackson • Lancaster • Leval • Lindsay • Messitte • Michael • Piersol • Saris • Schwartz • Seybert • Shanahan • Shaw • Stearns • Trager • Vazquez • Wilken • Wilson | ||
| 1994 |
Baer • Barkett • Batts • Beaty • Benavides • Bennett • Berrigan • Biery • Block • Borman • Breyer • Briones • Bryson • Bucklo • Burgess • Burrage • Cabranes • Calabresi • Carr • Casellas • Castillo • Chatigny • Chin • Cindrich • Coar • Collins • Cooper • Cote • Currie • Davis • Dominguez • Downes • Duval • Friedman • Furgeson • Garcia • Gertner • Gettleman • Gillmor • Gilmore • Gleeson • Haggerty • Hamilton • Hannah • Hawkins • Henry • Holmes • Hood • Hull • Hurley • Jack • Jones • Jones • Kaplan • Katz • Kern • Kessler • Koeltl • Lisi • Manning • McKee • McLaughlin • Melancon • Miles-LaGrange • Moore • Motz • Murphy • O'Malley • O'Meara • Oliver • Paez • B. Parker • F. Parker • R. Parker • Perry • Ponsor • Pooler • Porteous • Rendell • Riley • Robertson • Rogers • Ross • Russell • Sands • Sarokin • Scheindlin • Silver • Squatrito • Stewart • Sullivan • Tatel • Thompson • Timlin • Urbina • Vanaskie • Vance • Walls • Wells • Williams | ||
| 1995 |
Arterton • Atlas • Black • Blake • Briscoe • Tena Campbell • Todd Campbell • Chesney • Cole • Collier • Daniel • Davis • Dennis • Dlott • Donald • Duffy • Economus • Evans • Fallon • Folsom • Gaughan • Goodwin • Heartfield • Hunt • Illston • Jones • King • Kornmann • Lawson • Lenard • Lucero • Lynch • McKinley • Moody • Moore • Moskowitz • Murphy • Murtha • Nugent • O'Toole • Orlofsky • Pogue • Sessions • C. Smith • O. Smith • Stein • Thornburg • Tunheim • Wallach • Wardlaw • Webber • Whaley • Winmill • Wood | ||
| 1996 |
Broadwater • Clevert • Fenner • Gershon • Gottschall • Greenaway • Hinkle • Jones • Kahn • Laughrey • Lemmon • Marten • Miller • Molloy • Montgomery • Pregerson • Rakoff • Sargus • Tashima • Thomas • Zapata | ||
| 1997 |
Adelman • Bataillon • Breyer • Caputo • Casey • Chambers • Clay • Damrell • Droney • Friedman • Gajarsa • Garland • Gilman • Gold • Gwin • Hall • Hayden • Hull • Ishii • Jenkins • Kauffman • Kennedy • Kimball • Kollar-Kotelly • Lazzara • Marbley • Marcus • Middlebrooks • Miller • Moon • Pratt • Rendell • Sippel • Siragusa • Snyder • Thrash | ||
| 1998 |
Aiken • Barbier • Barzilay • Berman • Buttram • Carter • Collins • Dawson • Dimitrouleas • Fletcher • Fogel • Frank • Graber • Hellerstein • Herndon • James • Johnson • Kane • Kelly • G. King • R. King • Lasnik • Lee • Lemelle • Lindsay • Lipez • Manella • Matz • McCuskey • McKeown • McMahon • Mickle • Mollway • Mordue • Moreno • Morrow • Munley • Murphy • Pallmeyer • Pauley • Polster • Pooler • Rawlinson • Ridgway • R. Roberts • V. Roberts • Sack • Scott • Seitz • Seymour • Shea • Silverman • Sleet • Sotomayor • Steeh • Story • Straub • Tagle • Tarnow • Trauger • Traxler • Tyson • Wardlaw • Whelan • Young | ||
| 1999 |
Alsup • Barry • Brown • Buchwald • Cooper • Eaton • Ellison • Feess • Fisher • Gould • Guzman • Haynes • Hibbler • Hochberg • Hurd • Huvelle • Jordan • Katzmann • Kennelly • Linn • Lorenz • Lynn • Marrero • Murguia • Pannell • Pechman • Pepper • Phillips • Schreier • Stewart • Underhill • Ward • Williams • Wilson | ||
| 2000 |
Ambro • Antoon • Battani • Berzon • Bolton • Brady • Bye • Cavanaugh • Daniels • Darrah • Dawson • Dyk • Fuentes • Garaufis • Garcia-Gregory • Hamilton • Huck • Hunt • Lawson • Lefkow • Lynch • Martin • McLaughlin • Moody • Murguia • Paez • Pisano • Presnell • Rawlinson • Reagan • Schiller • Singal • Steele • Surrick • Swain • Tallman • Teilborg • Tucker • Whittemore | ||
Federal courts:
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: District of Montana • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: District of Montana
State courts:
Montana Supreme Court • Montana District Courts • Montana Courts of Limited Jurisdiction • Montana Water Court • Montana Workers' Compensation Court
State resources:
Courts in Montana • Montana judicial elections • Judicial selection in Montana
