I mean, I don’t know anything about O’Connor either, but the point isn’t whether he, specifically, is or isn’t a partisan hack. The point is that *if* he’s a partisan hack, that would be a reason not to clerk for him (regardless of how he handles himself in court or his knowledge about hearsay). People who clearly follow this stuff more closely than you or I do think he’s a partisan hack (for what look like decent reasons). You may not think this particular judge is a partisan hack, but you clearly suggest that clerking for a partisan hack (who displays “partisan tribalism”) would be something to avoid.Anonymous User wrote: ↑Thu Jan 19, 2023 10:13 amLib AUSA. I actually never cast O'Connor as anything because I know next to jack squat about him. Per googling, he has issued some standard conservative-biased rulings on a few controversial topics, only a couple of which were reversed--which isn't unusual for any judge liberal or conservative. That's not a measure of anything. 99% of his cases aren't in that category because that's not the nature of federal district court work. As someone who knows very little about him, I still have't seen any anon poster here explain why he's a bad judge to clerk for.nixy wrote: ↑Wed Jan 18, 2023 3:16 pmThat’s fair enough, but the point is that you and lavarman disagree on what makes a good federal judge. A “conservative leaning” judge isn’t the same thing as a partisan judge, and you’re casting O’Connor as the former while lavarman is casting him as the latter. Lavarman’s issue with him isn’t that he’s conservative leaning, but that he’s a bad judge on the very terms you decry (“partisan tribalism”).
Does he know how the hearsay rule works? Is he pretty good at reigning in rambling witnesses? Does he have a measured temperament while handling lawyers in open court during jury trials? Does he appreciate the nuances of civil discovery standards, including proportionality review? These things matter too.
I agree that a lot of district court stuff doesn’t turn on the judge’s political leanings, as would lavarman, I’m sure. That’s not the point here, because the people saying O’Connor is bad are saying it’s because he’s outside that heartland of standard district court judge behavior. That could be entirely consistent with knowing the rules of evidence etc and treating the parties before him respectfully etc., so your focus on that narrow kind of courtroom demeanor (which I get, that’s what matters if you’re appearing before him) is kind of irrelevant here. (Did you clerk? Clerking for a judge is pretty different from appearing before them.) In essence, you’re saying that you actually don’t care about the outcomes that a particular judge reaches as long as he conducts his courtroom well. That’s great, but also not really consistent with your dislike of “partisan tribalism” (it’s sort of telling that you’re assuming the people calling out O’Connor as partisan have to be the partisan ones?).
ETA: and he may be a partisan hack and his clerks may still get a good experience, who knows. (Certainly people can have terrible experiences with excruciatingly impartisan judges who run their courtrooms brilliantly.) It is still fair to bring up that perception of him to people asking about clerking for him.