[Senate Hearing 113-237]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 113-237
NOMINATION OF WILLIAM W. NOOTER
=======================================================================
HEARING
before the
COMMITTEE ON
HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
NOMINATION OF WILLIAM W. NOOTER TO BE ASSOCIATE JUDGE SUPERIOR COURT OF
THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
__________
OCTOBER 8, 2013
Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.fdsys.gov/
Printed for the use of the
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
85-501 PDF WASHINGTON : 2014
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing
Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512-1800; DC
area (202) 512-1800 Fax: (202) 512-2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC
20402-0001
COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware Chairman
CARL LEVIN, Michigan TOM COBURN, Oklahoma
MARK L. PRYOR, Arkansas JOHN McCAIN, Arizona
MARY L. LANDRIEU, Louisiana RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin
CLAIRE McCASKILL, Missouri ROB PORTMAN, Ohio
JON TESTER, Montana RAND PAUL, Kentucky
MARK BEGICH, Alaska MICHAEL B. ENZI, Wyoming
TAMMY BALDWIN, Wisconsin KELLY AYOTTE, New Hampshire
HEIDI HEITKAMP, North Dakota JEFF CHIESA, New Jersey
Richard J. Kessler, Staff Director
John P. Kilvington, Deputy Staff Director
Katherine C. Sybenga, Senior Counsel
Jason R. Bockenstedt, Deputy Staff Director, Subcommittee on Emergency
Management, Intergovernmental Relations, and the District of Columbia
Deirdre G. Armstrong, Professional Staff Member
Keith B. Ashdown, Minority Staff Director
Christopher J. Barkley, Minority Deputy Staff Director
Andrew C. Dockham, Minority Chief Counsel
Sarah Beth Groshart, Minority Counsel
Laura W. Kilbride, Chief Clerk
Lauren M. Corcoran, Hearing Clerk
C O N T E N T S
------
Opening statements:
Page
Senator Begich............................................... 1
Prepared statements:
Senator Begich............................................... 7
WITNESSES
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Hon. Eleanor Holmes Norton, a Representative in Congress from the
District of Columbia........................................... 2
William W. Nooter, to be an Associate Judge, Superior Court of
the District of Columbia
Testimony.................................................... 3
Prepared statement........................................... 9
Biographical and financial information....................... 10
Statement for the Record from Paul Strauss, U.S. Shadow Senator
for the District of Columbia................................... 28
NOMINATION OF
WILLIAM W. NOOTER
----------
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2013
U.S. Senate,
Committee on Homeland Security
and Governmental Affairs,
Washington, DC.
The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 3:04 p.m., in
room SD-342, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Mark Begich,
presiding.
Present: Senator Begich.
OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR BEGICH
Senator Begich. One thing I will try to do is I am going to
make this painless because I believe you are highly qualified.
Again, we are here to consider the nomination of William
Nooter to be Associate Judge of the Superior Court of the
District Columbia. We welcome you.
I am also pleased to have Congresswoman Norton here again.
Thank you very much for being here, and we appreciate your
attendance.
I would also like to extend a warm welcome to your family
in attendance. I know without your family you would not be able
to do this job. I know exactly how that is. And so thank you to
them for being here.
The Committee consistently receives excellent candidates
nominated by the President and recommended by the non-partisan
District of Columbia Judicial Nomination Commission. This
process is critical to ensuring we have the candidates who are
experienced and have the appropriate temperament for this
position.
As we know, judges have critically important duties in our
society. Judges must uphold and interpret the law, resolve
disputes equitably, and protect the rights and liberties of our
citizens.
If confirmed, I trust you will fulfill these
responsibilities with respect, character and deference
befitting the Court.
As many of you already know, Judge Nooter currently serves
as Magistrate Judge on the Superior Court of the District of
Columbia. Since his appointment in 2000, he has served in the
Criminal and Civil Divisions, Domestic Violence, and the Family
Courts. He is currently the presiding Magistrate Judge and
serves on the Chief Judge's Judicial Leadership Team.
Prior to his appointment to the court, he worked at the law
firm of Jordan, Coyne & Savits from 1989 to 2000 and served as
a trial attorney with the Office of the Attorney General for
the District of Columbia from 1982 to 1989.
Judge Nooter, I have reviewed your biographical
questionnaire and believe you are well qualified to serve as
Associate Judge for the Superior Court of the District of
Columbia. You have a distinguished career and I honestly thank
you for your willingness to participate and serve.
Before I go on, let me ask, if I can, Congresswoman
Norton--again thank you for joining us. I know you have some
remarks. Feel free to share them with the Committee.
We will also include for the record your written comments.
TESTIMONY OF THE HONORABLE ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, A
REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Ms. Holmes Norton. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, for
accommodating Judge Nooter and I during this period when you
may not even have all of your Committee staff here.
But today, we have a particularly strong candidate. I will
be equally brief. You have before you the presiding Magistrate
Judge, who brings the kind of experience in the law that I
believe prepares him well to be an Associate Judge of our
Superior Court in the District of Columbia, including having
clerked for this very court when he graduated with honors from
George Washington University Law School.
He has been, of course, in the general practice of law, but
he has worked throughout the justice system in the District of
Columbia in what was then called the Office of Corporation
Counsel, now Attorney General. He has had 30 years of courtroom
experience. That is what you look for when you are dealing with
a trial court. And I certainly think his extensive experience
will serve him well, it will serve the court well, and it will
serve the people of the District of Columbia well, should the
Senate choose to confirm him.
I am here this afternoon to strongly recommend that this
committee recommend his confirmation to the full Senate.
Thank you very much for receiving us today, Mr. Chairman.
Senator Begich. Thank you very much, Congresswoman.
Our Committee rules require that the witness at a
nomination give their testimony under oath so therefore, I ask
you to please stand and raise your right hand.
Do you swear that the testimony you are about to give this
Committee is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the
truth, so help you, God?
Judge Nooter. I do.
Senator Begich. Thank you very much. Please have a seat and
go ahead and give us your opening statement and then I do have
a couple of quick questions.
TESTIMONY OF WILLIAM W. NOOTER,\1\ NOMINATED TO BE AN ASSOCIATE
JUDGE, SUPERIOR COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Judge Nooter. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ The prepared statement of Mr. Nooter appears in the Appendix on
page 9.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee, thank you for
this opportunity to appear before you as a nominee for a
position as an Associate Judge in the District of Columbia
Superior Court.
I am grateful to the Judicial Nomination Commission and its
chair, Judge Emmet Sullivan--who is here--for recommending me
to the White House. And I am grateful to the President for
nominating me to this position.
Thank you, Congresswoman Norton, for your kind words in
introducing me this afternoon.
I would also like to thank the Committee and its staff for
handling this process so expeditiously, despite all the other
pressing matters pending before the Senate.
I would like to acknowledge and thank Chief Judge Lee F.
Satterfield for his support and leadership.
I also want to recognize my wife, Elissa Free, my father,
Robert H. Nooter who I do not know if he made it yet but he was
planning to make it here--my brother, Robert I. Nooter and his
wife Barbara. My nephew, Daniel Nooter, is here. And my staff,
Denine Murray and Thomas Kinney, and other friends and
colleagues who have taken the time to be here today.
My daughter, Amanda--she attends college in Iowa--and my
mother, Nancy Nooter, and my other siblings could not be here,
but thanks to the wonders of modern technology, they can watch
the re-runs on your Web site.
One other person who I would like to introduce is Damian
Miller. He is a young man with whom I became acquainted in the
Family Court who has successfully emancipated from the foster
care system. He not only made the Dean's List at Hampton
University, but he is now the Special Assistant to the Director
of the Child and Family Services Agency, the District of
Columbia's child welfare agency. I am so pleased that he can be
here today. There he is. Thank you, Damian.
I was born in St. Louis, Missouri, but landed in
Washington, DC. as a teenager and have never left. My legal
career of over 30 years has been spent primarily in D.C.
Superior Court, first as a law student attorney and a judicial
law clerk for Hon. Tim Murphy, then as a trial attorney with
the Office of the Corporation Counsel, in private practice with
Jordan, Coyne & Savits, and finally as a Magistrate Judge.
The length and breadth of my practice, as a prosecutor,
defense attorney, civil practitioner in both government and
private practice, and my 13 years as a judicial officer have
well prepared me to take on the additional responsibilities of
an Associate Judge.
I have had the opportunity to serve on many court
committees and to take on leadership roles within the Court,
which have only deepened my love and respect for this vital
institution that administers justice to the citizens of our
city. I would be greatly honored to continue to serve the
Superior Court and the citizens of the District of Columbia as
an Associate Judge, if confirmed.
Thank you again for considering my nomination and I look
forward to answering any questions you may have.
Senator Begich. Thank you very much.
You are going to be in the fastest hearing in Washington,
DC. [Laughter.]
I just have two quick questions for you. I have reviewed
your resume, your information, all of the history of your work.
And I have to say you are clearly highly qualified, especially
because of the organization that recommended you. We have a
similar system, as you may know, in Alaska, an independent
judicial process, which recommends people for the Governor to
appoint to certain seats. It really makes the difference. It
creates quality candidates versus political candidates. I think
it makes our judicial system better because of that.
So thank you, for one, being here.
Second, my first question--and this is one that is more of
a general question--why do you want to take on this position?
Judge Nooter. Well, I have been in the role of a judicial
officer for 13 years now, as a Magistrate Judge. And I know
that is the role in the legal system I want to continue to be
in for the rest of my career.
I have found that I have been able to do, I think, a good
job because of my prior experience as a trial lawyer and the
abilities I have developed as a Magistrate Judge to handle
calendars, handle many different kinds of cases. And this has
been an extremely rewarding experience for me.
So I really just want to continue to serve the Court and
the community by taking on additional responsibilities that are
assignments that Associate Judges have. That would include jury
trials. One thing Magistrate Judges, by statute, do not handle
are jury trials. So it would include quite a number of
different opportunities for that and for other assignments,
which I would look forward to.
Senator Begich. What do you think your biggest challenge is
going to be in this new position?
Judge Nooter. Well, I am very familiar with the court
system itself. Having worked there for the past 13 years,
having practiced there for quite a few years before that. So I
know the players, I know the judges, I know the staff.
Going into any new assignment always involves a certain
amount of homework and learning the specific law that applies
to that assignment. Some areas of the law I am more familiar
with. I practiced as a civil practitioner for 14 years, so
there would be less of a learning curve there.
I have not been practicing as a criminal lawyer for quite a
few years, although I have sat in some criminal assignments,
arraignment court and preliminary hearings and that sort of
thing. There would be more to learn there for me, to catch up
on the latest legal rulings in that area.
And then, I think while I am very much looking forward, if
I get confirmed, to presiding over jury trials, since that is
something I have not done in a while, I would need to just come
up to speed with the latest practices on handling that.
So there would be learning curves, really, to any new
assignment. Our court is very fortunate with all of the
training opportunities it offers all of its judges, Magistrate
Judges and Associate Judges. We all get training prior to being
assigned to any new calendar, in that particular assignment.
If I come aboard as a new Associate Judge, I will get even
more broad training to help me adjust to the new role, and to
learn some of the differences between what I have been doing
and what I will be doing in that position.
Senator Begich. I said I only have two questions, but I
have one more. This is just from a non-lawyer, that is me. I
have represented myself in court in Alaska a couple of times. I
have apartments so I dealt with Forcible Entry and Detainer
actions (FEDs). I know how judges handle people like me,
sometimes they are not sure how to handle people like me
because I am not an attorney. But those that come, and
especially you will face that, people come in front of you that
are not attorneys but represent themselves or attempt to
represent their interests.
How will you manage that, at the same time keeping an
impartial view to the case that may be in front of you but
trying to make sure they are availing themselves to their
proper resources? Maybe they do not want to get an attorney.
Judge Nooter. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. That is an excellent
question because it has been part of our strategic plan and
continues to be part of the Court's strategic plan to improve
access to justice. That includes, certainly, self-represented
parties coming into court. D.C. Superior Court has many
calendar assignments where there are unrepresented parties. One
is small claims court, where many of the parties are
unrepresented, mostly on both sides. But there are attorneys
who appear there also.
I am currently handling a civil assignment that also
involves a lot of unrepresented parties. It is a collections
and subrogation assignment.
So in that case, we generally have a lawyer on the side of
the plaintiffs and no lawyer on the side of the defendants,
which is the most common scenario.
So I have been dealing with that issue in that assignment.
Our recently modified Code of Judicial Ethics clarifies for
judges their role in this, which is that it is appropriate to
make sure that self-represented litigants have some
understanding of the proceedings before them. And it is
incumbent upon judges in those situations to take some time to
explain what the procedure is, what the status of the case is,
and what is expected of the parties going forward.
Certainly, in Small Claims Court, before you go to trial
you explain the whole trial process to the parties so that they
can keep their presentations within those limitations. But it
is more relaxed in Small Claims Court than it is in my court,
the Collections Court, which follows the regular civil rules.
Senator Begich. It is pretty cut and dried in Collections.
Judge Nooter. Well, not necessarily, but the parties do
have to follow the rules more strictly. In Small Claims Court,
the rules allow you to interpret them more liberally.
But the Court has been developing legal resources for
parties in circumstances where there is really no funding for
this. The Court has collaborated with local bar associations
and some local legal services organizations to provide legal
resource centers in the courthouse. They are not there every
day, but they are there some days, where parties can go in and
get legal advice about their case.
And this has proven very helpful so I always refer
unrepresented parties to those resource centers that are
available, so that they can get it--because the line is that
the Judge really cannot give legal advice to a party who is not
represented and cannot go so far as to give an unfair advantage
to an unrepresented party. So there is a balancing act that
takes place in the courtroom. But these additional resources
have been very helpful.
Senator Begich. Very good.
I have three yes or no questions, these are the required
questions. So let me go ahead and work through those, if I can.
Is there anything that you are aware of in your background
that might present a conflict of interest with the duties of
the office to which you have been nominated? It is a yes or no.
Judge Nooter. No, Mr. Chairman.
Senator Begich. Do you know of any reason, personal or
otherwise, that would in any way prevent you from fully and
honorably discharging the responsibilities of office to which
you have been nominated?
Judge Nooter. No, Mr. Chairman.
Senator Begich. Do you know of any reason, personal or
otherwise, that would in anyway prevent you from serving the
full term for the office in which you have been nominated?
Judge Nooter. No, Mr. Chairman.
Senator Begich. Very good. Let me just check one thing
here. [Pause.]
The hearing record will remain open until 5 p.m. tomorrow,
October 9, for the submission of statements and questions for
the record.
The hearing, at this time, is now adjourned. Thank you and
congratulations.
[Whereupon, at 3:22 p.m., the Committee was adjourned.]
A P P E N D I X
----------
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]