Allen Snyder (lawyer)

Allen R. Snyder (born January 26, 1946) is an American lawyer and a former nominee to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Education and legal training

Snyder earned a bachelor's degree with distinction from George Washington University in 1967 and a law degree magna cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1971. He clerked for Supreme Court justices John Marshall Harlan II in 1971 and William Rehnquist in 1972.

Professional career

Snyder joined the Washington, D.C. law firm Hogan & Hartson in 1972 as an associate and later became a partner. During Bill Clinton's presidency, Snyder represented Deputy White House Counsel Bruce Lindsey during the Whitewater controversy. In addition, Snyder represented actress Elizabeth Taylor, successfully blocking an ABC-TV docudrama about her life, according to a September 2004 article about Hogan & Hartson in the Washingtonian magazine. And, Snyder represented Netscape as its chief corporate attorney during its antitrust fight against Microsoft. [cite news|url=http://www.washingtonian.com/articles/businesscareers/6365.html|title=House of 1,000 Lawyers|last=Eisler|first=Kim|work=Washingtonian|accessdate=2008-04-27]

Nomination to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit

On September 22, 1999, President Clinton nominated Snyder to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to replace the seat held by the retiring Patricia Wald. Although he is a Democrat, Snyder's nomination initially was thought to be fairly uncontroversial, particularly given his long history as a Washington insider and his support from conservatives like Rehnquist, Sen. John Warner, and former appeals court judge Robert Bork. His nomination even received a hearing from the Senate Judiciary Committee in May 2000. However, with Republicans in control of the U.S. Senate and a presidential election looming, Snyder's nomination languished. Ultimately, the Senate chose not to vote on the D.C. Circuit nominations of both Snyder and Elena Kagan. Republican senators claimed that there was some question over whether those D.C. Circuit seats were even necessary, while Democratic senators charged that the Republican leadership in the Senate was trying to keep those two seats open until after the presidential election so that they could be filled with Republican appointees.

In 2001, President George W. Bush nominated Miguel Estrada to the seat to which Snyder had been nominated. Estrada's nomination ran into opposition from Democratic senators, and he withdrew his name from further consideration in early September 2003. Bush subsequently nominated Thomas B. Griffith to that D.C. Circuit seat in 2004, and he was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in 2005.

After the failed nomination

After Snyder's nomination died, he resigned his partnership at Hogan & Hartson and took early retirement, according to a New York Times article on August 11, 2002. "Senator Specter congratulated me on how well things had gone and told me he was confident I would be confirmed and told me I would be a great judge," Snyder told the Times. "And then the committee never took a vote." Snyder, who is known to be close friends with U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts, is a longtime resident of Bethesda, Maryland. [cite news|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C02E5D7133BF932A2575BC0A9649C8B63|title=Obstruction of judges|last=Rosen|first=Jeffrey|work=New York Times|accessdate=2008-04-27]

See also

*List of law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States
*President Clinton's judicial appointments controversy

References