Talk:United States District Court for the District of Arizona

New Chief

Someone became chief yesterday by operation of 28 USC sec. 36. Roslyn Silver was born in 1946, so whether she meets the qualification of being 64 or younger depends upon whether her birthday falls from January 1 to 8. If not, she is 64 and is the new chief as of January 8. If so, Runner Collins is. Does anyone know how to find her DoB? I've tried Google, including searching for bar association birthday fundraisers and found nothing. -Rrius (talk) 20:47, 9 January 2011 (UTC)

There is a reason this information may be difficult to obtain. The court system prefers that exact dates of birth of living judges not be publicized unnecessarily, for reasons such as safeguarding the judges from identity theft by disgruntled litigants and the like. In any event, it hardly seems worth it to go to extraordinary lengths to figure this information out on a Sunday. Within the next couple of days, the court will certainly announce who its next chief judge is. Newyorkbrad (talk) 20:57, 9 January 2011 (UTC)

I realize that the courts don't necessarily go out of their way to give out personal information, but then you'll note that "from the court" was not part of my question. As to your second point, absolutely no information on Wikipedia is "worth going to extraordinary lengths to figure out" whether on a Sunday or any other day. Of course the court will eventually announce the identity of the new chief and probably the date for some sort of ceremonial event, but if we can establish the identity beforehand, why not do it? I appreciate that you do not care to help in that effort, but I am forced to wonder why, if that is the case, you bothered to respond. I mean, how does it hurt you to have other people working to figure out the answer? -Rrius (talk) 21:24, 9 January 2011 (UTC)

First, it's more than that the courts don't give out the information; it's that they specifically urge that the information not be publicized. We are, of course, under no obligation to honor that urging, but I personally see little harm in doing so.

Second, and perhaps less controversially, I don't like to see our contributors' effort expended unnecessarily. If someone invests two hours to find this information today, and then the court announces the name of the new chief judge tomorrow or the day after (as is quite likely as I do not think they will want to leave Judge Roll's name in that spot on their website), I do not see this as a productive use of someone's time.

I hope this clarifies. Regards, Newyorkbrad (talk) 21:36, 9 January 2011 (UTC)

First, it doesn't matter what the courts want. All judges had birthdays before being appointed to their respective courts, and as you concede, outside organizations continue to recognized them even after judges are appointed. In this case, even something mentioning that her birthday falls in one of the other 11 months of the year would be sufficient.

As far as your second point, what you fail to appreciate is that your opinion as to what constitutes a "productive" use of one's time on Wikipedia (a contradiction in terms, I think) doesn't matter in relation to anyone's efforts but yours. If I want to "waste" my time finding this out, so might someone else, just as you choose to waste your time telling others that they shouldn't waste their time doing so. -Rrius (talk) 21:55, 9 January 2011 (UTC)

Also, if you go back and read what I actually wrote in my initial post, I was looking for suggestions on finding a birthdate, not asking someone to do it for me. For you to intervene to tell me not to waste time searching for something when I feel like doing it is so absurd that you shouldn't be surprised at my reaction to you. -Rrius (talk) 22:00, 9 January 2011 (UTC)

Rather than respond further to the above, on which I still disagree with you, there's another point for thought here, that might be less contentious. Under 28 U.S.C. § 136(d), a judge may decline to serve as Chief Judge of his or her district while remaining an active judge. Not all judges want the chiefship; it can mean devoting a substantial amount of the judge's professional time to administrative and coordinating work, as opposed to judging. Given that (obviously) no one expected Judge Roll's death this year, it may well be the case that Judge Silver assumed she would never be Chief Judge. She might or might not want the position, and under the circumstances, I am sure she is going to be asked before she is designated as Chief Judge, even assuming that she is eligible from the standpoint of age. If she were to decline it in upcoming days, I am sure that she will not be listed as Chief Judge, as opposed to being listed as technically had the title for a couple of days, though that would be defensible given the literal terms of the statute. So I do think we need to see what's announced. Newyorkbrad (talk) 22:23, 9 January 2011 (UTC)

Except that if she does decline, you are suggesting there would be a gap, which seems impossible under the statute. If she is "technically" chief for a few days, then she 'is chief for a few days. -Rrius (talk) 22:40, 9 January 2011 (UTC)

Also, are you saying you still disagree with me over whether your opinion matters as to how I choose to spend the time I dedicate to Wikipedia or that the federal judiciary might not be the only potential source for judges' birthdays? The first is supremely arrogant while the second is insane: which is it? -Rrius (talk) 22:43, 9 January 2011 (UTC)

Collins new Chief Judge (not so fast!)

Collins is new Chief Judge per source given in the article. I have updated accordingly. Safiel (talk) 22:52, 10 January 2011 (UTC)

A Google News search of "roslyn silver chief judge" turns up three sources saying she is or will be chief: Ashby Jones of the Wall Street Journal (I don't know how reliable Jones is), the ABA Journal, and the Christian Science Monitor (which does a good job at reporting on the federal judiciary). By contrast, "raner collins chief judge" has two hits, but the LA Times story no longer contains the claim that Collins is to replace Roll. That leaves the Fox story that was used as the source. For the moment I've simply removed the claims that anyone is the chief, reverting us to the status quo ante. -Rrius (talk) 02:33, 11 January 2011 (UTC)

In fact, I am going to simply put in Silver as the chief. The CSM story reports that Magistrate Judge Anderson told the accused murderer's lawyers that if they plan to seek recusal of all judges in the District, they need to file "with Chief Judge Roslyn Silver". The Ashby Jones piece specifically notes that it is Silver and not Collins "who some outlets reported" would get the job. As such, I think we have sufficient evidence to go with Silver. -Rrius (talk) 02:45, 11 January 2011 (UTC)

This order confirms that Judge Silver is now the Chief Judge. Newyorkbrad (talk) 00:38, 13 January 2011 (UTC)

See also the upper-left-hand corner of this page of the official site. Newyorkbrad (talk) 21:33, 22 January 2011 (UTC)