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Is the Wanger court liberal or conservative?

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on August 3, 2008 at 11:49 am

From the Belleville News-Democrat, a newspaper somewhere in Southwestern Illinois & St. Louis, an article on the Wanger court in Fresno. Is the court too liberal?

Fresno, Calif.’s federal court has delighted liberals lately with decisions slapping down the auto industry, siding with the homeless and twice favoring fish over farmers. The high-profile decisions and their far-reaching effects drew the ire of politicians, the wrath of the agriculture industry and general scorn from local conservatives.

One letter to the editor published June 12 in The Bee criticized the homeless settlement and urged U.S. District Judge Oliver W. Wanger to “go by the law, and use some common sense.” Republican California Assembly Member Mike Villines of Clovis called Wanger’s delta smelt ruling an “irresponsible decision.”

But legal experts and records of court decisions suggest that Fresno’s U.S. District Court is anything but liberal.

In criminal matters, a study has shown that the court has been very strict on sentencing, and many attorneys feel the court leans to the right on civil matters as well. But what about the other issues, like the Delta smelt ruling?

As evidence that Wanger, in particular, leans to the right politically and favors farmers over fish, some attorneys point to a case involving Francis Orff and other unhappy Westlands farmers who sought upward of $32 million from the federal government for undelivered irrigation water.

In a February 2005 oral argument before the U.S. Supreme Court, Justice Antonin Scalia referred to “this friendly district judge” in a question to Orff’s attorney. The judge Scalia spoke of, the attorneys said, was Wanger.

Though attorneys for environmental groups declined to comment, Wanger’s reputation was one reason they filed two cases on behalf of endangered fish – one involving the delta smelt, the other involving salmon and steelhead species – in California’s Northern District, which is based in San Francisco.

Both times, the state and federal governments argued that the cases should be moved to Wanger’s court in Fresno.

The San Francisco court granted both requests, in part because Wanger has heard more than three dozen water cases and is the acknowledged judicial expert in California, and also because he was already hearing similar cases.

Ironically, even though the environmentalists still tried to get the trial moved to another court, Wanger has ruled in their favor twice:

Capozzi said the fish rulings show that Wanger followed the law rather than political ideology. In one ruling, Wanger wrote that Congress – and not the courts – gave endangered species “the highest of priorities” in the Endangered Species Act. “It is up to the political branches of government, not the court,” to solve any problems created for farmers and other water users by the act, he wrote.

Read the full text of this article from the Belleville News-Democrat by clicking here.

August 3, 2008 · Filed Under Judge Wanger delta smelt ruling, Judge Wanger salmon ruling

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