Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom offices in Washington, D.C. Credit: ALM

A veteran commercial litigator and white-collar defender at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom in Chicago is the Trump administration's latest pick for a slot on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

Michael Scudder Jr. has been a partner at the firm since 2009, the White House said in its nomination announcement Monday. He leads the firm's accounting practice and has extensive experience in national and cybersecurity matters. Scudder joined Skadden after serving for two years in the George W. Bush administration as associate White House counsel and then later senior associate and general counsel to the National Security Council.

“He is an inspired choice for the Seventh Circuit, not just because of his intellect and experience—which are unparalleled—but because of his commitment to equal justice under the law,” Skadden of counsel Gregory Craig, a former White House counsel in the Obama administration, said. “Mike was born to be a judge, and we—as Americans—will all be better for his being on the bench.”

Craig and Scudder co-authored an article in 2016, shortly before the presidential election, titled “When Your Client Is President.” In the article, they wrote: “The record of teamwork during the last national security transition proves that it is possible to put politics aside in pursuit of the national interest. That record should serve as a model for the transition teams already at work today. We know that President Obama and his team are committed to a sound transition no matter who wins the election. We urge the candidates and their transition teams to embark on the transition in the same spirit. The stakes could not be higher.”

The Seventh Circuit has three vacancies. Milwaukee lawyer Michael Brennan recently appeared for his confirmation hearing. Two other slots opened up on the retirements of Richard Posner and Ann Claire Williams, who recently joined Jones Day.

Scudder's nomination was one of two for the Seventh Circuit on Monday. The White House also picked U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve of the Northern District of Illinois for a seat on the appeals court.

Additionally, the White House nominated Andrew Oldham, general counsel to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, for a seat on the Fifth Circuit; Peter Phipps, senior trial counsel in the Justice Department's federal programs branch of a slot on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania; and Mark Bennett of the Honolulu firm Starn O'Toole Marcus & Fisher for a seat on the Ninth Circuit.

Scudder was not immediately reached for comment.

 

Scudder's Supreme Court, James Comey ties

 

A graduate of Northwestern University School of Law, Scudder is a former clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy and Fourth Circuit Judge Paul Niemeyer. During Scudder's high court clerkship in the 1999-2000 term, the justices decided a number of high-profile cases involving such issues as partial-birth abortion, the Boy Scouts and gay rights, public aid to parochial schools and a constitutional challenge to Miranda warnings.

Scudder has led the Skadden team defending the University of North Carolina's admissions process from an affirmative action challenge in Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina. He filed an amicus brief on behalf of the university in the Supreme Court affirmative action case, Fisher v. University of Texas, in 2015. In his brief, he urged the justices to “preserve and reinforce” the standards that they adopted in three prior affirmative action rulings, including Grutter v. Bollinger in 2003.

Former FBI Director James Comey testifies in June 2017. Credit: ALM

Following his Supreme Court clerkship, Scudder joined Jones Day in Columbus, Ohio, where he worked on appellate cases. He left Jones Day in 2002 to become an assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York, where he prosecuted drug, gang and other criminal cases. He was hired by then-U.S. Attorney James Comey and served there until 2006.

In a 2010 Chicago Lawyer profile of Scudder, Comey said of Scudder: “He is somebody who can easily be overlooked in a crowded room of loud lawyers because he is so quiet. But once you get to know him, when Mike Scudder speaks, you shut your mouth and you listen. He's not going to talk often, but when he talks, he's going to say something that's worth saying.”

Scudder also was described in that profile as “always calm under pressure” by William Burck of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, who was deputy White House counsel when Scudder served in the administration.

“These were literally the most controversial, most hot-button, most high-pressure national security issues that the administration faced,” Burck said in the article. “That was his day-to-day life.” He added: “He never panicked. You never even saw him sweat.”

 

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