Judge Dennis Jacobs of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Photo: Rick Kopstein/ALM

Judge Dennis Jacobs of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit is set to take senior status at the end of May, according to a court official. The move by Jacobs, 75, who served as chief judge of the circuit from 2006 to 2013, promises to present another federal appeals court appointment opportunity for President Donald Trump.

Reached by phone Thursday afternoon, Jacobs responded to a request for comment by stating with a laugh, “No one thinks this is premature.” He said his change in status was an “appealing,” if not a momentous, change. He indicated he would continue to take on a considerable work load.

Chief Judge Robert Katzmann, who succeeded Jacobs in the role, praised his colleague's current and future efforts.

“Just as Judge Jacobs served with great distinction as an active judge, we are fortunate that he will continue to do so as a senior judge, contributing substantially as always,” the chief judge said.

The New York native was nominated to the Second Circuit in 1992 by President George H.W. Bush. Jacobs had not served as a judge prior to his nomination, having been a partner at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett for over a decade prior to his nomination.

Speaking to the Law Journal recently about his decision to take on district court cases after joining the appellate court, Jacobs credited the experience with providing him an important perspective going forward.

“You have to take charge of a courtroom, and you have to do it with confidence and decision,” he said about the responsibilities of a district judge. “You can't make dozens of rulings in the course of a day, and worry that somebody is going to rethink it all.”

Since then he says he's always made sure to have a clerk with experience working for a lower court judge “in order to make sure somebody in chambers can remind me how much time a trial judge has to make a complicated evidentiary ruling.”

As an author of panel opinions, Jacobs has left a mark on a number of important cases decided in the circuit, including a number in his area of commercial law expertise. A recent opinion in a different area of law in the circuit's 2012 United States v. Windsor helped pave the way for legal recognition and protection for same sex couples.

The panel held the federal Defense of Marriage Act's ban on federal recognition of same-sex marriages was unconstitutional on equal protection grounds. The U.S. Supreme Court would go on to uphold the Second Circuit's ruling.

Jacobs' expected transition to senior status will provide Trump with his fourth chance to appoint a new judge to the Second Circuit. Judge Richard Sullivan was nominated by the president in April 2018, and joined the bench after being confirmed in September.

Two additional judge nominations are currently making their way through the nomination process. U.S. District Judge Joseph Frank Bianco of the Eastern District of New York and Consovoy McCarthy Park name attorney Michael Park were both voted out of the U.S. Senate judiciary committee on Thursday, and now await a full Senate vote ahead of joining the circuit bench.

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