Ninth Circuit Judge Richard C. Tallman of Seattle, has announced that he will step down as an active judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Tallman plans to assume senior status on March 3, 2018, his 65th birthday. At that time, he will have almost 18 years of active service to the court.
In an Aug. 10 letter informing President Donald Trump of his intentions, Tallman said he will continue to continue to render service as a senior judge.
Nominated to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals by then-President Bill Clinton, Tallman was confirmed by the Senate on May 24, 2000, and received his judicial commission the following day. Filling a seat previously held by another Seattle jurist, the late Senior Circuit Judge Betty Binns Fletcher, he currently ranks 12th in seniority among the court’s active judges.
Tallman also serves on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review, which hears appeals of decisions related to espionage and counter-terrorism investigations under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978. He was appointed to the court of review in 2014 by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., and plans to serve out the remainder of his seven-year term, which ends in January 2021.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the nation’s largest and busiest appellate court, hears appeals of cases decided by federal trial courts and certain Executive Branch administrative agencies in nine western states, including Hawaii, and Guam and the Northern Marianas Islands.