Andrew D. Hurwitz - CONFIRMED

United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

On November 2, 2011, President Obama nominated Justice Andrew Hurwitz to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.  Justice Hurwitz currently sits as Vice-Chief Justice on the Arizona Supreme Court, a seat to which Governor Napolitano appointed him in 2003, and which he retained in the 2006 general election.  President Obama has said that “Justice Hurwitz has proven himself to be not only a first-rate legal mind but a faithful public servant,” stating that it is with “full confidence in his ability, integrity, and independence that I nominate him to the bench of the United States Court of Appeals.”

Biography

Andrew David Hurwitz was born in New York City in 1947.  He received his A.B. from Princeton in 1968, graduating  cum laude, and obtained his J.D. from Yale in 1972.  Justice Hurwitz served in the Connecticut Army National Guard and the U.S. Army Reserve from 1969 until 1975, when he received an Honorable Discharge at the rank of Specialist.  He clerked for Judge John O. Newman in the U.S. District Court in Connecticut in 1972, for Judge J. Joseph Smith on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in 1972 and 1973, and finally in the United States Supreme Court for Justice Potter Stewart from 1973 to 1974.

Prior to joining the judiciary, Justice Hurwitz had a distinguished career in private practice and state government.  From 1974 to 1980 and from 1983 to 2003, he worked at the Phoenix office of the law firm of Osborn Maledon, PA.  In the interim, from 1980 to 1983, he served as Chief of Staff to Arizona Governor Bruce Babbitt, and again volunteered as Chief of Staff to Governor Rose Mofford from January to April of 1988 while on leave from his firm.

From 1977 to the present, Justice Hurwitz has spent a considerable amount time teaching at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of  Law, where he has held the  titles of Adjunct Professor, Visiting Professor of Law, and Distinguished Visitor from Practice.

Justice Hurwitz was appointed to the Arizona Supreme Court in 2003 by Governor Napolitano.  Arizona voters retained Justice Hurwitz in the 2006 general election, and he has served on the Court ever since.

Legal Experience

Justice Hurwitz has a great deal of experience as a lawyer and as a judge. In private practice, he has represented clients as diverse as AT&T, the PGA Tour, ABC News, criminal defendants, Indian tribes, and a collection of government entities. He has argued twice before the United States Supreme Court, once on behalf of the state of California, and again on behalf of a defendant on trial for murder, where Justice Hurwitz successfully convinced the Supreme Court to hold that the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments required that a jury, not a judge, find the aggravating circumstances required to impose capital punishment.

As a justice of the Arizona Supreme Court, Justice Hurwitz has heard a wide variety of cases in all areas of law. Notable opinions written by Justice Hurwitz include opinions on freedom of speech, state university tuition hikes, products liability, and separation of powers.

Professional and Academic Activities

Justice Hurwitz was admitted to the Connecticut Bar in 1973 and to the Arizona Bar in 1974. He has chaired the Arizona Judicial Council’s Commission on Technology and the Arizona Courts Ad Hoc Committee on the Rules of Evidence, and was on the Federal Rules of Evidence Advisory Committee from 2004 to 2010, appointed by Chief Justice Rehnquist and reappointed by Chief Justice Roberts. As faculty at the Sandra Day O’Connor School of Law, Justice Hurwitz has taught courses on professional responsibility, Supreme Court litigation, legislative process, civil procedure, and federal courts.

» Download AFJ Background Report on Andrew D. Hurwitz (pdf)