William Nardini
United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
On September 19, 2019, President Trump nominated William
J. Nardini to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit for the seat
previously held by Christopher
Droney who assumed senior status on June 30, 2019.
It is critical that the Senate Judiciary Committee carefully review Nardini’s record before confirming him. If he and Steven Menashi, President Trump’s other pending nominee to the Second Circuit, are both confirmed, the Second Circuit will contain seven Republican appointed judges and six Democratic appointed judges. This would flip the Second Circuit from Democrat to Republican.
On September 19, 2019, President Trump nominated William
J. Nardini to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit for the seat
previously held by Christopher
Droney who assumed senior status on June 30, 2019.
It is critical that the Senate
Judiciary Committee carefully review Nardini’s record before confirming him. If
he and Steven Menashi, President Trump’s other pending nominee to the Second
Circuit, are both confirmed, the Second Circuit will contain seven Republican
appointed judges and six Democratic appointed judges. This would flip the Second
Circuit from Democrat to Republican.
William Nardini graduated with
his B.A. from Georgetown University and his J.D. from Yale Law School. Nardini was a Fulbright
Scholar and received his LL.M. in European Comparative and International Law at
the European University Institute.
Following law school, he clerked for
Judges José A. Cabranes and Guido Calabresi, both on the Second Circuit, and
Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. Nardini was the U.S. Department of Justice Attaché
to Italy from 2010-2014.
He is currently the Criminal Chief of
the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut, where he served
from 2000-2010, and returned in 2014 after his work in Italy. Among his notable cases, he investigated the
corruption between law enforcement officers and members of the Irish Winter
Hill Gang which resulted in the indictment and conviction of former FBI
Supervisory Special Agent John Connolly and former Massachusetts State Police
Lt. Richard Schneiderhan. United
States v. Connolly, 341 F.3d 16 (1st Cir.
2003).
Among his writings of interest is an
article titled Passive Activism and the Limits of Judicial Self-Restraint:
Lessons for America from the Italian Constitutional Court. Nardini compared
how the Italian and United States Supreme Courts’ performed statutory review.
He noted that the Italian Supreme Court will interpret the statute and “read in
‘missing’ parts.” Nardini wrote
the American courts can “draw some useful lessons from the Italian practice” by
shifting some of the burden of reform to the legislature when forceful judicial
action would disrupt the orderly working of government or when crafting
remedial orders would push judges into policy making normally reserved for
legislators.