Justin R. Walker

Justin Reed Walker (born 1982) He was named after Justin Hayward, the front man for the musical group The Moody Blues.

Legal career After law school, Walker spent one year in private practice at the law firm Gibson Dunn. He was a law clerk to then-judge Brett Kavanaugh of the D.C. Circuit from 2010 to 2011 and to justice Anthony Kennedy of the U.S. Supreme Court from 2011 to 2012.

After his clerkships, Walker returned to Gibson Dunn from 2012 to 2013. During the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation hearings for the Supreme Court, Walker gave 119 interviews to the media defending Kavanaugh, and gave several paid speeches to the Federalist Society.

From 2015 to 2019, Walker was a professor at the University of Louisville School of Law, where he taught legal writing. In July 2018, Walker had a paper published in The George Washington Law Review reflecting on President Trump's dismissal of FBI Director James Comey and arguing, "calls for an independent F.B.I. are misguided and dangerous... the F.B.I. must not operate as an independent agency. It must be accountable to the President." The American Bar Association (ABA) rated Walker "not qualified," saying that Walker "has a very substantial gap, namely the absence of any significant trial experience." The ABA stated that "Mr. Walker does not meet the minimum professional competence standard necessary to perform the responsibilities required by the high office of a federal district court judge."

On June 24, 2019, his nomination was sent to the Senate. On July 31, 2019, a hearing on his nomination was held before the Senate Judiciary Committee. On October 17, 2019, his nomination was reported out of committee by a 12–10 vote. On October 24, 2019, the United States Senate invoked cloture on his nomination by a 50–39 vote and later that day his nomination was confirmed by a 50–41 vote. He received his judicial commission on October 25, 2019. His service terminated on September 2, 2020, due to elevation to the court of appeals.

In April 2020, Walker blocked Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer from implementing an order preventing drive-in church services on Easter to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Walker compared the order to "the pages of a dystopian novel", and said that Fischer "criminalized the communal celebration of Easter". and that Fischer had twice attempted to contact the court to communicate this fact, which would have rendered the case moot. The Volokh Conspiracy described the opinion's rhetoric as "over-the-top"; the decision irrelevantly listed deceased former Klan members affiliated with the Democratic Party.

Justin R. Walker U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing - July 31, 2019

D.C. Circuit

On April 3, 2020, President Donald Trump announced his intent to nominate Walker to serve as Circuit Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. On May 4, 2020, his nomination was sent to the Senate. President Trump nominated Walker to the seat being vacated by Judge Thomas B. Griffith, who retired on September 1, 2020. According to The New York Times, Walker's nomination was handpicked by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Walker has been described as McConnell's protégé. On May 6, 2020, a hearing on his nomination was held before the Senate Judiciary Committee. On June 4, 2020, his nomination was reported out of committee by a 12–10 vote. On June 17, 2020, the Senate invoked cloture on his nomination by a 52–46 vote. On June 18, 2020, his nomination was confirmed by a 51–42 vote. He received his judicial commission on September 2, 2020.

Selected scholarly works