THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary ________________________________________________________________________ For Immediate Release September 14, 1994 PRESIDENT NAMES EIGHT TO FEDERAL BENCH President Clinton today nominated Karen Nelson Moore to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. The President also nominated the following seven individuals to serve on the United States District Court: Roslyn Moore- Silver for the District of Arizona; Maxine M. Chesney for the Northern District of California; Alvin W. Thompson for the District of Connecticut; James Robertson for the District of Columbia; Thomas B. Russell for the Western District of Kentucky; William H. Walls for the District of New Jersey; and Sidney H. Stein for the Southern District of New York. "These nominees will bring excellence to the federal bench," the President said. "Their commitment to public service and to equal justice for all Americans is outstanding." Karen Nelson Moore, 45, is the Arthur E. Petersilge Professor of Law at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. She has been a professor at Case Western Reserve since 1977, and has focused her academic work in the areas of federal court procedure and federal income taxation. Moore is a Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude graduate of Harvard-Radcliffe College in 1970 and a 1973 magna cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School. Following her graduation, Moore served as a law clerk to Judge Malcolm R. Wilkey of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and then as a law clerk for Justice Harry A. Blackmun of the U.S. Supreme Court. She practiced law for two years at Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue in Cleveland prior to her academic career. Moore was elected to the American Law Institute in 1984, has chaired several committees of the Association of American Law Schools, and has served as a trustee of the Cleveland Bar Association. In 1989, Moore was elected a Master Bencher -- the highest level of membership -- of the Judge Anthony J. Celebrezze Inn of Court, a group of distinguished lawyers, judges, and academics who meet regularly to discuss issues in the practice of litigation. Upon confirmation, Moore would become one of 16 judges for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, which hears cases from Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee. Roslyn Moore-Silver, 48, has served as Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona from 1980 to 1984 and from 1987 to the present, and has been Criminal Division Chief since 1989. From 1984 to 1986, she served as Assistant Attorney General for the State of Arizona. She has also worked as a trial attorney for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission; as counsel to the Greyhound Corporation; and as a lawyer for the Navajo Nation's Native American Rights Fund. Moore-Silver earned a B.A. degree from the University of California at Santa Barbara and a J.D. degree from the Arizona State University College of Law. She and her husband, Steven J. Silver, live in Phoenix, Arizona. Maxine M. Chesney, 51, has served as a judge on the San Francisco Superior Court since 1983. Previously, she served as a judge on the San Francisco Municipal Court from 1979 to 1983, and was a trial attorney with the San Francisco District Attorney's Office from 1968 to 1979. She received a B.A. degree from the University of California at Berkeley and a J.D. degree from the University of California, Boalt Hall. She and her husband, Edward Stern, live in San Francisco, California. James Robertson, 56, has been a partner at Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering in Washington, D.C. since 1973, where he specializes in commercial and general civil litigation. From 1969 to 1972, Robertson served first as Chief Counsel for the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law in Jackson, Mississippi, and then as National Executive Director of the Lawyers Committee. Robertson recently completed a term as the President of the District of Columbia Bar Association. Robertson earned an A.B. degree from Princeton University and an LL.B. from George Washington University. He and his wife, Berit S. Robertson, have three children and live in Rockville, Maryland. Alvin W. Thompson, 41, is managing partner of the Hartford, Connecticut firm of Robinson & Cole, where he has practiced since 1978. He also serves as a member of the Editorial Board of Business Law Today. Thompson graduated from Princeton University and from Yale Law School. He and his wife, Lesley M. Thompson, have three children and live in Windsor, Connecticut. Thomas B. Russell, 48, is a partner with the Paducah, Kentucky law firm of Whitlow, Roberts, Houston & Russell, where he has practiced since 1970. He specializes in civil litigation. Russell has served as president of the Kentucky Bar Association and the McCracken County Bar Association. He earned a B.A. degree from Western Kentucky University and a J.D. degree from the University of Kentucky College of Law. He and his wife, Mary B. Russell, have two children and live in Paducah, Kentucky. William H. Walls, 61, is a judge on the New Jersey Superior Court, where he has served since 1979. Walls has also served as a judge on the Newark Municipal Court and as Corporation Counsel for the City of Newark. Walls graduated from Dartmouth College and from Yale Law School. He has two grown children and lives in Newark, New Jersey. Sidney H. Stein, 49, is a founding partner of the Manhattan litigation firm of Stein, Zauderer, Ellenhorn, Frischer & Sharp. Previously, he practiced with Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. From 1972 to 1973, Stein was a law clerk to Judge Stanley Fuld of the New York Court of Appeals. Stein is also a monthly columnist for the New York Law Journal. He graduated from Princeton University and from Yale Law School. Stein and his wife, Helen C. Stein, have three children and live in New York City. -30 -30 -30-