Terry Hatter

Terry Hatter

Nonpartisan

United States District Court for the Central District of California (senior status)

Tenure

2005 - Present

Years in position

20

Prior offices

United States District Court for the Central District of California

Successor: Philip Gutierrez

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Education

Bachelor's

Wesleyan University, 1954

Law

University of Chicago Law School, 1960

Personal

Birthplace

Chicago, Ill.

Contact

Official website

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Terry J. Hatter, Jr. is a federal judge for the United States District Court for the Central District of California. He joined the court in 1979 after being nominated by President Jimmy Carter. Hatter is serving on senior status.

Early life and education

A native of Chicago, Hatter graduated from Wesleyan University with his bachelor's degree in 1954 and later graduated from the University of Chicago Law School with his J.D. degree in 1960.

Professional career

• U.S. Air Force NCO-In-Charge, 1955-1956
• Adjudicator, U.S. Veterans Administration, Chicago, Illinois, 1960-1961
• Private practice, Chicago, Illinois, 1961-1962
• Assistant public defender, Cook County, Illinois, 1961-1962
• Assistant U.S. attorney, Northern District of California, 1962-1966
• Special assistant U.S. attorney, Eastern District of California, 1965-1966
• Chief counsel, San Francisco Neighborhood Legal Assistance Foundation, 1966-1967
• Regional legal services director, Office of Economic Opportunity, San Francisco, California, 1967-1970
• Executive director, Western Center on Law and Poverty, Los Angeles, California, 1970-1973
• Associate clinical professor of law, University of Southern California Law Center, 1970-1974
• Professor of law, Loyola University, Los Angeles, California, 1973-1975
• Special assistant to the mayor and director of criminal justice planning, Los Angeles, California, 1974-1975
• Special assistant to the mayor and director of urban development, Los Angeles, California, 1975-1977
• Judge, Superior Court of California, Los Angeles County, 1977-1980

Judicial career

Central District of California

On the recommendation of U.S. Senator Alan Cranston, Hatter was nominated by President Jimmy Carter on September 28, 1979 to a new seat created by 92 Stat. 1629 which was approved by Congress. Hatter was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on December 19, 1979 on a Senate vote and received commission on December 20, 1979. Hatter served as the Chief Judge of the court from 1998 to 2001 and assumed senior status on April 22, 2005.

Noteworthy cases

Judges go to court over salaries (2009-2013)

See also: United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Peter H. Beer, et al., v. United States, . 09-CV-037)

Judge Hatter was one of six judges who sued the government on a claim that Congress violated the Constitution's compensation clause and the Ethics Reform Act of 1989 by failing to honor promised judicial salary increases in five separate years. Earlier reports of the case indicated Judges Thomas Hogan and James Robertson were part of the suit, though they were not named parties in the final opinions and orders.

The Ethics Reform Act requires automatic adjustment of judicial salaries every year based on the Employment Cost Index--which measures inflation of wages and benefits--unless severe economic conditions make the raise inappropriate. The U.S. Congress claimed its withholding of salary adjustments for federal judges were due to a lack of funds.

On October 16, 2009, a federal claims court judge dismissed the lawsuit, citing a precedential decision titled Williams v. United States. It was held in that case that Congress could decide not to grant the cost of living adjustments so long as they did so in the fiscal year prior to that in which the increase would be payable. The judges expected and acknowledged the decision based on the precedent, but said that their hope was to overturn the Williams decision, and planned an immediate appeal to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

On October 5, 2012, the Federal Circuit ruled in favor of the judges, overturning the 11-year old Williams precedent, and finding that Congress' withholding of the cost-of-living salary raises were illegal. The en banc opinion was written by Judge Randall Rader, who quoted Alexander Hamilton, saying, "next to permanency in office, nothing can contribute more to the independence of the judges than a fixed provision for their support." The judges commented that members of their profession should not have to fear that their livelihood will be subject to reprisals from other branches of government, and that as the "weakest of the three branches of government," the judiciary "must...not place its will within the reach of political whim."

The panel decided that "all sitting federal judges are entitled to expect that their real salary will not diminish due to inflation or the action or inaction of the other branches of government," and ordered the Court of Federal Claims to calculate the judges' damages and additional compensation they were entitled to.

Judges Timothy Dyk and William Bryson dissented. They wrote that although the decision seemed just in consideration "to the nation's underpaid Article III judges," the overturning of the Supreme Court's clear interpretation of the law in Williams, as well as a previous refusal to re-hear the issue by the highest court, indicates that the majority overstepped its authority.

In June of 2013, the judge Eric G. Bruggink ruled that each of the judges could recover about $150,000 of back-pay from the government. He also ordered the government to pay interest on the pre-tax amount of the judgment.

• The other plaintiffs were Judges: Peter Beer, Wallace Tashima, U. W. Clemon, Laurence Silberman, and Richard Paez.
• Judge Bruggink's opinion on remand and order directing back pay may be found here.

See also

• United States District Court for the Central District of California

External links

• Judge Terry Hatter's Biography at the Federal Judicial Center

Footnotes

Political offices
Preceded by: NA-New Seat	Central District of California 1979–2005 Seat #17	Succeeded by: Philip Gutierrez