Presiding 3rd District Judge Michael Murphy is President Clinton's choice for a vacancy on the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals created by the retirement last year of Judge Monroe McKay.
The FBI this week started the background check on Murphy that is required before Murphy can be formally nominated for the post. The American Bar Association will do its own background check, issuing a separate report on Murphy.Murphy declined comment Tuesday on the pending nomination. But Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, confirmed Tuesday that Clinton had picked Murphy. "Judge Murphy is an excellent choice, an honest, able person with fine intellectual credentials," Hatch said.
"The administration has made a good choice out of a group of outstanding candidates. I respect Judge Murphy. He will be a great
addition . . . and a great counterpart to our other outstanding Utah (appeals) judge, Stephen Anderson."
Murphy, 47, was a finalist last
year for a vacancy on the Utah Supreme Court and was considered for a vacancy earlier this year on Utah's U.S. District Court bench.
Murphy was nearly selected for that post, but Clinton wanted to select a woman for the position, Hatch said in the statement. U.S. District Bankruptcy Judge Judith Boulden was the only other female federal judge in Utah prior to Clinton's nomination of Assistant U.S. Attorney Tena Campbell to the bench.
Campbell's nomination has not yet been considered by the Senate.
Murphy has been a driving force behind the $72 million courts complex that will be built in downtown Salt Lake City this year. He was on the Judicial Council Task Force on Alternative Dispute Resolution, now a legislatively mandated pilot program in his district.
He chaired the Judicial Oversight Committee on Child Support Guidelines in 1988 which recommended an increase in child support for Utah's children. He is also a player in the state's move toward state sentencing guidelines, serving on the state's sentencing commission.
Murphy is a native of Rawlings, Wyo. He graduated from the University of Wyoming law school with honors in 1972. He clerked for 10th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge David Lewis, then joined the Salt Lake law firm of Jones, Waldo, Holbrook & McDonough. He was appointed to the 3rd District Court bench in 1986.
Utah Supreme Court Justice Christine Durham, U.S. Attorney Scott Matheson and local attorney Dan Berman were also considered for the post. Berman withdrew his name from consideration in January.
Utah's only other judge on the federal appeals court is Anderson, who was nominated by Reagan. Murphy would fill the last opening on the court, maintaining Utah's usual complement of two judges on the 12-judge panel. Nine fill-time judges are sitting, with two other nominations - Mary Beck Briscoe of the Kansas Court of Appeals and Colorado lawyer Carlos Lucero - awaiting Senate confirmation.
The 10th Circuit includes Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, Kansas and Oklahoma.