Senate confirms Mark J. Bennett to Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals

KAILUA-KONA — The United States Senate Tuesday confirmed President Donald Trump’s nomination of Honolulu attorney Mark J. Bennett to serve as a judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Confirmation came by a vote of 72-27, according to a press release from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Bennett, who will maintain chambers in Honolulu, was nominated to the court on Feb. 15. After appearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on April 11, his nomination was reported to the Senate floor on May 10. He will fill a judgeship vacant since Dec. 31, 2016, when Judge Richard R. Clifton of Honolulu assumed senior status.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals hears appeals of cases decided by executive branch agencies and federal trial courts in nine western states and two Pacific Island jurisdictions. The court normally meets monthly in Seattle, Washington; San Francisco, California; and Pasadena, California; every other month in Portland, Oregon; three times per year in Honolulu, Hawaii; and twice a year in Anchorage, Alaska.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit had 11,096 new case filings in fiscal year 2017. The court is authorized 29 judges and currently has six vacancies and one future vacancy.

Bennett’s most recent position was director of Starn, O’Toole, Marcus & Fisher in Honolulu since 2011. His career includes many posts, among them Hawaii Attorney General from 2003 to 2010, an adjunct professor of law at the University of Hawaii William S. Richardson School of Law from 1991 to 1993, and an assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Hawaii, from 1982 to 1989, and for the District of Columbia, from 1980 to 1982.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Bennett received his bachelor’s degree from Union College and his Jurist Doctor degree from Cornell Law School in 1979. Following law school, he clerked for then-Chief District Judge Samuel P. King of the U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii from 1979 to 1980.