Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Hug takes over ‘most liberal’ court in land

RENO -- The twinkle in his eyes disappears and the face of Judge Procter Hug Jr. stiffens slightly when he's asked why his 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has a soft-on-crime reputation.

Criticism that the 9th Circuit is the most liberal in the nation is a bum rap, says Hug, elevated last month to chief judge of the sprawling circuit, the highest post a Nevadan has held in the federal judicial system.

"In some cases we have taken a different view than other circuits and sometimes they are innovative ... sometimes they are different," he says.

One example is Richard Moran, executed March 30 in the state prison for the murder of two people in Las Vegas. The circuit court in 1992 overturned the death penalty for Moran, who had pleaded guilty and had waived his right to a lawyer.

The court held that competency to waive constitutional rights requires a higher level of mental functioning than that required to stand trial. But the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that was wrong and reinstated the death sentence.

Hug notes that a number of the 8,500 cases the court handles each year are highly charged. An example, he said, is the court's 7-4 ruling that it's unconstitutional for states to make English their official language and require its use for most government actions.

The Supreme Court last month agreed to take a look at that Arizona case to see whether the 9th Circuit was right. Hug was in the majority on that decision.

"We are considered a liberal court," Hug says as he sits on a couch in his offices on the eighth floor of the Bank of America building in Reno.

"But it's about half Republican, half Democrat ... it's a good balance. ... It makes a difference in a small number (of decisions) -- maybe 3-4 percent -- as to political philosophy."

About six years ago, 26 of 27 decisions by the 9th Circuit were overturned by the Supreme Court. Hug called that a "bad year."

But the circuit in recent years has been close to the national average of 75 percent of cases reversed by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Hug describes himself as "neither conservative nor liberal ... pretty much down the middle. I'm generally hard to pigeonhole."

Hug has been on the court for 18 years and will serve as chief judge for five years, until he reaches age 70.

Breakup battle

One of the first challenges he sees is to prevent a breakup of the 9th Circuit. Republicans in the Senate argue that the district is too big to serve nine Western states and two territories. And they want to split off California because they believe its judges do not reflect the conservative West on criminal and environmental issues.

A bill to split the court failed this year, but the matter will be the subject of a federal study. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., was among those who blocked the legislation to split the court.

"Our circuit is working very well but some of the judges in the Eastern and Southern parts of the country think only a small circuit court can operate efficiently," Hug says.

When he came to the court in 1978, there were 3,500 cases a year and 23 judges. Now the court has 8,500 cases and 28 judges. That's a 178 percent increase in cases and a 22 percent increase in judges.

"We've done a lot of things to efficiently handle these cases," he says.

Although the court is based in San Francisco, Hug will continue to have his offices in Reno, where he will oversee the 27 other judges and 11 senior circuit judges in the district.

During his term, Hug intends to make sure bitterness doesn't fester among the judges. Conscious of the infighting on the Nevada Supreme Court, Hug says the 9th Circuit "can't be effective if there are personal antagonisms that are dividing the court, especially when we have as many judges as we do."

He's "saddened" by what's happening on the Nevada Supreme Court. Justice Charles Springer used to be his law partner. Justice Cliff Young was once his neighbor. Hug and Bob Rose were in Democratic Party politics together. He has a long friendship with Chief Justice Tom Steffen and a good but brief relationship with Justice Miriam Shearing.

Volatile times

Hug attributes a lot of his success "to the fact I've been able to get along with people. I've always been able to create a consensus, like on the Board of Regents."

While chairman of the university regents, Hug underwent one of his "first tests of character."

It was during the Vietnam War and protests were growing at universities across the United States. It was "Governor's Day" on the University of Nevada, Reno campus in May 1970, a time to honor the military students.

Five days before, four students had been shot to death during an anti-war demonstration at Kent State. About 350 students gathered to demonstrate on the Reno campus and when Gov. Paul Laxalt arrived, his car was rocked and one student sprawled himself in front of the vehicle.

There had been an agreement, Hug says, that the protesters would stage their demonstration in one place. But they piled into Mackay Stadium where the military drills and awards ceremony were.

ROTC troops, ready for drill, had bayonets fixed in their rifles when the students and some faculty started weaving in and out of the formation of the troops.

"It was scary," Hug remembers. A small incident could have touched off a major confrontation, but violence was avoided.

Professor fired

University officials singled out English Professor Paul Adamian as the ringleader. The faculty suggested Adamian be disciplined, not fired. President N. Edd Miller agreed. But the regents, headed by Hug, fired Adamian.

Professor Jim Richardson, who took part in the demonstration, remembers the Adamian affair vividly. "They (the regents) over-reacted. He (Hug) responded too quickly to pressure."

The demonstration in Reno was minor compared with what was occurring on other campuses. "At the time, 450 colleges shut down early," Richardson says.

"We saw a man's career smashed," he says, adding that he's good friends now with Hug. After that confrontation, there was a protracted battle between the faculty and regents for 10 years, he says.

"We viewed the Board of Regents as leading the pack to destroy things that were valuable," such as academic freedom, Richardson says.

UNR political science Professor Richard Siegel, also one of the protesters, says Hug "played a crucial role" in the Adamian case. "We have a good relationship now but it's something I won't forget."

The regents, Siegel says, played "prosecutor and judge" by ignoring the recommendations of the faculty and President Miller for a lesser punishment.

Hug says he can understand that people thought he over-reacted.

But he had been meeting with attorneys from other universities and "the biggest danger was to let things progress," such as student occupation of buildings as happened on other campuses.

"It was my view we had to nip it in the bud," the judge recalls. Out of this incident, Hug wrote a code of conduct for faculty and students that was adopted.

He also wrote a policy for censorship of campus publications that used offensive or vulgar language. He advocated a semester-by-semester review to determine whether university funding of these publications should be continued.

"This was not about content," Hug says. "It was about language like 'f this, f that.' That's the way everybody was speaking in those days but it was creating a helluva big problem for us in the community. We, as the university regents, were the editorial board."

The policy was never adopted.

At that time, Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa was UNR's student body president. As a student, she spent a summer as an intern in Hug's Reno law office. She remembers him from those days as "very friendly, down to earth."

Nevertheless, she said, she probably agreed then with the university president that a suspension was in order, not a dismissal.

Springer was hired to represent Adamian and ended up suing his former law partner, Hug.

But Hug says that never bothered him and they remained good friends.

That incident help launch the Springer independent candidacy for governor, in which he placed third in the 1970 election.

"It was a very trying time," Hug says. "Certainly one of the most significant times as far as being stressful and attempting to handle things fairly."

When Hug left the Board of Regents in 1971, he was praised by the Nevada State Journal in Reno: "When his theories of how the university should function have run counter to that of faculty, students or the administration, he has held fast, but always without rancor or bombast."

Native Nevadan

Hug was born in Reno, the son of Procter and Mary Hug. Hug Sr. served as superintendent of schools for Washoe County and later was a state senator.

Hug Jr. attended Sparks High School where he lettered in basketball, football and track. He once held the western Nevada record for the hurdles.

He went on to UNR where he was elected student body president and was on the track team for four years. Hug and his wife, Barbara, graduated from UNR and he then entered the Navy for two years. When he returned, he attended Stanford and graduated in 1958.

He was the first Nevada graduate of Stanford Law School to pass the Nevada bar examination before he graduated.

When Hug returned to Reno, he teamed up with Springer in Democratic Party politics. They overthrew the incumbents in Washoe County and became allies with Grant Sawyer, who was launching his run for governor.

Hug's first try for political office was the regents in 1960. He ran just out of the money. But when Regent Newt Crumley died, Gov. Sawyer appointed Hug.

After a decade on the Board of Regents, Hug took over as general counsel to the university system from 1972 to 1976. In September 1977, President Jimmy Carter appointed him to the court of appeals.

Richardson notes it's ironic that Hug, seen as a conservative while a regent, heads the most liberal circuit court in the nation.

Hug is viewed by court observers in San Francisco as a "moderate Democrat." He has written about 450 opinions in his 18 years but says he can't pick out the ones he thinks are most significant.

On March 1, he succeeded J. Clifford Wallace as chief judge of the circuit that includes nine Western states as well as Guam and the Mariana Islands.

He doesn't envision any problems keeping his office in Reno with the court based in San Francisco. E-mail, faxes and other electronic equipment help keep him in touch. The last two chief judges were based in San Diego and Pasadena.

When he reaches 70, Hug intends to take senior status, working half time as a judge.

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