Reno lawyer suggested for appeals court

Thursday, Oct. 7, 1999 | 11:29 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- A Reno lawyer who headed the election recount team for Sen. Harry Reid is being recommended by Reid for appointment to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Reid, D-Nev., has sent a letter to President Clinton suggesting he nominate Steven T. Walther, who specializes in corporate, security and finance law, business transactions and civil litigation.

Walther would succeed Judge Melvin Brunetti, a former Carson City lawyer, who was named to the appeals court in San Francisco in April 1985 by President Reagan. Brunetti plans to take senior status on the court.

Reid's press secretary David Cherry confirmed Wednesday that the senator had recommended Walther, but Clinton so far has not given an answer. Traditionally the president accepts the recommendation of the senior senator of the congressional delegation for such circuit court and federal district court nominations.

Any nomination by the president must be confirmed by the Senate. That has been a lengthy process in the past. The average time from nomination to confirmation of 65 judges in 1998 was more than 230 days, according to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Some judges' nominations have taken years to get through the process.

Cherry said Reid and Walther are longtime friends. In the recount last year in Reid's race with John Ensign, Walther was chairman of the Reid team that monitored the results.

Walther, 56, gained a bachelor's degree in Russian from Notre Dame in 1965 and his law degree from the University of California's Boalt Hall School of Law in Berkeley in 1968. He has practiced law in Nevada since then.

He was a member and chairman of the Nevada State Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights; a member of the Nevada Indian Commission from 1970-1973; and co-chairman of the American Bar Association Task Force on War Crimes in Ethiopia from 1993 to 1995.

He served on the board of governors of the state bar from 1978 to 1991 and was president of the bar from 1990 to 1991. He is also a member of the Nevada Trial Lawyers Association.

Brunetti, 65, graduated from the University of Nevada, Reno in 1960 and received his law degree from the University of California's Hastings School of Law in San Francisco in 1964. He practiced law in Carson City and served as president of the state bar from 1984 to 1985.

He was recommended for his present job by former Sen. Paul Laxalt.

The other Nevada member of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court is Chief Judge Procter Hug of Reno, appointed by President Jimmy Carter.