THERE IS A GREAT DEAL of analysis on the California recall court case, with some of the best available at the blogs of Loyola law prof Rick Hasen, University of Iowa law prof Tung Yin, and the SoCalLawBlog . These sites don’t mince words when it comes to the reputation and record of the 9th Circuit, and the Monday decision’s display of judicial willfulness. So much time is spent dissecting the panel’s per curiam opinion, however, that too little attention is paid to the three judges who produced it. I will leave it to others to provide the lengthy specs on judges Richard Paez and Sidney Thomas–Clinton appointees both. (Those should be interesting pieces: Judge Paez, for example, trained as an activist in his legal career before taking the oath and joining the Bench, serving as a lawyer at the Western Center on Law & Poverty and with California Rural Legal Assistance. He also served a long stretch in the judicial confirmation process, waiting four years between the time of his nomination to the circuit and his confirmation.)

The third justice is 79-year-old Justice Harry Pregerson. His service to the country preceded his time on the bench. He was a lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps from 1944 to 1946. He was severely wounded during the battle for Okinawa. Justice Pregerson obviously does not lack for courage.