7TH INTO NINE:

Rising near the top of U.S. judicial hierarchy: Supreme Court goal in Easterbrook reach (DAN HERBECK, 12/25/2006, Buffalo News)

When Frank H. Easterbrook was a teenager, winning awards for playing the French horn and acting in plays at Kenmore West High School, his father could tell there was something special about him.

"You could see he was brilliant and exceptional," George Easterbrook recently recalled of his son. "Frank was the kind of kid who could set his mind to something and always accomplish it."

So the elder Easterbrook is not surprised that his son is now one of the most quoted federal judges in America or that he was recently named chief judge of the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago - one step below the U.S. Supreme Court.

"From the day Frank graduated from law school, his goal was to be appointed to the Supreme Court one day," said George Easterbrook, 88, a retired dentist now living in Lewiston. "I hope he makes it."

Several major publications - including the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post and the Chicago Tribune - have mentioned the 57-year-old judge as a possible future candidate for the Supreme Court.

Interviewed from his vacation home in Glacier Valley, Alaska, the judge told The Buffalo News that "of course" he would jump at the chance to join the Supreme Court one day.

"Most appellate judges have thought about that. . . . The Supreme Court gets the most interesting issues in the land," Easterbrook said. "But there's only one thing that counts, and that is the name that the president sends on to the Senate, when he nominates someone."

For now, Easterbrook said he is "not looking forward" to the new challenge of his legal career, heading one of the busiest federal appeals courts in the country.

While he considers it an honor to lead the 7th Circuit Court, Easterbrook said the position of chief judge adds all kinds of "administrative headaches," including the role of disciplinarian, to the work he really enjoys - examining complex legal issues and writing about them.

Legal publications have called Easterbrook one of the most frequently cited federal judges of his generation. A poll conducted two years ago by Legal Affairs magazine called him one of the 20 best legal minds in America.

Rumor has it that Justice Stevens believes that since he was appointed by a Republican his replacement should be too, so you could be hearing alot about Judge Easterbrook soon.

Posted by Orrin Judd at January 2, 2007 8:11 AM