On the recordMarch 9, 2000
No. The circuit did. Judge Paez's decision, as I understand it, did not go to the Supreme Court because it couldn't go to the California Supreme Court. The circuit itself then changed their earlier decision, came back to the beginning, and had to follow the new decision, which he very much explained in his confirmation hearing. He said, among other things, that he lives in these neighborhoods; he has concerns himself. But the point is, just as some Federal judge in my State would have to follow the Second Circuit's decisions, and a Federal judge in the State of New Hampshire would have to follow the First Circuit's decisions, he is caught kind of between a rock and a hard place. What I am basically saying is, he should have followed his own stare decisis. Yet, if he didn't, then he is an activist judge. This man is damned if he does and damned if he doesn't.
Source
govinfo.gov
