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50-600: A decade earlier, the Shark Finning Prohibition Act (SFPA) had been passed to combat the increased practice of removing fins from sharks, usually taken in bycatch by longline fishing vessels, to satisfy increased demand for shark fin soup , a delicacy in China. In 2008, a federal appeals court ruled in United States v. Approximately 64,695 Pounds of Shark Fins that transshipment of fins taken by other vessels

100-601: A Bachelor of Arts degree in government in 1951. In 1954, he received a Bachelor of Laws from Yale Law School . After law school, Reinhardt worked at the legal counsel's office for the United States Air Force as a lieutenant in Washington, D.C. Two years later, he clerked for United States District Judge Luther Youngdahl , a former governor of Minnesota , of the United States District Court for

150-615: A bienniel report on the enforcement of the law the names of nations which had not made significant efforts to stop shark finning . The original bill, the Shark Conservation Act of 2008 ( H.R. 5741 ), was introduced in May 2008 by Del. Madeleine Bordallo ( D - GU ). It was referred to the Natural Resources Committee, and then to its Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife and Oceans , chaired by Bordallo. Hearings were held

200-413: A scenario involving the sale and transfer of fins while on the high seas. In June, the subcommittee met to mark up the bill. Bordallo's amendment tightening the language prohibiting vessel transport of fins was passed by voice vote . A week later the full committee, after adding an amendment by Faleomavaega requiring that fins be attached to the carcasses, sent the bill to the full House. In July, it

250-471: A valid State license within 50 nautical miles (93 km; 58 mi) of any given State's coast. Shark finning refers to the practice of cutting the fins from live sharks while at sea, and then discarding the rest of the fish back into the ocean. If they are still alive, the sharks either die from suffocation or are eaten because they are unable to move normally. Shark finning is widespread, and largely unregulated and unmonitored. The practice has been on

300-566: A week later. In his report on the bill, Natural Resources Committee Chair Nick Rahall explicitly stated that its primary purpose was to close a loophole in the SFPA that had been successfully exploited in its first test case. When that bill was passed in 2000, he noted, Delegate Eni Faleomavaega ( D - AS ) had raised the question of exactly the sort of transshipment the KD II had been engaged in. Faleomavaega had introduced an amendment to that bill banning

350-517: The Fife was sent aboard to investigate, and found 32.3 short tons (29.3 t) of shark fins rotting in various locations on board, without any carcasses on board. The King Diamond II was escorted to San Diego , where the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Office of Law Enforcement finished the investigation. The ship's owner, captain and charterer were fined over $ 600,000 for

400-415: The Shark Finning Prohibition Act (SFPA), signed into law by Bill Clinton . It outlawed any finning by any vessels in the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone (up to 200 nautical miles (370 km; 230 mi) offshore), and possession of fins by any U.S.-flagged fishing vessels on international waters . It also prohibited any fishing vessel from landing at a U.S. port with shark fins whose weight exceeded 5% of

450-589: The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit , to a new seat authorized by 92 Stat. 1629. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on September 11, 1980, and received his commission on September 11, 1980. His service terminated on March 29, 2018, due to his death. Reinhardt continued his public service as Secretary of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee and as a member of

500-608: The Board of Directors of the Los Angeles Amateur Athletic Foundation. Reinhardt administered the oath of office to former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on July 1, 2005. Reinhardt's mother divorced his father and married movie director Gottfried Reinhardt , the son of director Max Reinhardt . Stephen Reinhardt's first wife was Mary Wainwright, whom he married in 1956 and with whom he had three children. They divorced after nearly 25 years. His second wife

550-636: The District of Columbia . He then entered private practice, working for the law firm O'Melveny & Myers from 1958 to 1959 practicing entertainment law . After two years at O'Melveny, he began working at a small firm in Los Angeles that became Fogel, Julber, Reinhardt, Rothschild & Feldman, specializing in labor law . Reinhardt served as a member of the United States Commission on Civil Rights , California Advisory Committee from 1962 to 1974 and

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600-795: The Ocean Wildlife Campaign, a coalition that includes the Center for Marine Conservation , National Audubon Society , National Coalition for Marine Conservation , Natural Resources Defense Council , Wildlife Conservation Society , and the World Wildlife Fund . In addition, it is supported by the State of Hawaii Office of Hawaiian Affairs, the American Sportfishing Association, the Recreational Fishing Alliance,

650-670: The Sportfishing Association of California, the Cousteau Society , and the Western Pacific Fisheries Coalition." The Act made it illegal to: By way of definition, the Act created a " rebuttable presumption that any shark fins landed from a fishing vessel or found on board a fishing vessel were taken, held, or landed in violation ... if the total weight of shark fins landed or found on board exceeds 5 percent of

700-534: The Supreme Court are likely to reverse him." Reinhardt rejected originalism , and believed the Constitution could bring justice to everyone, especially the underprivileged. Reinhardt was also a cynic and a pragmatist as well as a liberal. In May 2017, in the legal opinion of Magana Ortiz v. Sessions, Reinhardt admitted he could not stop a deportation, and said he had to allow it as a judge, although he would not as

750-532: The Supreme Court, tied for the tenth highest number during the same time period. One of Reinhardt's former clerks, Cornell law professor Michael Dorf , said that when Reinhardt "believes himself clearly bound by Supreme Court precedent with which he disagrees, he states his disagreement but follows the precedent." Dorf accounts for Reinhardt's reversal rate by stating that "Reinhardt resolves cases under existing precedent as he believes those precedents should be read, without regard to whether five or more Justices of

800-474: The bill eliminated entirely the fins-to-carcass ratio that was established by the Shark Finning Prohibition Act (SFPA), and replaced it with language forbidding any U.S.-flagged vessel (not just fishing vessels) from carrying "any [shark] fin that is not naturally attached to the corresponding carcass", mirroring a law already adopted by Hawaii . In addition, it required that the Secretary of Commerce include in

850-614: The case for further proceedings. In 2020, after Judge Reinhardt's death, a staff attorney at the Center for Death Penalty Litigation in Durham, North Carolina testified before the Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet that Judge Reinhardt had sexually harassed her while she worked for him as a law clerk; her testimony described her efforts to report the harassment. Reinhardt

900-529: The coast of Guatemala , intercepted the King Diamond II , a U.S.-flagged, Hong Kong -based former fishing trawler. A Coast Guard detachment with the Fife was sent aboard to investigate, and found 32.3 short tons (29.3 t) of shark fins rotting in various locations on board, without any corresponding carcasses. The KD II was escorted to San Diego , where the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Office of Law Enforcement finished

950-567: The committee stage and was passed by voice vote in March 2009. Kerry reintroduced it in the Senate a month later; it eventually gained 33 cosponsors there. The Senate Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries and Coast Guard held hearings on the bill in June. The Senate report, by Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia , reiterated that "The bill would clarify in statute what was already popularly understood to be

1000-528: The definition of "fishing vessel" in the Magnuson–Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act . This included not only those engaged in fishing but vessels that "aided and assisted" such fishing, including the refrigeration, storage and transport of fish. Congress believed that language was sufficient. Two years later, that belief would be tested in court. In August 2002, the destroyer USS Fife , patrolling international waters off

1050-592: The end of the session, it was finally discharged from the committee by unanimous consent, and passed with an amendment the same way. The next day the House accepted the Senate amendment and passed the revised bill by voice vote. President Barack Obama signed it into law in January 2011. With respect to the Magnuson–Stevens Act, this Act in its final form replaced the SFPA entirely, and made it illegal: It further defined

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1100-588: The estimates of many conservationists. Shark fins are among the most expensive seafood products in the world, and can fetch up to $ 300 per pound mostly in Asian markets as a soup ingredient." In 2009, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red list of oceanic sharks named 64 species, a third of all oceanic shark species, at risk of extinction due to fishing and shark finning. In 2000, Congress had passed its first legislation addressing shark finning,

1150-576: The fins had not been seized lawfully. To close the loophole, Congress passed the Shark Conservation Act of 2010 , which was signed into law by President Barack Obama on January 4, 2011. Stephen Reinhardt Stephen Roy Reinhardt (born Stephen Roy Shapiro ; March 27, 1931 – March 29, 2018) was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit , with chambers in Los Angeles , California . He

1200-505: The fish back into the ocean. If they are still alive, the sharks either die from suffocation or are eaten because they are unable to move normally. Shark finning is widespread, and largely unregulated and unmonitored. The practice has been on the rise largely due to the increasing demand for shark fins for shark fin soup and traditional cures, particularly in China and its territories. According to WildAid in 2007, "the rapidly expanding and largely unregulated shark fin trade represents one of

1250-426: The following statement upon learning of Reinhardt's death: All of us here at the Ninth Circuit are shocked and deeply saddened by Judge Reinhardt’s death. We have lost a great friend and colleague. As a judge, he was deeply principled, fiercely passionate about the law and fearless in his decisions. He will be remembered as one of the giants of the federal bench. He had a great life that ended much too soon. Reinhardt

1300-537: The investigation. The ship's owner, captain and charterer were fined over $ 600,000 for the largest shark fin arrest ever. But in 2008, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the fins returned . Judge Stephen Reinhardt held for a three-judge panel that a vessel carrying shark fins that it had purchased from other vessels on the high seas did not come under the act since purchasing the fins did not constitute aid or assistance to those who had taken them; thus

1350-448: The largest shark fin arrest ever. But in 2008, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the fins returned. Judge Stephen Reinhardt held for a three-judge panel that a vessel carrying shark fins that it had purchased from other vessels on the high seas did not meet the definition of a fishing vessel . Accordingly, it did not fall within the purview of the SFPA, and therefore the fins had been seized unlawfully. In its draft form,

1400-516: The law regularly. And this Supreme Court - which is the most activist Court there has ever been - is constantly changing the law. So if you really are faithful to the law, you're likely to get reversed because it [the Court] has cut back on rights." When pressed on the issue of his high reversal rate, he once stated "They can't catch 'em all". His reversal rate did not affect his status as a feeder judge —between 2009 and 2013, he placed six of his clerks on

1450-437: The legislation, noting that it had been approved by the House of Representatives in the 110th Congress, but failed to be taken up by the Senate. On July 15, 2009, a group of shark bite victims visited 25 senators and asked the lawmakers to protect sharks and support the act and end shark finning, where a shark's fins are cut off and the body is discarded. Shark Finning Prohibition Act The Shark Finning Prohibition Act

1500-407: The most serious threats to shark populations worldwide, and shark fins are now among the most expensive seafood products in the world, commonly retailing at US$ 400 per kg, with the most expensive selling for US$ 1,000 per kg." According to Discovery News, "[u]p to 73 million sharks are killed annually for their lucrative fins." During the congressional discussion, Shark finning was called "one of

1550-684: The most visible and controversial conservation issues in the waters of the Pacific Ocean". While the practice of finning had already been banned in Federal waters of the Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean, as well as waters in 11 coastal States, it remained unregulated in the Pacific. This legislation was designed to address that problem. According to the bill's proponent, the bill was "strongly supported by

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1600-661: The possession of the fins without the carcasses by fishing vessels , and the landing of same by any vessel. "With this amendment," Rahall wrote, "the Committee assumed that finning, as well as transshipment, would be successfully prohibited". Specifically, the SFPA was an amendment to the Magnuson–Stevens Act , which defined fishing vessels to include those "aiding or assisting ... in the performance of any activity relating to fishing, including, but not limited to, ... transportation." The SFPA had failed, however, to adequately cover

1650-512: The rise largely due to the increasing demand for shark fins for shark fin soup and traditional cures, particularly in China and its territories. Studies estimate that 26 to 73 million sharks are harvested annually for their fins. The estimated median of 38 million is nearly four times the number recorded by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations , but considerably lower than

1700-648: The scope of application of the SFPA" prior to the case, but did not otherwise make any commentary regarding it. A group of shark attack survivors visited senators' offices to lobby for the bill in July. It remained in committee for over a year. In late September, it was placed on the Senate's unanimous consent agenda, under which it would be considered passed if no senator objected within a certain time. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma objected, claiming that it and four other wildlife-related bills were " special interest " legislation that would cost too much money. In late December, near

1750-432: The term ‘naturally attached’ to mean "attached to the corresponding shark carcass through some portion of uncut skin". For non-fishing vessels found carrying detached fins, they are presumed to have been transferred in violation of the Act, unless they can prove otherwise (e.g. that the sharks were properly landed and processed before being re-shipped). Finally, a violation is also presumed if, after landing & processing,

1800-402: The total weight of shark carcasses landed or found on board." During debate on the bill, Del. Eni Faleomavaega ( D - AS ), had pointed out that nothing in it banned the transshipment of shark fins by American-flagged ships. Vessels that merely bought fins that had been taken by other vessels, a common practice, could not be prosecuted. His concern was resolved with an amendment that relied on

1850-524: The total weight of shark carcasses landed or on board. These provisions left loopholes that would successfully be exploited in its first court test. H.R. 5461 was introduced on October 12, 2000, by Rep. Randy (Duke) Cunningham ( R - CA ) with no co-sponsors. It was referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources , which then referred it Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife, Oceans and Insular Affairs on October 20, 2000. Ten days later, it

1900-448: The total weight of shark carcasses landed or on board. These provisions left loopholes that would successfully be exploited in its first court test, United States v. Approximately 64,695 Pounds of Shark Fins . In August 2002, the destroyer USS Fife , patrolling international waters off the coast of Guatemala , intercepted the King Diamond II , a U.S.-flagged, Hong Kong -based former fishing trawler. A Coast Guard detachment with

1950-493: The very moment when a decision is released. . . . Because Judge Reinhardt was no longer a judge at the time when the en banc decision in this case was filed, the Ninth Circuit erred in counting him as a member of the majority. That practice effectively allowed a deceased judge to exercise the judicial power of the United States after his death. But federal judges are appointed for life, not for eternity. The Supreme Court remanded

2000-444: The weight of fins and tails exceeds 5% of the total weight of carcasses that were landed. The Act protects all shark species, with an exception for commercial fishing of smooth dogfish ( Mustelus canis ) within 50 nautical miles (93 km; 58 mi) of any state, provided that: The Humane Society of the United States voiced their strong support in favor of closing the loophole. They applauded Delegate Bordallo for reintroducing

2050-505: Was Maureen Kindel, who was president of the Los Angeles Board of Public Works in the 1980s. Later Reinhardt married Ramona Ripston , who was Executive Director of the ACLU of Southern California until her February 2011 retirement. They remained married until his death. Reinhardt died in Los Angeles on March 29, 2018, from a heart attack . Chief Judge Sidney Runyan Thomas issued

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2100-441: Was brought up on motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, and was agreed to by voice vote. On October 31, 2000, H.R. 5461 was received in the Senate, which passed the bill by unanimous consent on December 7, 2000. It was signed into law by Bill Clinton on December 21, 2000, during his final weeks in office. Shark finning refers to the practice of cutting the fins from live sharks while at sea, and then discarding rest of

2150-437: Was completed by the en banc court prior to his death.” The case was appealed to the Supreme Court, which vacated Reinhardt's opinion. The Supreme Court stated: As for judicial practice, we are not aware of any rule or decision of the Ninth Circuit that renders judges’ votes and opinions immutable at some point in time prior to their public release. And it is generally understood that a judge may change his or her position up to

2200-468: Was involved in a controversy after he died. Eleven judges of the Ninth Circuit heard oral argument in the case of Yovino v. Rizo . Reinhardt wrote an opinion on behalf of himself and five other judges, which was issued by the court 11 days after he died. A footnote at the beginning of the opinion stated: “Prior to his death, Judge Reinhardt fully participated in this case and authored this opinion. The majority opinion and all concurrences were final, and voting

2250-567: Was its vice chairman from 1969 to 1974. He also served as member of the Democratic National Committee and as an unpaid advisor to former Los Angeles mayor Tom Bradley and California governor Jerry Brown . In 1975, he was appointed to the Los Angeles Police Commission, which he chaired from 1978 until his judicial confirmation in 1980. Reinhardt was nominated by President Jimmy Carter on November 30, 1979, to

2300-423: Was known as one of the most liberal judges on the courts of appeals. His decisions were "reversed more often than most" judges before the Supreme Court. In 2003, Reinhardt admitted that he "was a liberal from a very young age." "I think I was born that way", he said. However, he did not believe that a Supreme Court reversal meant that his opinion was wrong or that he did not follow the law. "The Supreme Court changes

2350-610: Was not prohibited by the SFPA. Within weeks of that decision, the SCA was introduced to close that loophole . It prohibits any person from cutting the fins of a shark at sea and from possessing, transferring and landing shark fins (including the tail) that are not "naturally attached to the corresponding carcass". In addition it prohibits any person from landing a shark carcass without its corresponding fins being "naturally attached". The act protects all shark species, with an exception for commercial fishing of smooth dogfish ( Mustelus canis ) with

2400-544: Was passed by voice vote and referred to the Senate , where it was sponsored by John Kerry of Massachusetts . It was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation . No further action was taken before the 110th Congress adjourned, and the bill died. Bordallo reintroduced it, as amended, as the Shark Conservation Act of 2009 at the beginning of the next Congress . It gained 30 cosponsors, bypassed

2450-405: Was signed into law by Bill Clinton on December 21, 2000. It had forbidden finning by any vessels in the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone (up to 200 nautical miles (370 km; 230 mi) offshore), and possession of fins by any U.S.-flagged fishing vessels on international waters . It also prohibited any fishing vessel from landing at a U.S. port with shark fins whose weight exceeds 5% of

2500-634: Was the last federal appeals court judge in active service to have been appointed to his position by President Jimmy Carter . Reinhardt was born Stephen Roy Shapiro into a Jewish family in New York City, to lawyer Samuel Shapiro, and Silvia Handelsman. Reinhardt changed his name after his mother divorced his father and married film director and producer Gottfried Reinhardt . Reinhardt graduated from University High School in Los Angeles. He enrolled in Pomona College and graduated three years later with

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