Evan Wallach

Evan Wallach
Senior Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
Incumbent
Assumed office
May 31, 2021
Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
In office
November 18, 2011 – May 31, 2021
Appointed byBarack Obama
Preceded byArthur J. Gajarsa
Succeeded byTiffany P. Cunningham
Judge of the United States Court of International Trade
In office
August 14, 1995 – November 18, 2011
Appointed byBill Clinton
Preceded byEdward D. Re
Succeeded byClaire R. Kelly
Personal details
Born (1949-11-11) November 11, 1949 (age 75)
Superior, Arizona, U.S.
EducationDiablo Valley College
University of Arizona (BA)
University of California, Berkeley (JD)
Hughes Hall, Cambridge (LLB)
Military service
AllegianceUnited States of America
Branch/service United States Army
Years of service1969–1971
1989–1995
Rank Major
UnitNevada National Guard
Battles/warsVietnam War
Awards Bronze Star
Air Medal
Meritorious Service Medal (2)
Nevada Medal of Merit
Vietnam Campaign Medal (3 battle stars)
Gallantry Cross with Palm

Evan Jonathan Wallach (born November 11, 1949) is an American lawyer and senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. A former judge of the United States Court of International Trade, he is one of the nation's foremost experts on war crimes and the law of war.[1][2]

Early life, education, and career

Wallach was born in Superior, Arizona, the son of Albert Wallach, a millworker at the Magma Copper Company, and Sara Wallach, a local artist who helped run the town library and Little Theater group. Wallach was decorated for his service in the United States Army during the Vietnam War, and received a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Arizona in 1973, followed by a Juris Doctor at the University of California Berkeley in 1976.[3] Wallach joined the firm of Lionel Sawyer & Collins in Las Vegas, Nevada, as an associate, in 1976.[3] He received a Bachelor of Laws with honors in International Law from the University of Cambridge in 1981.[3] He became a partner at Lionel Sawyer & Collins in 1982, remaining in that position until 1995.[3]

He was able to take a leave from the firm to continue providing service to the U.S. military.[3] He attended the Judge Advocate General's Legal Center and School at the University of Virginia and served in the United States Army Judge Advocate General's Corps in the International Affairs Division of the Office of TJAG at The Pentagon during the Gulf War, where he assisted in advising on the law of war and investigating war crimes allegedly committed by Iraqi leaders. He has taken JAG Officer's Basic and Advanced Courses.

Work on the law of war

As an adjunct law professor Wallach specializes in the law of war. From 1989 to 1995 he served as Judge Advocate General in the Nevada Army National Guard, with the rank of major. His responsibilities included giving annual lectures to Military Police regarding their legal obligations on treatment of prisoners.[4] During the Gulf War he served at the Pentagon in the International Affairs Division of the Office of The Judge Advocate of the Army, where he assisted in advising on the law of war and investigating war crimes allegedly committed by Iraqi leaders.

From 1997 to 2011 he was an adjunct professor in Law of War at both New York Law School and Brooklyn Law School. From 2001 to 2012 he was a visiting professor in Law of War at the University of Münster. Since 2012 he has been an adjunct professor at the George Washington University Law School and currently teaches a course called "The Law Governing Fully Autonomous Fighting Vehicles."

Wallach is a member of the International Law of War Association, which is a "loose confederation of military lawyers, academics, and government officials including members of the judiciary, who are interested in the advancement of a legal regime to ameliorate suffering and for the regulation of the use of armed force in armed conflicts".[5] He is also a member of the American Law Institute and the Council on Foreign Relations.

Federal judicial service

On June 27, 1995, President Bill Clinton nominated Wallach to serve as a judge of the United States Court of International Trade, to the seat vacated by Judge Edward D. Re. He was confirmed by the Senate on August 11, 1995, and received his commission on August 14, 1995. He served on that court until his elevation to the court of appeals on November 18, 2011.[3]

President Barack Obama nominated him on July 28, 2011, to serve on the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.[6][3] His nomination was reported out of the Senate Judiciary Committee on October 6, 2011, by a voice vote. On November 8, 2011, his nomination was confirmed by the Senate by a 99–0 vote.[7] He received his commission on November 18, 2011. He assumed senior status on May 31, 2021.[8]

Publications

Wallach has had articles published both in mainstream media and legal journals, and has been widely cited in the media.[9][10] Some of these include:

  • Outline of the law of war.[11]
  • Waterboarding Used to Be a Crime.[4]
  • Afghanistan, Quirin, and Uchiyama: Does the Sauce Suit the Gander?[12]
  • The Logical Nexus Between The Decision To Deny Application of The Third Geneva Convention To The Taliban and al Qaeda, and the Mistreatment of Prisoners in Abu Ghraib.[13]
  • The Procedural and Evidentiary Rules of the Post World War II War Crimes Trials: Did They Provide an Outline for International Legal Procedure?[14]
  • Drop by Drop: Forgetting the History of Water Torture in U.S. Courts.[15]
  • A Tiny Problem With Huge Implications - Nanotech Agents as Enablers or Substitutes for Banned Chemical Weapons: Is a New Treaty Needed?[16]
  • Pray Fire First Gentlemen of France: Has 21st Century Chivalry Been Subsumed by Humanitarian Law?[17]
  • The Economic Calculus of Fielding Autonomous Fighting Vehicles Compliant with the Laws of Armed Conflict.[18]

He is also the author of "Jake and Me," a coming of age novel about a young man in the 1920s Arizona mountains.[19]

References

  1. ^ "Judge Evan Wallach". National Endowment for the Arts. Archived from the original on September 21, 2008. Retrieved January 16, 2008.
  2. ^ "Judge Evan J. Wallach". United States Court of International Trade. September 4, 2007. Archived from the original on January 31, 2008. Retrieved January 16, 2008.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Joint Committee on Printing, Official Congressional Directory Archived September 27, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, 2013-2014 (February 2014), p. 863-64.
  4. ^ a b Evan Wallach (November 2, 2007). "Waterboarding Used to Be a Crime". Washington Post. Archived from the original on September 22, 2017. Retrieved September 20, 2017.
  5. ^ "Who We Are". International Law of War Association. Archived from the original on January 25, 2008. Retrieved January 17, 2008.
  6. ^ "President Obama Nominates Judge Evan Jonathan Wallach to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit". whitehouse.gov. July 28, 2011. Archived from the original on February 16, 2017. Retrieved February 18, 2021 – via National Archives.
  7. ^ "On the Nomination (Evan Jonathan Wallach, of New York, to be United States Circuit Judge)". Retrieved February 16, 2018.
  8. ^ Evan Wallach at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
  9. ^ Robyn Blumner (October 21, 2006). "Law allows torture, even if Bush doesn't call it that". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
  10. ^ Joan Walsh (November 4, 2007). "When waterboarding was a crime". Salon. Archived from the original on December 8, 2007. Retrieved January 16, 2008.
  11. ^ Evan Wallach. "Interactive Outline Of The Law Of War". International Law of War Association.
  12. ^ Evan J. Wallach (2003). "Afghanistan, Quirin, and Uchiyama: Does the Sauce Suit the Gander?" (PDF). The Army Lawyer. Archived (PDF) from the original on May 7, 2009. Retrieved December 29, 2017.
  13. ^ Evan J. Wallach (2005). "The Logical Nexus Between The Decision To Deny Application of The Third Geneva Convention To The Taliban and al Qaeda, and the Mistreatment of Prisoners in Abu Ghraib". Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law. 37: 541–638. Archived from the original on December 5, 2007. Retrieved January 17, 2008.
  14. ^ Evan Wallach (1999). "The Procedural and Evidentiary Rules of the Post World War II War Crimes Trials: Did They Provide an Outline for International Legal Procedure?". The Columbia Journal of Transnational Law. 37. Archived from the original on December 5, 2007. Retrieved January 17, 2008.
  15. ^ Evan Wallach (2007). "Drop by Drop: Forgetting the History of Water Torture in U.S. Courts" (PDF rough draft). The Columbia Journal of Transnational Law. 45 (2). Archived (PDF) from the original on May 21, 2009. Retrieved January 17, 2008.
  16. ^ Wallach, Evan (2011). "A Tiny Problem with Huge Implications - Nanotech Agents as Enablers or Substitutes for Banned Chemical Weapons: Is a New Treaty Needed?". Fordham International Law Journal. 33 (3). Archived from the original on February 22, 2021. Retrieved September 29, 2016.
  17. ^ Evan, Wallach (2013). "Pray Fire First Gentlemen of France: Has 21st Century Chivalry Been Subsumed by Humanitarian Law?" (PDF). Harvard National Security Journal. 3: 431–469. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 20, 2017. Retrieved September 29, 2016.
  18. ^ Evan Wallach and Erik Thomas (2016). "The Economic Calculus of Fielding Autonomous Fighting Vehicles Compliant with the Laws of Armed Conflict". Yale Journal of Law & Technology. 18: 1–25.
  19. ^ Wallach, Evan J.; Wallach, Sara F. (March 3, 2015). Jake and Me. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. ISBN 978-1508646846.
Legal offices
Preceded by Judge of the United States Court of International Trade
1995–2011 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
2011–2021 		Succeeded by