District Court Judge Marjorie (“Midge”) Osterlund Rendell, CW’69, could soon be trading jury trials for appellate decisions. President Clinton in January nominated her to a vacant judgeship on the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia.
“Having served on the trial court for three years, this move to the Circuit Court of Appeals represents an exciting and challenging opportunity,” says Rendell, who also serves on the Trustees’ Council of Penn Women. “While on the trial court, I conducted jury trials and decided motions. The work on the appellate court involves the review of the district court’s decisionmaking and the writing of opinions with broader applicability.”
The
judicial selection process is moving slowly, and no date for a
confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee has been set
yet for Rendell. She doesn’t foresee any major obstacles to her
confirmation, however. Regardless of what happens, Rendell has plenty of
responsibilities to keep her busy as a district court judge, the mother
of a teenage son, and the spouse of Philadelphia Mayor Edward G.
Rendell, C’65. “I don’t think I’m very different from many women
today who are, in fact, handling lots of different roles at the same
time, Rendell says. “It’s just a matter of balance. When [my son] Jesse
has something special, whether it’s a doctor’s office [appointment] or a
lacrosse game, and Ed has something special [that] maybe he wants me to
attend with him in the evening, and I have a trial going on … it just
means I have to move quickly from one stage to the next and never be
far from the telephone.”
At
Penn she majored in French, but these days the Latin of legal briefs is
the language she’s more fluent in. “I wanted to be a teacher,” Rendell
said. “but I student-taught French at the time of the Vietnam War, and
relevance had to be the hallmark of teaching. There was no way I could
make French relevant to the students, so I realized it was not going to
be a successful venture on my part.” Following in her father’s
footsteps, she decided to go to law school instead, earning her degree
at the University of Villanova.
Although
an appointment to the Circuit Court would put her in the talent pool
from which U.S. Supreme Court nominees are often picked, Rendell said
that’s not a post to which she would actively aspire. “I would hope you
get there by virtue of what you do day by day rather than by plotting a
course. I have been very content and still am to do what I do now. The
Circuit Court is still a privilege and honor and something I’ve looked
forward to, but not something I’ve plotted out as a strategy as such.”
By Susan Lonkevich