UC Anti-Abortion Activist Chosen for Appeals Court

University of California, Berkeley, law professor and anti-abortion activist John T. Noonan Jr., 58, has been chosen by President Reagan to sit on the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, a nomination expected to draw sharp opposition from feminist and other pro-choice organizations.

The Boalt Hall professor has pressed for reversal of the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court ruling on abortion and has served as a director of Americans United for Life. He is editor in chief of the Human Rights Journal.

Administration officials said the President intends to balance what are perceived as liberal tendencies on the appellate panel by nominating conservatives to five new judgeships created last year.

Noonan’s nomination to the 9th Circuit came four days after that of San Diego attorney David R. Thompson, 54, brother of Gordon Thompson Jr., chief judge of the U.S. District Court in San Diego.

For Judicial Restraint

David R. Thompson, a registered Republican, describes himself as a believer in judicial restraint, but not as a conservative ideologue. Several San Diego lawyers said his business law practice should provide the balance Reagan is seeking.

Both appointees must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate, where approval for Reagan’s nomination of Alex Kozinski, chief judge of the U.S. Claims Court, to another 9th Circuit vacancy is also pending.

If confirmed, the 35-year-old Kozinski would become the youngest federal appeals court judge in the nation. He has been criticized by leaders of federal employee groups as lacking experience and for allegedly failing to protect the rights of government “whistle-blowers” while serving as special counsel for the Merit Systems Protection Board.

The Senate Judiciary Committee delayed action on Kozinski, but finally approved him last month. No date has been set for full Senate consideration of his nomination.

Noonan has argued for legislation declaring that life begins at conception. He contends that many judges have read their own views into the Constitution in upholding the right of abortion.