Robert J. Cindrich

{{Short description|American judge (born 1943)}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = | name = Robert J. Cindrich | honorific_suffix = | image = Robert_J_Cindrich.jpg | alt = | caption = | office = Judge of the [[United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania]] | term_start = October 7, 1994 | term_end = January 30, 2004 | nominator = | appointer = [[List of federal judges appointed by Bill Clinton|Bill Clinton]] | predecessor = [[Gustave Diamond]] | successor = [[Nora Barry Fischer]] | pronunciation = | birth_name = Robert James Cindrich | birth_date = {{nowrap|{{Birth date and age|1943|09|22}}}} | birth_place = [[Washington, Pennsylvania|Washington]], [[Pennsylvania]] | death_date = | death_place = | death_cause = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = | citizenship = | party = | other_party = | height = | spouse = | partner = | relations = | children = | parents = | mother = | father = | relatives = | education = [[Wittenberg University]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|AB]])<br>[[University of Pittsburgh School of Law]] ([[Juris Doctor|JD]]) | alma_mater = | occupation = | profession = | known_for = | salary = | net_worth = | cabinet = | committees = | portfolio = | awards = | signature = | signature_alt = | website =  | footnotes = }}

'''Robert James Cindrich''' (born September 22, 1943) is a former [[United States federal judge|United States district judge]] of the [[United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania]] and a former federal judicial nominee to the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit]].

== Early life and education ==

Born in [[Washington, Pennsylvania|Washington]], [[Pennsylvania]], Cindrich earned an [[Bachelor of Arts|Artium Baccalaureus]] degree from [[Wittenberg University]] in 1965 and earned a [[Juris Doctor]] magna cum laude from the [[University of Pittsburgh School of Law]] in 1968. After law school, Cindrich clerked for [[United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit]] Judge [[Ruggero J. Aldisert]] from 1968 until 1969.<ref name="uscourts">{{cite web|url=http://www.pawd.uscourts.gov/Documents/General/history.htm#CINDRICH|title=History of Western District of Pennsylvania|publisher=}}</ref>

== Professional career prior to becoming a judge ==

After a stint as a [[United States Army Reserve]] specialist from 1968 until 1971, Cindrich worked for [[Allegheny County, Pennsylvania|Allegheny County]], Pennsylvania as an assistant public defender from 1969 until 1970 and as an assistant district attorney from 1970 until 1972. Cindrich shifted to private legal practice from 1972 until 1978. Cindrich served as the [[United States Attorney]] for the Western District of Pennsylvania from 1978 until 1981, when he again returned to private legal practice until being appointed to the federal bench.<ref name="uscourts" /> While Cindrich was in private practice, he hired future Third Circuit Judge [[Thomas Hardiman]] as an associate at his firm.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.postgazette.com/pg/06235/715557-85.stm|title=Judge Hardiman considered for federal appeals post|publisher=}}</ref>

== Federal judicial service ==

On August 12, 1994, President Clinton nominated Cindrich to become a judge for the [[United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania]]. The [[United States Senate]] unanimously confirmed Cindrich in a voice vote on October 6, 1994.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.fjc.gov/history/judges/cindrich-robert-j.|title=Cindrich, Robert J. - Federal Judicial Center|publisher=}}</ref>

== Nomination to the Third Circuit ==

On February 9, 2000, President Clinton nominated Cindrich for a seat on the Third Circuit, to replace [[Timothy K. Lewis]], who had resigned at age 44 to work in private practice.<ref>[http://clinton6.nara.gov/2000/02/2000-02-09-president-clinton-nominates-four-to-the-federal-bench.html President Clinton Nominates Robert J. Cindrich, Kent R. Markus, John Antoon II, and Phyllis J. Hamilton to the Federal Bench] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061005073757/http://clinton6.nara.gov/2000/02/2000-02-09-president-clinton-nominates-four-to-the-federal-bench.html |date=2006-10-05 }}, ''The White House - Office of the Press Secretary'' (February 9, 2000).</ref> With Republicans in control of the Senate in the final year of Clinton's presidency, however, Cindrich's nomination languished, never receiving a hearing before the [[United States Senate Judiciary Committee]]. Cindrich's nomination to the Third Circuit was terminated with the end of Clinton's presidency. In 2001, President Bush nominated [[D. Brooks Smith]] to the Third Circuit seat to which Cindrich had been nominated. Smith was confirmed by the Senate the following year.

== Resignation and life after being a judge ==

On January 5, 2004, Cindrich announced that he would resign as district judge on January 30, 2004 to become chief legal counsel to the [[University of Pittsburgh Medical Center]], effective February 1, 2004. Cindrich said he was quitting in part for financial reasons, noting that his lifetime salary offered no survivor's benefit for his wife. "If death takes me early, she is stuck," he told the [[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]] in an article that appeared on January 6, 2004. "She gets zero. In the private sector, by federal law, every pension must contain a survivor's benefit." Cindrich said he also was frustrated by strict sentencing guidelines that he believed removed discretion from judges.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-16626604_ITM|title=Apps - Access My Library - Gale|publisher=}}</ref> "When the law provides a result that is repugnant, we must still follow the law," Cindrich told the Associated Press in a story that appeared in its feed on February 2, 2004. "And you can only do that so many times before you start to wonder, 'How many more times am I going to put my name on this sentence that I don't believe in?'"<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.november.org/dissentingopinions/Betterpay.html|title=Dissenting Opinions: More Judges Leaving Bench for Better Pay|publisher=}}</ref>

== See also == * [[Bill Clinton judicial appointment controversies]]

== References == {{Reflist}}

== External links == * {{FJC Bio|431|nid=1379111|name=Robert J. Cindrich}}

{{s-start}} {{s-legal}} {{s-bef|before=[[Gustave Diamond]]}} {{s-ttl|title={{nowrap|Judge of the [[United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania]]}}|years=1994–2004}} {{s-aft|after=[[Nora Barry Fischer]]}} {{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cindrich, Robert James}} [[Category:1943 births]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:Judges of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania]] [[Category:People from Washington, Pennsylvania]] [[Category:Public defenders]] [[Category:United States attorneys for the Western District of Pennsylvania]] [[Category:United States district court judges appointed by Bill Clinton]] [[Category:University of Pittsburgh School of Law alumni]] [[Category:Wittenberg University alumni]] [[Category:20th-century American judges]] [[Category:21st-century American judges]]