Background
Ralph Mecham was born April 23, 1928, in Murray, Utah.
Ralph Mecham was born April 23, 1928, in Murray, Utah.
Harvard University; George Washington University. University of Utah; Harvard Kennedy School.
He was appointed to the position by United States Chief Justice Warren Burger in July 1985. He obtained his Bachelor of Surgery degree in political science from the University of Utah (1951). A Juris Doctor degree from George Washington University (1963), and a master"s degree (in public administration) from Harvard University.
His initial government position was as a legislative assistant and administrative assistant to United States. Senator Wallace F. Bennett, eventually becoming the Senator"s chief of staff
After that, he served as vice president of, and taught constitutional law at, the University of Utah. He returned to Washington, resuming government service as a special assistant to the United States Secretary of Commerce.
He was named head of the Administrative Office on July 15, 1985. Mecham was the longest-serving Director of the Administrative Office, retiring after more than 20 years in April 2006.
One of the principles that Mecham spearheaded during his lengthy tenure was court budget and management decentralization, permitting individual courts to set their own local policies and spending priorities within broad national guidelines.
Mecham"s official papers are now housed at the University of Utah Marriott Library. In 2001, during his tenure as Director of the Administrative Office, the Association for the Study of Internal Fixation began monitoring the Internet communications of the judicial branch. Led by Ninth Circuit Judge Alex Kozinski, the Federal Judges Association, which represents about 85% of United States. federal judges, adopted a resolution opposing the monitoring.
Mecham accused Kozinski of having a "great interest in keeping pornography available to judges," saying that Kozinski was "advocating his passionate views that judges are free, undetected, to download pornography and Napster music on government computers in federal court buildings on government time even though some of the downloading may constitute felonies."
Seven years later, on November 24, 2008, Mecham filed a formal ethics complaint in the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia against now-Chief Judge Kozinski and two other judges, for their acts disabling the monitor.