Reagan Plans to Nominate Trott for Appeal Court

The White House announced Friday that President Reagan will nominate Associate U.S. Atty. Gen. Stephen S. Trott to be a judge of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Trott, 47, a one-time chief deputy district attorney for Los Angeles County and U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, went to Washington in 1983 as head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.

Last year, he was promoted to associate attorney general, the third-ranking post in the department.

If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Trott would succeed Joseph T. Sneed as justice of a San Francisco-based appellate court that has responsibility for the nine Western states and Guam.

Born Dec. 12, 1939, in Glen Ridge, N.J., Trott was graduated from Wesleyan University in 1962 with a bachelor of arts degree.

While at Wesleyan, he paralleled his academic career with one as a professional musician, appearing as guitarist with The Highwayman, a musical group popular in the 1960s, whose “Michael Row the Boat Ashore” became a chart-topping gold record in 1961.

After graduation from Wesleyan, Trott abandoned his musical career to take a law degree at Harvard University and was admitted to the California and U.S. District Court bars in 1966. He joined the district attorney’s office in Los Angeles three years later, handling a number of difficult cases and becoming chief prosecutor in 1975.

He drew considerable public notice when he requested--and obtained--the transfer of a Superior Court judge whom he accused of being too lenient in criminal cases.

Edward Rafeedie, who was then presiding Superior Court judge in Santa Monica, expressed “reluctance” in transferring Judge Bernard Selber to handle only civil cases but agreed to do so when Trott and his deputies threatened to file affidavits to disqualify him from any criminal matter assigned to Selber’s courtroom.

Appointed U.S. attorney in Los Angeles to succeed Andrea Ordin in 1981, he took an unusually active role in the courtroom, personally arguing before the 9th Circuit to reinstate the prosecution of draft resister David Wayte, which had been dismissed on grounds of discrimination.

Trott was a top contender for the post of Los Angeles County district attorney, which was vacated by John Van de Kamp when he became state attorney general in 1983. Robert Philibosian finally won the appointment from Gov. George Deukmejian, and Trott was offered the job as chief of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division the same year.

He was admitted to practice before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in 1983 and the U.S. Supreme Court in 1984.

In addition, he is a member of the faculty of the National College of District Attorneys, which presented him with its distinguished faculty award in 1977; former chairman of the central district of the Law Enforcement Coordinating Committee, and former coordinator of the Los Angeles-Nevada Drug Enforcement Task Force.

Trott is married to the former Sally Snow. They have two daughters, Christina and Shelley.

A Justice Department spokesman, who confirmed the President’s announcement late Friday night, said the Senate Judiciary Committee will probably be unable to schedule confirmation hearings for Trott until late September or early November.