Bernard Herbert Siegan (July 28, 1924 – March 27, 2006) was a longtime law professor at the University of San Diego School of Law, libertarian legal theorist and a former federal judicial nominee to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
[2] There, he taught constitutional law, and on the interaction of economics and the law, hosting guest lectures from such figures as former Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court Warren Burger, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, former U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese, and Nobel laureate James M. Buchanan.
On February 2, 1987, President Ronald Reagan nominated Siegan, who was a close friend of then-Attorney General Edwin Meese, to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to fill the seat vacated by Judge Warren J. Ferguson, who had taken senior status.
[5] Almost immediately, Siegan's nomination ran into opposition from liberals and even some conservatives because of his libertarian views on economic matters, and on property rights in particular.
[7] Siegan had confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee on November 5, 1987, and again on February 25, 1988, but his senatorial opponents were not satisfied by the answers that he gave.