Although his nomination to become a federal district judge had sailed through the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on a unanimous vote in June, by August 1st Sacramento Superior Court Judge Morrison C. England, Jr. had spent six weeks waiting for the full Senate to confirm his appointment. Procedural wrangling in the Senate that was unrelated to judicial nominations had delayed the Senate vote on the nominations of Judge England and numerous other judges.

The delay threatened to become even longer. Senate rules require that all pending nominations are returned to the President for resubmission whenever the Senate recesses for 30 days or more. August 1 was the Senate's final day before its month-long August recess.

So when Judge England came off the Superior Court bench that day, he was facing a potential wait of at least another month. Eager for news, he used the Internet browser on his computer to click on C-SPAN 2, which provides streaming video of the Senate.

"And as I came on C-SPAN 2, I realized that they were voting on a judge, a district court judge, Henry Autrey from Missouri," Judge England recalled. "I decided to watch to see what would happen because I knew this was the last day (before the recess). And at the end Senator (Tom) Daschle asked the senators to please stay in chambers because there were seven more judges that they wanted to put through that day. Now, they didn't say who (the judges) were or what was going to happen. And Senator Daschle and Senator (Patrick) Leahy were having a discussion as to whether there would be roll call votes or whether they would go through the much more expeditious matter of voice votes."

As Judge England intently watched on his computer, Senator Leahy eventually agreed to have voice votes on the next seven nominees, whom he identified by their number on the executive calendar of the Senate. "And he named off six numbers and the final number, the seventh number, was mine. And I wasn't sure I heard it (correctly). Of course, my interest becomes extremely focused on my computer."

Judge England smiled as he recalled what happened next.

"Well, what would be the worst possible thing to happen at that very moment? (The computer) froze on me. Literally, the streaming video froze, everything froze on my computer. So the only thing I could do was do a hard, cold reboot by pushing the off-on button, which meant that then Scandisk (virus-checking software program) had to" run before Judge England could reconnect to the Internet.

"I finally get (the computer) up and running literally just as they finished the sixth person," he said.

Having dealt with one of the most ill-timed computer glitches imaginable, Judge England then watched as the Senate approved the seventh nomination, his nomination, on a voice vote. Five minutes later, a representative of the U.S. Department of Justice called to confirm what the judge had just witnessed online: his confirmation as the newest judge on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California.

The day after the confirmation, President George W. Bush signed Judge England's commission, and he took his oath of office. After a week of vacation and a week of mandatory orientation for new federal judges, Judge England began work in mid-August at the United States Courthouse.

Judge England, 47, called his appointment by President Bush a "tremendous honor." However, he said, appointment to the federal bench was not an achievement to which he had always aspired.

"I wish I could say that I had the foresight, the desire, and the drive to say that one day I wanted to be a federal judge and (that) I knew that when I was in law school," Judge England said in interview in his chambers at the federal court. "But I'll be honest with you I never had any idea that I'd ever be on the bench period, and never in a million years had I dreamt that I'd be here. I can't tell you how happy I am, but it was never a goal, a desire, or drive of mine at any point in my life."

Born in St. Louis, Judge England was raised in Sacramento, where he graduated from McClatchy High School. He attended Sacramento City College before he transferred to the University of the Pacific in Stockton on a football scholarship. While at UOP, Judge England said, he was taken aside by an advisor who was also a professor and strongly advised to consider law school.

Despite this advice, and his undergraduate pre-law degree, Judge England did not immediately pursue the law after graduating from UOP in 1977. Rather, his football prowess as an offensive lineman led to a training camp invitation from the New York Jets.

Ultimately, Judge England decided not to pursue a career in pro football, but the sport remained a primary interest. He accepted an offer to coach football at the California State University, Fullerton from Jim Colletto, his former offensive line coach at UOP. While coaching at Fullerton, Judge England was pursuing a master's degree in counseling psychology so that he could eventually pursue a full-time career in coaching.

If Judge England had continued on that path, he might well be a head football coach at a major college somewhere today. But signs, large and small, intervened. The practice field at Fullerton was directly across the street from the Western State University College of Law. Every day, Judge England could see the road not traveled. Eventually, he decided to take the LSAT, and he directed that his results be sent to the McGeorge School of Law, which he had visited when he was recruited to UOP.

Judge England had reached a decision point - would his career be law or football? "I am a believer in signs being given to you, and as I was making that decision I got a call from Bob Mattos, who had just been named head football coach at Sac State."

When Mattos made his call, Judge England had just been accepted to McGeorge. "I thought this must be an omen that I could come back to Sacramento," he said. By accepting the Sacramento State position, he figured that "I can have my football which I love, and I can coach and teach at the same time (that) I can start law school."

While in law school, Judge England undertook an around-the-clock schedule. He taught and coached at Sac State during the day, attended law school at night, and worked the graveyard shift as a counselor at Sacramento's juvenile hall. He also worked as a law clerk for Gary Quattrin and Tim Clemons, two former Sac State football players who were partners in a law firm.

Upon passing the bar exam in 1983, Judge England became a partner in law firm of Quattrin, Clemons & England. In 1991, Judge England applied to become a part-time referee at the juvenile court upon the suggestion of a colleague who thought he would be a good fit for the position given his prior work at juvenile hall. Five years later, Governor Pete Wilson appointed him to the Sacramento Municipal Court. One year later, in August 1997, Governor Wilson elevated Judge England to the Superior Court.

At the time of his appointment to the federal bench, Judge England was doing a general trial assignment in Department 20 in the Superior Court. In addition to trial work, he was one of several judges assigned to hear writs. Judge England was also vice president of the California Judges Association. A member of the United States Army Reserve's Judge Advocate General Corps since 1988, he serves a senior defense counsel with a rank of major.

Judge England said he enjoyed the Superior Court, but was attracted to the challenge of serving as a federal judge.

"Clearly, being a Superior Court judge was a tremendous honor. I loved being a Superior Court judge. I loved the people I was with on the Superior Court and, quite frankly, I'll miss my friends, and I'll miss the types of cases that the Superior Court handles. But there is also an extreme challenge intellectually and from a professional standpoint to be in the federal system."

Superior Court Judge James Long, who has known Judge England since he was a McGeorge law student, praised him as a jurist of "unlimited talent" and predicted that he would someday become a federal appellate judge.

"Ever since I have known Judge England he has always impressed me as a person who is highly intelligent, hard working, and gets along exceptionally well with people," Judge Long said. "I've encouraged him and he has not let me down one iota."

Chief U.S. District Judge William Shubb predicted that Judge England would fit in well on the federal bench. "We know him, and we think he'll make an excellent addition to the court and a fine colleague. I know it will be a pleasure to work with him."