Revered RI judge Bruce M. Selya, known for distinctive writing style, dies at 90
Known for his expansive vocabulary and distinctive writing style, Selya was a revered figure around the state and in the legal community.
"Rhode Island has lost a legal legend whose outstanding contributions to the community and the people of Rhode Island go well beyond his four decades of remarkable service on the federal bench," U.S. Sen. Jack Reed said in a statement on Sunday.
A Providence native, Selya attended Classical High School, Harvard University, and Harvard Law School.
President Ronald Reagan nominated him to be a U.S. District Court judge in 1982, then tapped him for the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals four years later.
"I would like to tell you that my nomination was due solely to my brilliance, but the truth is that it came about on the recommendation of Senator John H. Chafee," Selya later told a legal website. "I had been a practicing attorney for 22 years at the time I was appointed to the bench and was involved in both the community and the politics of the state of Rhode Island."
In later years, Selya served as chief judge of the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review.
Over the course of his legal career, Selya authored more than 1,800 opinions, which were often distinguished by his use of arcane words and unique turns of phrase.
"I spent twenty-two years being paid extravagant sums for work that included reading judicial opinions and often found myself struggling to stay awake," he told a legal website in 2004. "Upon my appointment to the bench, I made a commitment to myself that I would attempt to prove that sound jurisprudence and interesting prose are not mutually exclusive."
Holding firm to that commitment, Selya casually scattered words like "philotheoparoptesism" and "rodomontade" in his opinions, sending lawyers scrambling for their dictionaries.
An opinion involving the International Ladies' Garment Workers Union included phrases like "plaintiffs' own filings place them in the tightest of corsets," the New York Times noted in a 1992 story on his wordplay.
Among his "Selyaisms":
"We find this to be a ketchup-bottle type of argument: it looks quite full, but it is remarkably difficult to get anything useful out of it."
"While Rumpelstiltskin is said to have converted dross into gold, the agency cannot convert evidence favorable to an alien into evidence unfavorable to the alien simply by ignoring the context of such evidence."
"[T]he appellant's asseverational array is all meringue and no pie."
Selya was also known for mentoring countless law clerks over the years, including one who went on to become a U.S. Supreme Court Justice, Ketanji Brown Jackson.
Outside the courtroom, Selya served on the board of numerous organizations, such as the Jewish Federation of Rhode Island, and was the founding chairman of the Lifespan medical group.
'As a judge, Bruce Selya was nationally renowned and respected and set a high bar that many others in his profession admire and aspire to reach," Reed said. "As a man, he will be remembered for his exemplary devotion to the law and uplifting others, particularly those in his beloved hometown of Providence."
The city of Providence ceremonially designated Fulton Street, which runs alongside Rhode Island's federal courthouse, as Judge Selya Way in 2023.
'I've always been in awe of how a son of Providence … went on to such a spot of national importance,' said Samuel Salganik, a former clerk, said at the time. 'He's a nationally important judge and he did it all from his hometown.'
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Bruce M. Selya, revered RI judge and Providence native, dies at 90
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