Catherine Henry – Nominee to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania

A lifelong public defender, Catherine Henry has been nominated to fill a vacancy on the Philadelphia based Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Background

Born in 1969, Henry received her B.A. degree from Drew University in 1991 and a J.D. from the District of Columbia School of Law in 1995. Henry then spent a year as a Staff Attorney for the Feminist Majority Foundation before joining the Defender Association of Philadelphia. In 2002, Henry moved to the federal bench, joining the Federal Community Defender Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, where she currently works as a Senior Litigator.

History of the Seat

Henry has been nominated for a seat on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. This seat opened on November 27, 2023, when Judge Edward Smith passed away.

Legal Experience

Henry has spent virtually her entire legal career as a public defender in the Philadelphia area. During her career, Henry has tried approximately nine jury and twenty-six bench trials in the federal courts.

Notably, Henry represented Michael Rohana, who was prosecuted after sneaking off from a Christmas party at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, and snapping off a finger from the Terracotta Warriors exhibit on loan from China. See United States v. Rohana, 18-cr-100. The case proceeded to a jury trial, which ended in a mistrial after the jury was unable to reach a verdict. See Katherine Lam, Case Against Partygoer Who Snapped Terracotta Warrior’s Thumb Off At Museum Ends in Mistrial, Fox News, Apr. 10, 2019, https://www.foxnews.com/us/partygoer-who-snapped-terra-cotta-warriors-thumb-off-mistrial. Rohana ended up pleading to a misdemeanor charge and was sentenced to five years of probation. See Sarah Cascone, The Vandal Who Desecrated a Chinese Terracotta Warrior Vows to Sell His Sneaker Collection to Pay Restitution, Artnet, Sept. 8, 2023, https://news.artnet.com/art-world-archives/terracotta-warrior-vandal-sentenced-2359957.

Overall Assessment

Henry is the first of Biden’s nominations to the Eastern District of Pennsylvania to come after the election of Sen. John Fetterman. However, the nomination came more than a year after Fetterman’s election. The delay could prove costly to Henry as time is likely the greatest enemy she has to confirmation. That being said, if Democrats remain united, Henry will likely be confirmed in due course.

28 Comments

  1. I’m really surprised she didn’t get any questions about her past work at the Feminist Majority Foundation at her SJC hearing. I guess the senators were all worn out from panel one with Campbell & Lipez. I believe Henry was a Fetterman recommendation. If so, we may be in for some more good Pennsylvania picks.

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  2. This nomination surprised me a bit since the PA senators went to the effort of setting up a totally separate search focused on the Lehigh Valley. Looking at Henry’s questionnaire, she doesn’t seem to have any connection to that area which was surprising.

    I was expecting this seat to go to Magistrate Susan Hutnik who is ~the same age as Henry and who has also spent the bulk of her professional life as a public defender and is from Easton.

    Liked by 1 person

  4. From the Alliance for Justice weekly news article regarding state supreme courts…

    ”South Carolina Legislature is set to elect the next State Supreme Court justice from the candidates forwarded by the Judicial Merit Selection Commission. Following the withdrawal of Circuit Court Judge Jocelyn Newman, Court of Appeals Judges Blake Hewitt and Letitia Verdin remain in contention to replace retiring Justice Donald Beatty, the only Black justice on the court. Additionally, with the retirement of former Justice Kaye Hearn, the South Carolina Supreme Court currently has an all-male majority. Learn more about how to get involved in this vacancy here.  
     
    In Connecticut, Chief Justice Richard Robinson will retire in September, two years before his term expires. Robinson, the first Black chief justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court, has served since 2013. Governor Ned Lamont will nominate his successor, requiring confirmation by the General Assembly. This follows a contentious previous nomination process last fall. Meanwhile, in Washington State, the upcoming November 5 election will see two incumbent justices running unopposed, while four candidates vie for the seat of retiring Justice Susan Owens. In recent elections, West Virginia and Idaho Supreme Court justices ran unopposed, and in Georgia, Justice Andrew Pinson secured a full term on May 21, overcoming a challenge centered on his record with the state’s six-week abortion ban.”

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    • We will likely get anew batch by next Wednesday. I would hope the EDPA nominee will be in the batch but most importantly the nominee for the 4th. Tillis is going to throw a Blackburn-esse hissy fit when Ryan Park or whoever he didn’t agree to is nominated so the WH needs to announce it sooner rather than later.

      On a side note, I tried to post a review from the Alliance for Justice weekly news letter but it says “Waiting for moderation”. I guess Word Press is Word Pressing… Lol

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      • I’m surprised at how bullish you folks are on getting a great nominee for NC’s CA4. I would think that the earlier dust up (as one-sidedly described by Tillis, so, grain of salt) would make it less likely that we get a Ryan Park-type nominee.

        I know I’m a Biden judicial pessimist, but I’m guessing we’ll get someone as or less liberal than James Wynn.

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      • @Gavi

        While I’ll admit it is possible Tillis could be lying, I’m just going by what he said. He said at one of the SJC hearings/meetings a month or tie ago that he & Budd offered the WH four candidates & they rejected them. Then he said they told him who they were going to nominate & he slammed that pick.

        After seeing Ramirez & Kolar, I would assume if the WH was willing to pick them, why would they turn down all four of Tillis & Budd’s picks. At least one had to be younger than Ramirez & to the left of Kolar. So I assume they are going the route of the 6th (Tennessee) & 9th (Montana) & just going to shove a pick down the senators throats. Why go through all that trouble for a pick to the right of Wynn.

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  6. Probably so. All we really know is that the pick has been made and Tillis didn’t like it. We’ll see though.

    There’s a chance we get nominees this week but I think July 3 is most likely. I’d love to see Arizona and maybe those last few California seats. Pennsylvania may be later this summer since that last vacancy was unexpected.

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  7. On CA4-NC, I will say that there is a decent chance that Biden goes with a Black nominee, rather than Ryan Park. NC is a major swing state for several races this year, and Biden may feel the need to energize Black leaders to get out the vote. James Wynn is the only Black nominee from NC, and there are only 3 total on the 4th Circuit (including Wynn).

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    • @Jaime

      You could be right but I don’t think there is as big of a need for Biden to pick a Black nominee to replace Wynn. For one, there are already two other Black judges on the 4th as you mentioned, including a Black man. Second, with Kidd’s nomination pending, Biden can point to him as a Black male nominee. Third, I don’t know if a clear front runner that is Black for the Wynn seat.

      There is Cheri Beasley who certainly is qualified. However she is older than most or all of Biden’s circuit court picks to date. I’m sure there are a number of other state judges but I’m not sure any would energize progressives. Going with Ryan Park both would energize the growing AAPI community in the state as well as instantly give you another short lister for the SCOTUS in a second term once he’s confirmed. So as much as you know I have advocated for more Black men on the circuit courts, even I as a Black man probably wouldn’t go that route for this particular pick. Not unless there’s a young Black man that works in Ben Crump’s office or someone like that in the state that would be qualified. Then that would be worth the fight with Tillis & Budd.

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      • Laura Holland would be great but I fear she’s far too young for a circuit court nominee. I can’t remember ever seeing somebody 32 years old nominated for a circuit court seat, even under Trump. I think Reagan put some 35 year olds on the bench but highly unlikely somebody who is 32. But personally I like your thinking… Lol

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      • I agree that 32 is wayyyyy too young. Don’t forget that the ABA would automatically rate such a candidate not qualified on that basis alone (unless they were some prodigy and had graduated law school at a super young age).

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      • I think Democrats need to start emulating Republicans when it comes to people like Laura Holland. We know a district court seat is out as long as blue slips exist. So there’s two options for somebody like her if you want to eventually see her on a circuit court.

        First, since North Carolina has a Democrat governor, the WH can reach out to Cooper & see if he can put her on a state court. If he doesn’t or if she was from a state with a Republican governor, the WH should put her in the administration. Remember that was the route they took with Brad Garcia. So in a second term, she would have enough experience to get a WQ from the ABA at 35ish years old. This needs to be repeated with numerous other 32ish year old progressives across the country.

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  8. I would agree that 32 is a bit too young. I would prefer nominees to be at least 35 for a Circuit Court seat. Brad Garcia was 36 when he was nominated. Allison Rushing was 37.

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  9. Checked in on the Menendez trial today, not sure if anyone brought this up but I guess the trial a month ago had a break since the jury got stuck in an elevator?

    https://apnews.com/article/bob-menendez-bribery-trial-cb8e159a34a3b66f1992ecc60b3ec987

    Last week the trial was also put on hold as one of the defends got COVID:

    https://newjerseymonitor.com/2024/06/18/corruption-trial-of-sen-menendez-resumes-tuesday/

    That same article says the trial should go to at least the week of the 8th, which is when the Senate returns from its break, and that is longer than what the judge had suggested to the jury. The prosecution is also expected to rest their case this week.

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    • @Keystone

      I never heard of him but good find. He looks like a really good pick. I don’t know if they would pick him over Ryan Park since Park clerked for a SCOTUS justice & he didn’t. But I certainly wouldn’t complain if he was the pick. And his pro union background would certainly be a feather in his cap.

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  11. Think my last comment got eaten up by the moderation monster, so I’ll try without the URLs. I found some updates on the Menendez trial:

    -I guess the trial a month ago had a break since the jury got stuck in an elevator?

    -Last week the trial was also put on hold as one of the defendants got COVID:

    -The trial should go to at least the week of the 8th, which is when the Senate returns from its break, and that is longer than what the judge had suggested to the jury. The prosecution is also expected to rest their case this week.

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  13. @Dequan

    I don’t think staffers in the White House have time to meddle in the affairs of state governments to make the career of a 30 something judicial nominee.

    How does this benefit Biden in the now?

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    • Geez, these are some really good recommendations. Where were these six names before. I honestly wouldn’t have a problem with any of the six being picked. With all of the vacancies Biden has had in the Superior Court of DC, he could have filled these two vacancies & four previous ones with these six.

      Age isn’t as important for the local DC courts since they are only 15 year terms. I still like to see a good bench of young progressives picked for judges regardless. Either way I only previously knew about one of the six if I had to guess, I would say that one, Nicholas Miranda will be one of the two selected next. He was high on my list for the first Hispanic DC Court of Appeals pick before Brad Garcia was chosen. A local DC court should be a no brained for him to be picked.

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    • I am surprised to see judge Tanya S. Chutkan is on the commission. I would think with the Trump trial, she wouldn’t have that much extra time on her hands these days. But if these are the type of judicial nominees she is apart of recommending, let’s ship her off to New Jersey next…lol

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    • @keystone: I doubt that the WH is abiding to the 60 days rule, and even if they do, then the Committee for Homeland Security and Government Affairs have to schedule a hearing for them, and I don’t believe that they will do that for less than three nominees, so I assume that won’t happen this year.

      @Dequan: The applicants for the vacancies at the Superior Court are always almost the same ones, so Chutkan and the other members of the JNC have just to check the few new applications, for the last two vacancies there were 20 applicants, and I believe 3 of them have not applied for it before. I checked it back a few months ago, so it’s unlikely, that the commission will check each of them every time, and it seems the workload seems to be moderate. More important is to get qualified candidates for these posts at all, and when the number for associate judges is that low, the number of magistrate judges applications is propably even lower. We had three elevations this year and many old GWB appointtees, so I don’t see the Superior Court as feeder court for the district court, who will have a full bench and none eligible for senior status for at least three years after the two remaining nominees are confirmed.

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