The Eastern District of California is one of the most heavily overworked courts in the country. The Court has not been expanded in decades, even as caseloads explode, and has relied heavily on senior judges to carry the burden. In an effort to bring some relief, President Biden has nominated state judge Ana de Alba.
Background
A native Californian, de Alba received her B.A. from the University of California Berkeley in 2002 and her J.D. in 2007 from the UC Berkeley School of Law. While a law student, de Alba worked with elementary and middle school students on mock trials. See Minerva Perez, Pupils Convene Court, Los Banos Enterprise, Mar. 30, 2007 After law school, de Alba joined Lang Richet & Patch PC. She also continued her work with mock trial. Thaddeus Miller, Mock Trial Enlightens View of Future for Los Banos Sixth-Graders, Los Banos Enterprise, Mar. 16, 2012. In 2018, de Alba was appointed to the Fresno County Superior Court, where she currently serves.
History of the Seat
de Alba has been nominated to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, to a seat vacated on December 17, 2019 by Judge Morrison England. On May 21, 2020, the Trump Administration nominated attorney Dirk Paloutzian to replace England, but he was not confirmed before the end of the 116th Congress. de Alba was nominated on January 19, 2022.
Legal Experience
de Alba spent her entire career before becoming a judge at Lang Richet & Patch PC. Among her work there, de Alba represented a credit union in a suit by borrowers alleging promissory fraud that went up to the California Supreme Court. See Riverisland Cold Storage Inc. v. Fresno-Madera Product, 55 Cal. 4th 1169 (Cal. 2013). The California Supreme Court overruled a prior ruling limiting the use of “parol evidence” (evidence of verbal or written agreements outside the language of a contract) in cases of promissory fraud. See id. at 1172. Additionally, while at the firm, de Alba received the Jack Berman Award of Achievement from the California Young Lawyers’ Association in 2012 for her pro bono work, including serving on the Board of Directors for Central California Legal Services, Inc. California Lawyers, Judges to Receive Awards for Legal Service and Excellence, Targeted News Service, Oct. 4, 2012.
Jurisprudence
Since 2018, de Alba has served as a Superior Court judge in Fresno County. In this role, she presides over civil, criminal, and domestic cases. Among the matters she handled on the bench, de Alba presided over a suit by the American Chemistry Council alleging that California had improperly listed SPF systems using methylene diphenyl diisocynates (MDI) as priority products for the state’s green chemistry program, restricting their commercial use. See Judge Questions Core ACC Claim in Suit Over DTSC Spray Foam Listing, Inside Cal/EPA, Jan. 15, 2021. de Alba ordered the delisting of the challenged products, while rejecting three other challenges. Judge Scraps California DTSC’s Spray Polyeurethane Foam Listing, Inside Cal/EPA, Apr. 2, 2021. California’s appeal of the ruling is currently pending. California Urges Appellate Court to Uphold Green Chemistry Product Listing, Inside Cal/EPA, Feb. 4, 2022.
Additionally, during the COVID-19 pandemic, de Alba gained some news attention for her rulings relating to scheduling and court compliance. In one ruling, de Alba refused to extend or excuse deadlines for a defendant’s community service, noting that she had seen no evidence that the defendant had worked towards the service before the pandemic hit. See Jeannette Parada, COVID-19 or No COVID-19, Fresno Judge Wants Defendant’s Community Service Done – Or It’s Jail, The People’s Vanguard of Davis, June 29, 2020. In another case, de Alba withdrew bench warrants that had been issued for defendants who failed to appear, noting that they did not have access to steady housing or transportation, and allowed them to participate virtually. See Phoebe Glick, Coronavirus Court Precautions Can Lead to Unforeseen Complications, The People’s Vanguard of Davis, Aug. 7, 2020.
In other rulings, de Alba found probable cause that a defendant had committed an act of domestic violence based on the testimony of the reporting officer. See Angelina Caplanis, Defender Argues Victim Lied on 911 Call; Judge Still Finds Probable Cause for Arrest, The People’s Vanguard of Davis, July 15, 2020.
Overall Assessment
Despite her youth, de Alba has built a significant amount of experience on issues of criminal and civil law. It will be interesting to see if her rulings during the Covid-19 pandemic are questioned, either on the right or the left, during confirmation.
The Vetting Room 
This article doesn’t mention it but de Alba worked with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Immigrants’ Rights Project in San Francisco, California, in 2007. That combined with her being in her low 40’s leads me to say she’s one of the better district court nominees we have seen from California to date from the Biden administration.
(https://web.archive.org/web/20170404135030/http://www.lrplaw.net/attorneys/ana-de-alba/)
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Todays SJC executive calendar vote is in the books. There was one tie vote but surprisingly it wasn’t Nina Morrison. Senator Graham voted yes. Judge Kato got a no vote from all Republicans & will need to be discharged.
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@Dequan, someone(I think it was you) made the point that Judge Kato didn’t do well with some of the questions Republicans asked her of certain statements she had made and written on conservatives.
Not a shocker that she got deadlocked, only surprise today was that Morrison didn’t join her.
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Yup, I think her answers could have been better for sure. No reason why she is one of the 5 tie votes out of the committee. Had she given better answers she would have picked up at least one GOP vote. I was completely shocked when I heard Graham vote yes by proxy for Morrison though. Schumer needs to move forward with discharging the 5 tie vote nominees next week once VP Harris is back in town.
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Yup, I think her answers could have been better for sure. No reason why she is one of the 5 tie votes out of the committee. Had she given better answers she would have picked up at least one GOP vote. I was completely shocked when I heard Graham vote yes by proxy for Morrison though. Schumer needs to move forward with discharging the 5 tie vote nominees next week once VP Harris is back in town.
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Agreed with Dequan that she is one of the better California District Court nominees.
So far, here are all the District Court vacancies that remain in states with 2 Democratic Senators. I will share my hopes for each seat later.:
1st circuit:
MA: 3 vacancies with no announced nominees.
2nd circuit:
EDNY: 2 vacancies with no announced nominees.
SDNY: 1 vacancy with no announced nominee.
NDNY: 2 vacancies with no announced nominees. (1 Utica and 1 Albany; Schumer has recommended someone for Albany).
3rd Circuit:
DE: 1 vacancy with no announced nominee.
4th Circuit:
MD: 1 vacancy with no announced nominee.
EDVA: 2 vacancies with no announced nominees. (Kaine and Warner have made recommendations).
WDVA: 1 vacancy with no announced nominees. (Kaine and Warner have made recommendations).
6th Circuit:
EDMI: 2 vacancies with no announced nominees (1 Detroit and 1 Flint).
7th Circuit:
NDIL: 1 vacancy with no announced nominees. (Durbin and Duckworth have made recommendations).
8th Circuit;
MN: 1 vacancy with no announced nominee.
9th Circuit:
CDCA: 2 vacancies with no announced nominees.
EDCA: 1 vacancy with no announced nominee.
NDCA: 3 vacancies with no announced nominees (1 Oakland, 1 San Francisco, and 1 San Jose).
SDCA: 3 vacancies with no announced nominees.
10th Circuit:
CO: 1 vacancy with no announced nominee.
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Forgot a few.
9th Circuit:
OR: 1 vacancy with no announced nominee.
WDWA: 2 vacancies with no announced nominees.
10th Circuit:
NM: 1 vacancy with no announced nominee.
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@Zack. I am only including vacancies in states with 2 Democratic Senators.
My hopes
MA: I hope one of the seats goes to either Monica Shah, Naomi Shatz, or Emma-Quinn-Judge (all of Zalkind Duncan Bernstein). I doubt more than one will be picked from the firm and while Judge Judge would sound cool, I think Monica Shah would be the most likely. Part of me wants Ivan Espinoza-Madrigal picked solely because of the Madrigals from Encanto (Ivan Espinoza-Madrigal’s name has the same number of syllables as the song “Welcome to the family Madrigal” from the movie), although I wouldn’t say it’s likely since Biden hasn’t picked any heads of public interest groups (though he has picked Legal Directors and Senior Staff Attorneys). The youngest Magistrate Judge in MA was born around 1963, so I don’t think any of them are in play. I think Yael Shavit could be in play but I think she’d more likely be picked for a Magistrate judgeship first. My guess is that another local court Judge like Angel Kelley will be at least one of the picks.
SDNY/ EDNY: Way too many possibilities. I would love to see TJ Tu picked for EDNY, but given his position with the Center for Reproductive Rights, he’d be unlikely to get Manchin’s vote.
DE: I think Christopher Howland will be the pick.
MD: I’m hoping for Zenita Wickham Hurley.
EDVA: While I hope Jamar Walker will be picked, given that both of Biden’s EDVA appointments so far have been for Alexadria, I think these picks will be from Richmond and the Hampton Roads area. For the Hampton Roads, I think Kevin Duffan will be picked and then Elizabeth Hanes for Richmond.
WDVA: I hope to god Juval Scott is picked over Robert Ballou (1965).
EDMI: My first choice would be Susan Kim Declercq. Jonathan Grey could be in play too but I think he’s less likely since he was only recently appointed as a Magistrate Judge. While he would be great, I doubt Philip Mayor will be picked. You could also throw Luttrell Levingston in the mix.
NDIL: Of all the picks Duckworth and Durbin recommended, I think Nancy Maldonado would be the most likely since she would be the first Latina on that court. Karen Sheley would be more progressive though.
MN: I think Reynaldo Aligada is the most likely pick. Many young up-and-comers who helped prosecute Chauvin but I think they would be more likely be appointed to state or magistrate judgeships first.
For California, I will list my top choices among current local/ Magistrate Judges and among non Judges.
CDCA: I definitely hope Steve Kim isn’t renominated. Among Judges, I prefer Ashfaq Chowdhury over Christopher Dybwad since he’d bring a diversity element, but both would be better than Kim. I’m sure there are plenty of other LA County Superior Court Judges in play that are not on my list. Among non Judges, I’d love to see Cuahtemoc Ortega, Marisol Orihuela (not 100% sure she’d leave Yale, but she has strong ties to SoCal), or Catherine Sweetser.
EDCA: Daniel Calabretta has done a Supreme Court clerkship (Stevens) and Julie Yap has served as a Supreme Court fellow. Daniel Calabretta is LGBT, but Julie Yap is slightly younger and there has never been an Asian Judge on EDCA.
NDCA:
Oakland: I think Rebekah Evenson would be the best pick among Alameda County Judges. Labor lawyer Arthur Liou of Leonard Carder would be great among non Judges.
San Francisco: Among Judges, Christine Van Aken and Andrew Dawson both have Supreme Court clerkship experience. As such, they may be more likely to be nominated directly to the 9th Circuit. Among private practice Attorneys, Jahan Sagafi has served on the Board of the People’s Parity Project. Lin Chan of Lieff Cabrasser would also be great. So many possibilities among public interest organizations too.
San Jose: While I would prefer Greta Hansen or Laura Trice, I think Frederick Chung would be more likely as he is a Judge and would be replacing Lucy Koh (both Asian).
SDCA: I went over this in the Huie thread. I would love to see Armilla Staley-Ngomo or Harini Raghupathi. I hope Staley-Ngomo wasn’t rejected. I don’t recall such an article (I do recall an article where she is mentioned and another person mentioned in the article was rejected for another judgesip). I think Jose Scher-Castillo will get one of the seats.
OR: Nadia Dahab would be my top choice. Vamshi Reddy would also be great, but she is slightly older and her Planned Parenthood background could be an issue for Manchin.
WDWA: Jamal Whitehead and Marsha Chien would be my choices. Colleen Melody could also be in play but she doesn’t bring a diversity element the others do. I supposed J. Michael Diaz also has a shot at being renominated, though I think already would’ve been at this point.
CO: Elizabeth Wang of Loevy & Loevy would be my top pick. She’d be a lot better than the other Wang picked for Colorado. Katayoun Donnelly would also be good. She is Persian and has a lot of Pro bono experience.
NM: Shammara Henderson would be my top pick. Lujan-Grisham made her the first black state Judge in NM. Biden could do the same for federal.
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@Zack
Really good list. I will give my opinion on each;
MA: I have no issue with any of the names mentioned. I have two better names but I think both should be on the circuit court, Bessie Dewar (1st circuit) & Andrew Crespo (DC Circuit). The bottom line is the amount of time it is taking to get a nominee for the first two seats is ridiculous. One seat has been vacant since before Biden took office & the second since last Summer.
SDNY & EDNY: I will start with my two choices I would like to see on a circuit court but if not, a district court seat. Melissa Murray & Jamal Greene. After that my next favorite picks would be Vincent Southerland, Joshua Matz, Daniel Habib, Ria Tabacco Mar (Albeit she might be tough to get confirmed) or Travis Tu (Also would probably be tough to get confirmed).
DE: I’ll defer to @Zack’s pick.
MD: I would want Ajmel Quereshi to get the 4th circuit pick but if not the district court seat. Besides him there’s Liz Oyer. There are others but those two really should be the 4th circuit & district court nominees.
EDVA: Out of the recommendations I would pick Jamar Walker & Elizabeth Hanes.
WDVA: Juval Scott is hands down the best pick out of the two recommendations.
EDMI: I’ll defer to @Zack’s pick.
NDIL: Karen Sheley would be would be my first choice with Nancy Maldonado as my second. Several of the others recommended are not progressive enough.
MN: I’ll defer to @Zack’s pick.
California – We have discussed many of these names on other post so I won’t rehash them all. I will just say I agree none of the Trump nominee’s should be re-nominated. Also I read an article last year where Armilla Staley-Ngomo said she was not selected so I think she is out. I just want more none state judges selected.
WDWA: Jamal Whitehead and Marsha Chien are my top two choices as well with either one of them getting the 9th circuit seat if it’s moved from California back to Washington. I don’t think it will be oved back to Washington but if so I think either one of them should get the seat. I wish J. Michael Diaz had gotten the David Estudillo seat. Jorge Baron would be my next choice.
CO: Any of the names @Zack mentioned would be good but I have a feeling it will go to one of the remaining two men that were recommended & not chosen for the last seat.
NM: Shammara Henderson would be an excellent choice
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I think you’re mistaken about the Tenth Circuit. There are no vacancies from New Mexico, though there is one from Kansas.
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I hope one of the WDWA vacancies is filled with a federal public defender – Tana Lin was a public defender in DC for a few years at the start of her career, but none of the nominees so far have much federal defense experience. I don’t know much about that federal defender office, but I’m sure Seattle attracts some top-notch lawyers.
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@Dequan. Did you mean to reply to Zack or to me?
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Sorry, when I reply it doesn’t allow me to reply directly to the post I want. It only allows me to reply to the original post for that section.
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@Dequan. That’s fine. Was just confused. There are some I didn’t include because I think it would be highly unlikely they would be picked for a District Court seat for being overqualified. While there are many law professors I think would be great, Anne Rachel Traum is the only full-time law professor Biden has nominated. With Jamal Greene specifically, I do think he would be great, but he has never practiced law (outside of law school Summer Associate roles), only clerked and taught. Also is this the Staley-Ngomo article you were talking about or is there a more recent one? Candis Mitchell mentions not being selected, but Staley-Ngomo doesn’t. https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/public-defender-bench-aspirations-emboldened-by-biden-nominees
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Ah yes, that is the article. I just re-read it. Your right, it looks like Candis Mitchell was the one that said she was not selected. Let’s hope Staley-Ngomo is still in te mix then. She would be good & much better then many of the current California nominees.
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@Dequan. Do you have any thoughts on the Oregon suggestions?
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Oregon is another disappointment. It is ridiculous it is taking this long for a nominee. I’m sure there are some names I don’t know but out of the names I know, Vamshi Reddy would be my top pick. I would talk it over with senator Manchin first to make sure his work with Planned Parenthood wouldn’t trigger a no vote from him.
Eric Deitrick would be another good choice. I am hoping since we are waiting so long for a pick that means we will get another Jennifer Sung type of solid pick.
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There is also one vacancy in SD for the 8th Circuit and one vacancy in ID and AK for the 9th.
I expect a nominee for Idaho to be announced soon given how badly a new judge is needed.
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There’s also an IA slot open–Grassley has already recommended Steve Locher, who Biden should have no problems with.
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Got ya.
Looking through the list, I agree with most of the ones on there.
If nothing else, Biden is under pressure to nominate more LGBT/Latino and APPI judges so I expect the next batch will have them.
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I am a Black man & I would say Biden has done a tremendous job for the Black community when it comes to judges. He now needs to increase the Hispanic representation, particularly on the appeals courts. I think we will see that with at least one nominated in the 2nd, 5th & 9th circuit vacancies. Hopefully we will get at least one more Hispanic in another seat as well.
And they need to be young enough to be considered for SCOTUS at a later date. Gustavo Gelpí was born in 1965 & can’t realistically be in that category.
I wouldn’t mind seeing additional AAPI circuit court nominees as well as maybe a couple more black men since we have only had Andre Mathis nominated to the circuit courts in the past seven years. I expect some of the some combination of those groups mentioned above to be LGBT as well.
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@Dequan, I’m happy that under Biden, Black judges, especially women have been given spots on seats they should have been given long ago but I do agree there are other communities that need to have folks them on the bench as well.
The more I think about the 3rd Circuit court seat in DE, the more I think Christopher Howland should get the nod over Tamika Montgomery-Reeves.
They are both the same age I believe (41) and while he is a prosecutor, Howland is also a member of the American Constitution Society and has served on LGBT boards and he would add gay representation to the bench.
As it stands now on the Circuit courts, Todd M. Hughes of the Federal Circuit and Patrick Bumatay of the 9th are the only openly gay jurists on them.
While Hughes was first, the Federal Circuit normally only deals with patent cases and not other areas of law.
Which leaves Bumatay, who while Gay and APPI is also a member of the Federalist Society.
As with Clarence Thomas, Bumatay is well outside the mainstream of the communities he is a part of and it would be nice to see Biden counterbalance that with someone from the opposite side like Howland so that Bumatay isn’t the only Gay voice on the main Circuit courts.
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Beth Robinson is also openly LGBT but she was born in 1965 so any future SCOTUS consideration is out the window for her. After Allison Nathan’s confirmation brings the number to four, I can definitely see a couple more this year. With Delaware being Biden’s home state, he will probably go with who he feels comfortable with the most for that seat. I’m not sure who he knows best out of the two mentioned since they are both around 41, which means they were around 27 when Biden left the senate for VP.
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Given that Tamika Montgomery-Reeves was honored by the Biden Institute (I honestly did not know that was a thing), I’m 1000% sure she’s more likely to get the nomination over Christopher Howland (though he would be a good choice too). See this article: http://udreview.com/delaware-supreme-court-justice-teaches-students-how-to-live-with-power-and-purpose/.
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I crunched the numbers, and of Biden’s 20 court of appeals nominations so far:
50% are Black (10: KBJ, Jackson-Akiwumi, Cunningham, Lee, H. Thomas, Mathis, Abudu, Childs, Freeman, Davis)
25% are White (Rossman, Robinson, Heytens, Stark, Nathan)
15% are Hispanic/Latino (Gelpi, Perez, Sanchez)
10% are LGBT (Robinson, Nathan)
10% are Asian (Koh, Sung)
The numbers above add up to over 100% because Robinson and Nathan are both White & LGBT. Also, 55% have worked in public defense/civil rights work of some kind. (KBJ, Jackson-Akiwumi, Lee, Rossman, Gelpi, Perez, Robinson, Sung, Thomas, Abudu, Freeman)
A few interesting things that might affect who he nominates for the other open seats (if he ever gets to it…):
1. No Native American COA nominees
2. No LGBT people of color nominees
3. No Asian men nominees
4. Only 1 Black man nominee (Mathis)
5. No bisexual/transgender nominees (I think this holds for district court nominees as well, though I believe he nominated a trans woman to an HHS position?)
I don’t know what the numbers are like for his district court nominees (other than 0 bi/trans nominees) because that’s a lot more people to look through, but it seems like Biden has been doing a good job nominating more Black women.
Otherwise, it’s pretty lackluster in terms of demographic diversity (at the COA level at least). Latinos make up almost 20% of the general US population, so the fact that they are underrepresented among a Democratic president’s COA nominees is concerning. Also, the lack of a Native American COA nominee is disappointing as well – though if Gould on the 9th would just hurry up and take senior status already, I could see them elevating Lauren King on W.D. Wash.
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I didn’t mention it above but after reading @John’s numbers, I do think we will see a Native American circuit court judge this year as well. I think the most likely would be the Arizona seat, however I think he should use the red state seats for major diversity nominees.
So for example the Kansas or Texas seats are not going to get the home state senators to agree to the nominee anyway, so you mine as well have a historic nominee so that it may be harder for all 50 GOP senators to vote no on.
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I agree with Dequan – I think the first Native American court of appeals nominee is especially likely to be bipartisan. If nothing else, Lisa Murkowski will be hard-pressed to vote against such a historic nomination.
Native Americans are a big part of Murkowski’s base in Alaska, and their pressure got her to vote for Deb Haaland for Interior Secretary (a four-year position) despite Haaland being a solid progressive. (https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/02/23/deb-haaland-interior-secretary-confirmation-republicans-native-americans-alaska-murkowski-471125). With Alaska’s new ranked-choice voting system for 2022 and a Trump-sponsored challenger to her right, Murkowski will need strong support among Natives in Alaska in her reelection campaign.
Therefore, I think Biden could pick a pretty liberal Native American nominee and still get Murkowski’s vote, and a pick to replace Hurwitz on the Arizona 9th Circuit seat would be especially hard for her to vote against because the Ninth covers Alaska. Now if he would stop wasting time and nominate people already.
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The senate just recessed until Monday. No cloture filed for any judges. They will only have one vote Monday & that’s a cloture vote for Shalanda Young. I hope they didn’t work too hard this week with their two votes on Monday, full day on Tuesday, off Wednesday & full day today…smh
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They got the govt funding til 9/30 passed, so Thurs would have been time to have started work on the 20+ judicial nominees awaiting votes (incl discharges)..
All democratic senators were present this week, it’s utterly baffling as to why they refuse to move these nominees….And shame on the WH for not doing their part in sending new nominees to senate…
I guess the excuse for today will be the Democratic senators were so thrilled that MLB resolved its labor dispute and the National League will have a DH now, so they forgot all about the courts in their excitement of baseball’s return..
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It’s sad MLB could resolve an entire labor dispute before we could confirm one judge or get one nominee
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Harris will be back next week and the last excuse for not doing votes on Tues/Wed/Thurs
If we don’t see more nominations or votes by next Thursday then by all means, it will be time to let er rip on Biden/Schumer etc when it comes to the courts then the calling out we’ve given them so far.
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If progressives truly want to sink her nomination, all they have to do is tell Chuck Schumer they will only vote to confirm her on a Friday, Saturday or recess week. No chance of her nomination even being brought to the floor as long as Schumer is in charge…smh
(https://www.huffpost.com/entry/progressives-biden-judicial-nominee-jennifer-rearden_n_622a54e3e4b0fe0944d2f73d?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Morning%20Email%203-11-22&utm_term=us-morning-email)
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Given that Young is a cabinet level position, this means Tuesday is when cloture votes on other nominees would begin.
Have to think we may see votes then given there is likely no more legislation coming.
Be nice if we could see nominees soon..
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At this point I don’t know how many other positions are left for the senate to confirm. Unless the senate starts confirming dog catchers, judges have to be one of the only things left.
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over 1250 executive positions require senate confirmation.
The Senate has confirmed 295.
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OUCH… With numbers like that, virtually no unanimous consent agreements, no way in Hell Schumer keeping the senate in session Friday’s, Saturday’s, Sunday’s or Monday’s until 5pm & no cancelled recess weeks, we may have more judicial vacancies left for the next Republican president then when Trump entered office.
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Nominations are starting to become more of an issue for me.
We need to see some, especially for Circuit court seats.
The 10th Circuit seat in Kansas has now been open a year.
TIme to name someone for that and other seats given how as with Young, votes on them will take 30 hours and given how Republican are likely to jam up the works with trying to force discharge votes down the line.
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I agree @Zack. I’ve said on other post numerous times my biggest concern was the SJC. Well we are now down to just 6 nominees pending a hearing. As much as I complain about the pace of confirmation, honestly Schumer could take 3 days & probably confirm most of the pending nominees on the floor.
My least worry has always been Biden nominating nominees, however with only one nominee in the past 51 days, combined with the past few “batches” having less then a handful of nominees in it, this has now moved to my biggest concern. It takes about 30 days before a nominee can get a hearing, then a week for them to be held over out of the SJC, so we need the next bath quickly. And a real batch. It’s March but the Summer will be here before we know it. Time is running out.
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There are still about 5 Circuit court openings on the 1st & 2nd Circuit, ALL states that all have 2 Democratic senators…..These should be real easy…
I thought all the far right ideologues that were confirmed in the last admin would have lit a fire under a Democratic WH and senate, but apparently not…
And while it’s awful that the GOP is holding up all those executive nominees, Schumer either needs to keep the senate in on weekends and have a vote-a-rama or at least focus on the judicial ones as those appointments are for life….
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I’m hoping by next Tuesday, we see movement on judges on all fronts.
As it stands, I don’t see any more major legislation coming down the pipe so it should be confirm nominees, judges to the front of the line after Young is confirmed.
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And hopefully they can have another vote-a-rama. I’m not sure the logistics behind how they did it on the last day of session this past December, but they knocked 10 judges out in one day. If they can repeat that then we’re back in business.
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I believe they pulled it off by simply having most of the Democrats stay while the Republicans went on their merry way knowing they couldn’t stop votes being brought to the floor and thus took away the fear (which IMO has been why Schumer has been holding back some) that Harris would be needed for tie breaker after tie breaker.
I have to believe after Shalanda Young’s confirmation (it is needed) that we’ll be seeing movement on some judges starting Tuesday and Wednesday, likely on district court ones first as there is only two hours of cloture needed for them.
Nominations are what is needed more at this point and if we don’t see some by the end of next week or during the week of KBJ’s confirmation hearing, then it will time to rightfully worry, as by April there would be no more judicial nominees to have hearings for.
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I would add that IMO, Lujan being out for a month also set things back on confirming judges for a bit, especially since the Ohio batch of judges is likely going to be the last time you’ll see any batch of nominees(sans the ones coming from Idaho and Alaska) get confirmed easily.
Other legislation and nominees that likely would have been dealt with weren’t so it was a bit of catch up on both.
If nothing else, I don’t think there’s anything that stops nominees from being voted on during the week KBJ will have her hearing and you KNOW everyone will likely be in town for that that.
I think next Wednesday is when we finally see some movement(knock on wood.) on them.
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Most nominees are getting a few GOP votes, I think Lee, Sung, & Thomas were the only party line votes……So despite Lujan’s absence, senate Democrats still could have confirmed many District court nominees….
I’m not sure how long GOP senator Imhofe is out, so once VP Harris is back from Europe, time to get her to fulfill the President of the Senate duties and get these people discharged…
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I know Inhofe was out a few days & is retiring at the end of the year, but is he expected to miss significant time in the near future as well?
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Inhofe’s wife has been ill and he’s wanting to spend time with her.
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Ah ok. Well I hope Mrs. Inhofe well. And as said by others, next week we really need to see some confirmations & another batch of nominees. We already are behind with the SJC not having a nominations hearing for the second straight week even though we have 6 nominees pending.
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