A go-to election lawyer in Arizona (and frequent legal foe of Trump Ninth Circuit consideree Kory Langhofer), Roopali Desai has been tapped for the Ninth Circuit.
Background
Roopali Hardin Desai received a B.A. and an M.P.H. from the University of Arizona and then received a J.D. from the University of Arizona Law School in 2005. Desai then clerked for Judge Mary Schroeder on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and then joined Lewis & Roca in Phoenix.
In 2007, Desai became a Partner at Coppersmith Brockelman, where she currently works.
History of the Seat
Desai has been nominated for an Arizona seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. This seat opens when Judge Andrew Hurwitz moves to senior status, which he will go upon confirmation of a successor.
Political Activity
Desai is a frequent donor to Arizona Democrats, including Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, Rep. Greg Stanton, and Secretary of State Katie Hobbs.
Legal Experience
Desai has spent almost her entire legal career at the firm of Coppersmith and Brockelman, where she has made a name for herself as a go-to attorney for Arizona Democrats. Desai notably served as the campaign attorney for Sinema when she first ran for Congress in 2012. See Jeremy Duda, Arizona State Sen. Kyrsten Sinema Staffs Up Big and Early, Arizona Capitol Times, Jan. 3, 2012. In 2016, Desai represented the Arizona Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee in successfully challenging the presence of GOP Senate candidate Candace Begody-Begay. See Ben Giles, Judge Tosses Begody-Begay From Election Ballot, Arizona Capitol Times, June 24, 2016. Similarly, Desai represented the U.S. Green Party in seeking to remove a slate of alleged spoiler Green Party candidates being run by Republicans in an effort to shift close elections. See Jeremy Duda, Arizona Green Party Files Suit Over Alleged Sham Candidates, Arizona Capitol Times, Sept. 7, 2010. Outside of the election context, Desai has also represented the Coalition of Arizona Acupuncture Safety. See Gary Grado, Acupuncture: Dry Needling in Arizona, Arizona Capitol Times, Nov. 11, 2013.
A summary of her other key cases follows:
Mask Mandates
In 2021, Desai led the legal challenge against a statewide ban on mask mandates passed in Arizona and supported by Governor Doug Ducey. See Howard Fischer, Judge to Hear Arguments Over Legality of Mask Prohibition, Arizona Capitol Times, Aug. 25, 2021. Desai was able to convince the Arizona Supreme Court of her position, as the court unanimously struck down the provisions. See W. Schutsky, Ducey’s Judges Go Rogue, Arizona Capitol Times, Nov. 2, 2021.
2020 Election
Desai represented Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs in defending against lawsuits challenging the validity of Arizona’s presidential election, which awarded Arizona’s electoral votes to President Joe Biden. See Howard Fischer, Judge Rejects GOP Official’s Effort to Void Election Won By Biden, Arizona Capitol Times, Dec. 6, 2020.
Voting Laws
Desai has frequently litigated against measures that restrict voting access. For example, she was part of the legal team unsuccessfully fighting an Arizona bill that restricted ballot collection. See Feldman v. Reagan, 843 F.3d 366 (9th Cir. 2016) (en banc).
Redistricting
In 2010, Desai represented a commissioner on Arizona’s Independent Redistricting Commission in defending the Commission’s actions in a suit where opposing counsel included future Arizona Supreme Court Justice Bill Montgomery. See State ex rel. Montgomery v. Mathis, 231 Ariz. 103 (Ariz. App. 2012).
Labor Law
In 2013, Desai was part of a legal team that secured a ruling against newly passed Arizona statutes that limited the ability of labor unions to engage in picketing and in using payroll deductions for political speech. See United Food & Commer. Workers Local 99 v. Bennett, 934 F. Supp. 2d 1167 (D. Ariz. 2013).
School Vouchers
In 2018, Desai represented Save Our Schools Arizona, a group opposing school vouchers in promoting an initiative blocking voucher expansion. Katie Campbell, Voucher Expansion Ballot Measure Prompts Questions on Voter Protection, Arizona Capitol Times, Sept. 15, 2017.
Marijuana
In the 2020 campaign cycle, Desai represented the Arizona Dispensaries Association in advising it on a legalization campaign. See Hank Stephenson, Pro-Pot Crew Shaping Up, Initiative Not So Much, Yellow Sheet Report, Mar. 20, 2019.
Writings and Statements
As a law student, Desai authored a note analyzing the Arizona Supreme Court’s decision in State v. Minnitt. Roopali H. Desai, State v. Minnitt: Extending Double Jeopardy Protections in the Context of Prosecutorial Misconduct, 46 Ariz. L. Rev. 415 (Summer 2004). In the article, Desai favorably compares Minnitt, which bars retrial when a mistrial was caused by prosecutorial misconduct that was later discovered, with the rule in federal cases, noting that Minnitt “makes clear that a prosecutor cannot avoid the double jeopardy ramifications of his own misconduct by simply concealing that misconduct until a trial is complete.” Id. at 422.
Overall Assessment
As a young nominee with a willingness to engage in bare knuckles litigation on behalf of liberal causes, Desai is likely to attract a fair amount of opposition. However, she has the strong support of Sinema, which will likely smooth her path to confirmation.
The Vetting Room 
I’ve said it on other articles on this site but I’ll repeat here. This is an outstanding nominee. I’ll give her an A & really can’t give you a reason why she’s not an A+. She’s young, an election denier opposition lawyer & has an extensive pro bono background. I’m actually impressed with senator Sinema that she recommended her.
She has her hearing tomorrow. Hopefully the stars will align & all 50 Democrats will be healthy & back to work so she can be confirmed shortly after they return from the Summer recess.
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I’m not as surprised that Sinema recommended here considering that she has represented the Arizona Democratic Party in the past and as such likely has a relationship with both senators from the state.
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I meant I was surprised more so because Sinema is one of the two senators that is standing in the way of the changes needed to move the country forward. Now she is recommending one of the better circuit court nominees. I would expect a Childs or Pan like recommendation from a senator like her… Lol
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An excellent pick and having the strong backing of Sinema will go a long way to ensuring she is confirmed promptly.
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It looks like the WH is moving forward with the anti abortion judge….
But check out the screenshot in the article, he has an #8 by his name….So HOPEFULLY it will be a larger batch of nominees with mostly decent nominees excluding the KY pick
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/chad-meredith-judicial-nominee-abortion-biden_n_62cc82d9e4b0451684664530?mt8
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I think that Meredith will be part of a larger batch of nominees, which will include those attorneys that Biden is getting in exchange, so I doubt we will see more than 5-7 judicial nominees, if we even see nominees this week.
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https://mobile.twitter.com/aterkel/status/1546853696084008960
Jennifer bendery reports despite the outcry and pleas biden is still going to nominate right wing federalist society hack chad meredith to a life time appointment on the district court. Thats it for me, im out.
I fully support a primary challenger to president biden and urge everyone on here to do so, biden presidency will be seen worse than jimmy carter is seen today, he will be a monumental failure, and it was well earned, this is indefensible.
The most insulting thing is we get two right wing U.S attorneys in Kentucky for the next two years until their replaced by the next republican president.
Enough is enough! This is rubbing salt and pepper in peoples wounds, how can one defend this?
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If Biden nominated this guy for two US attorney’s, I too would support a primary challenger in 2024. Now if the deal has been changed to fast tracking a vote on all other judicial nominees from now until at least the midterms, I would still hate the deal, albeit hate it a lot less.
I hope tomorrow we get another package with a large number of nominees & hopefully Chad isn’t one of them. Even if Biden goes through with nominating him, I want it to be in a later batch. That way we can queue up the other nominees ahead of him to make sure McConnell keeps his word.
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I suspect that this is exactly the kind of deal we’re getting. On paper it will be for a couple of DAs but I wonder if a couple of Rs will mysteriously start missing votes to make Schumer’s life much easier. If we can get another hearing or two and Graham/whoever to keep playing ball in committee that would go a long way as well. But I can understand why they don’t want to just come out and say all of this.
I’ll evaluate “the deal” come the midterms when the result is more apparent.
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Okay, while I appreciate you sharing this article, I want to note for those who haven’t read it: There is no reason to believe that the attorneys Biden would be nominating in exchange for Meredith would be right wing.
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Remember even if this anti abortion judge is nominated, Sen Durbin doesn’t have to hold a hearing, and Sen Schumer does not have to bring him up for a vote…
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Your thinking about possibilities under a Republican controlled senate. I would also throw in their if Graham held a hearing & McConnell allowed a floor vote, the Republican president didn’t have to sign the commission for the nominee even after being confirmed.
But Democrats are in the majority. Therefore there will be shearing & floor vote if he is nominated. And Biden will sign the commission if confirmed.
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Agreed. I would bet that several Democrats would vote against him on the floor, but that would be offset by every Republican (even Cruz and Hawley) voting yea on him.
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If he doesn’t get a vote during this Congress, he’ll get a vote during the next Congress, likely with McConnell & Graham in control. What’s even worse about this Meredith nomination is that Meredith is certainly going to be considered for elevation to a circuit court seat during the next GOP administration.
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Democrats should vote against Meredith’s nomination this time because should Meredith be elevated to a circuit court seat, McConnell will hail the fact that Meredith was nominated by a Democrat president and got some Democrats voting in favor of confirming him (as if that magically makes him less partisan).
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I would agree with the professor on this one:
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Definitely an outstanding nominee. And I certainly hope Biden isn’t the nominee in 2024 regardless of the Chad Meredith situation (I’m upset, but not as upset as I would be it were a seat currently held by someone more liberal). Anyways, on a different topic, I’ve long said that Bessie Dewar should be the favorite for the Massachusetts First Circuit seat, but there is another name I think deserves serious consideration. David Zimmer (1982) is a former clerk to Justice Kagan and while he is with a big law firm (Goodwin Procter), his pro bono record is as progressive as it gets. He has represented asylum applicants and immigrants at the Supreme Court, has argued for the approval of a generic drug used by chemo patients, and is on the Board of both the ACLU of Massachusetts and Lawyers for Civil Rights.
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@Ethan
Massachusetts has a slew of great possibilities for their 3 district court & 1 circuit court vacancies. I’m not nearly as confident as others like Shawn we will see any of them for any of the 4 based on judges I’ve seen from the state from the last two Democrat administrations. But I hope I’m proven wrong. Tomorrow would be a GREAT day to do it.
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So Zimmer is a solid B+ for me because his corporate work is largely IP and similar cases, rather than being a management lawyer, representing polluters, or defending class actions and personal injury cases, etc.
Would put him behind Andrew Crespo and Bessie Dewar.
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This is good news for anything getting done in the senate this week. Maybe it won’t be a complete waste…
By a vote of 48-46, the #Senate invoked cloture on the nomination of Steven M. Dettelbach to be Director, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.
Senators Collins & Portman voted in favor. Senators not voting: Blumenthal, Leahy, Lujan, Risch, Sasse, & Schumer.
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In case people are wondering why Portman voted in favor, it likely is due to the fact that Dettelbach is from OH.
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agreed, home state senators usually vote for nominees even from the opposite political party due to loyalty to their state
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New PA-based nominations incoming: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden-nominates-5-new-judges-not-republican-abortion-opponent-2022-07-12/.
At least Biden is filling Smith’s Third Circuit seat – this would flip the court to be equally split between 7 Democratic nominees and 7 Republicans. I would’ve preferred a more progressive candidate than Chung, but she did clerk for Myron Thompson (a well-known liberal judge) and worked at DOJ Civil Rights for several years before becoming an AUSA. With Freeman nominated to the other seat we probably weren’t going to get a super progressive to fill this seat anyways, but seems like she should be to the left of Smith. Hopefully she will have an easier confirmation – though it’s worth flagging that none of the Republicans (including Collins/Murkowski/Graham) have voted for any of Biden’s Asian circuit nominees. My guess is that they’ll vote for Pan, but it wouldn’t hurt for one of the Asian Bar Associations to write a letter criticizing them for it.
The two former public defenders nominated to E.D. Pa. are good though – I wish Biden would’ve nominated one of them to the Third Circuit instead, but I’ll take what I can get. And at least no Meredith nomination.
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Hopefully Chung & Montgomery Reeves actually get confirmed. It’s going to be a tight squeeze given the current patterns.
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I think that Lee (7th Cir.) might also get a few GOP votes in favor of confirmation.
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New nominees, all PA focused
US Attorney Cindy Chung for the Third Circuit. I’ll have to look her up. Plus the four candidates we’ve been waiting on for the Eastern District.
https://www.inquirer.com/politics/pennsylvania/biden-third-circuit-eastern-district-judicial-nominees-20220712.html
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What a pleasant surprise a day earlier. It’s not often I can say my expectations are surpassed in any way when it comes to the judiciary over the past year & a half so I’ll take 24 hours early any week. And no Chad Meredith today truly makes it a good day for the judiciary.
As for the nominees, before I give my opinion for each, are we sure Toomey will turn in his blue slips for the 4 district court nominees? I was expecting at least 1 to be a Republican, but after reading up on them I can’t find anything that leads me to believe any are. None are overtly progressive, but I figured at least one would be an out right Republican or conservative. Perhaps they worked out an agreement to just make them all the district court nominees centrist or left of center in exchange for a left of center circuit court nominee from Western Pennsylvania. There were certainly more progressive nominees Biden could have went with from the Eastern part of the state like Jasmine Harris without any need for Toomey’s blue slip so I guess that was the compromise. Part of the reason I advocated for not filling any of the Pennsylvania district court seats was because I figured Toomey would not return his blue slips in unless one was an ultra conservative. But this deal seems to be a good compromise.
Cindy K. Chung (C. 1980) B+… As I mentioned above, there were much more progressive choices that were also young. If this was a compromise choice to get the district court nominees blue slipped then I would say it was worth it. We got Arianna Freeman for 1 of the 2 seats plus I suspect Chung will end up being fairly progressive in the long run. I could possibly upgrade my grade for her upon learning more.
Kelley B. Hodge (C 1971) B… She’s an African American woman that is a member of the Democrat party & has run for office so I give her high remarks for that. Her age plus not as much of a progressive background as I would like has left take her grade down a bit.
John Frank Murphy (C 1977) C… At first I suspected this was the Republican of the 5 nominees as he is the only white male & mostly represented large companies. Then I looked at his pro bono work & found the following so for Pennsylvania I will go with a C for him…
Represents plaintiffs in civil rights cases through the Prisoner Rights Panel of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Represents voter-rights organizations and individual voters in challenge to certification of voting machine.
Judge Mia Roberts Perez (C 1981) A-… I could upgrade her to an A with more info. So far as a Latina former federal defender in her low 40’s, she’s a solid pick.
Judge Kai Scott (C 1969) B… Another former federal defender so I’ll give her high remarks for that. Unfortunately I have to take a lot off for her age.
But overall a good batch. I would approve of the deals made to get 5 new nominees.
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I did some research into John Frank Murphy. He has two degrees in Chemical Engineering and his legal specialty is intellectual property law.
I’m surprised that Pat Toomey didn’t insist on one Republican in the batch. He negotiated several concessions during the Trump Administration.
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@Mitch
I did some research into Murphy’s political donations. Lots of donations to Toomey and other GOPers, and I’m pretty sure that he is the Republican in the batch. He clearly seems like a NeverTrumper and perhaps not terribly conservative, but he leans GOP. Perhaps on par with Peter Phipps or even less conservative.
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I’d bet that these nominees will be announced along with a larger slate of nominees tomorrow or Thursday.
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Nevermind, I just read the release
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I’ll be very curious to see whether or not a week of the August recess is cancelled or not. Chung could theoretically be paired with Montgomery Reeves and have a hearing on August 10. That would only cost a week of the recess and also give the senate some more times to finish up the reconciliation bill. The next hearing date currently wouldn’t be until September 7 otherwise.
Finally, it looks like only 9 current or pending circuit court seats remain without nominees:
First (Concord, NH)
First (Boston)
Second (New Haven, CT)
Fourth (Spartanburg, SC)
Fourth (Baltimore)
Fifth (Houston)
Seventh (Lafayette, IN)
Ninth (Billings, MT)
Tenth (Lawrence, KS)
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Posted this last night on the Mendez-Miro page, but anyone notice that both Indiana senators initially reached out to Pryor? Should be a smooth confirmation for her I would think
Also looks like people some are thinking what I initially thought about Meredith having an 8. next to his name in the White House email, maybe we’ll get a big batch after all
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Yea I was actually surprised to see senator Braun working in good faith to find a nominee. As I’ve said before Doris Pryor is a good red state nominee for a White House trying to work in good faith to find consensus circuit court nominees. Hopefully they won’t stall & will do the same for the Kanne seat that is now vacant as well.
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I certainly hope Pryor isn’t held up the same way Mathis has been – Young is the more competent of Indiana’s senators, while Braun is pretty clearly a hack. The fact that Braun’s office reached out to Pryor first is surprising. I don’t know if Pryor will get more than 54 votes (Dems + Collins/Murkowski/Graham + Young), but I do think she’ll be confirmed without much controversy.
The fact that the Indiana senators did the outreach and suggested Pryor makes me a little concerned though – perhaps she is more centrist (or even center-right) than center-left as we’ve all assumed. The Meredith fiasco has also dramatically undermined my confidence in this administration as it relates to judges, and I hope Biden wasn’t fooled into nominating a secretly center-right judge just because she’s a Black woman. It’s not like I’m expecting Pryor to be as progressive as Candace-Jackson Akiwumi for example, but I’m hoping she’s more liberal than Hamilton (who was not very good on criminal justice issues anyways). I guess time will tell, and her filling this seat before the midterms is still better than leaving it to whatever Fed Soc hack would otherwise take her place.
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@Hank
So I have thought long & hard about this. My guess is either The White House reached out to the Indiana senators & offered up a hard left nominee like Jessica Eaglin, or the senators saw what happened in Tennessee & got scared straight so to speak. They probably figured it will be better to find a left of center nominee then to get a hard lest nominee rammed down their throat.
With Pryor being a former federal defender & a black woman, they probably knew Biden wouldn’t pass her up since she’s assured confirmation over Jessica Eaglin who would likely need to be discharged. That is what’s so upsetting about the Kansas vacancy. If those senators were serious about acting in good faith I would be fine with waiting. But its ben over a year & a half.
That vacancy y is beyond ridiculous at this point. I was willing to say pick a Jacy Hurst type nominee who would be left of center & a sitting state court judge. But at this point they should just pick a Lauren Bonds type nominee to punish them for not acting in good faith. It would be wroth the extra 4 hour discharge senate floor time to send a message to senators like Cruz & Cornyn.
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Apparently Rep. Andre Carson also recommended Pryor so that alleviates some of my concerns of Pryor being to the right
https://www.theindianalawyer.com/articles/pryor-may-have-easier-path-to-7th-circuit-confirmation-than-past-nominees
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Doris Pryor is the true meaning of a consensus nominee. I think both of the circuit court nominees did very well today. The Republicans seemed to be reasonable today in their questioning. Of course no senator Blackburn ending the hearing with her usual antics helped as well. Roopali Desai Seemed very well prepared for the expected line of questions she received. I went ahead & uploaded all of today’s nominees pictures onto their Wikipedia pages for those that visit that site.
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Progressive judicial groups are trying to convince Biden to not nominate anti-abortion judges. Considering the latest news, I doubt these campaigns will be successful, but it is still interesting to see.
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/3555838-groups-launch-ad-telling-biden-to-say-hell-no-to-anti-abortion-judicial-picks/
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Chad Meredith has problems apart from the abortion issue. As I discussed with Dequan, he was involved in then-Governor Matt Bevin’s scandalous pardons. The pardoned included a convicted murderer and the ring-leader in the gang rape of a minor. Both come from from a wealthy and connected families.
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@Dequan I agree, Biden should go scorched earth on the Kansas seat and pick a hardcore progressive in their 30s just to prove a point.
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It’s the same reason think all discharge votes should be on Friday’s. Currently there’s no punishment for a tie vote out of the SJC just like there’s no punishment for wasting a year to negotiate a circuit court nominee in good faith when your really just stalling. You need to remove the incentive to obstruct.
If you held all discharge votes on a Friday once a month, that will make senators think twice about a tie vote because there would be a punishment involved. If you nominate a Lauren Bonds type nominee in Kansas, that sends a loud & resounding message to Ted Cruz. Work with us & you get Doris Pryor or Dana Douglas. Don’t work with us & you get Al Sharpton in a dress… Haaaa
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Yeah I think you’d need 54+ senators to confirm Lauren Bonds. I don’t think the no votes for her would be limited to Manchin and Sinema. Would need to beat not only Ron Johnson, but have both Cheri Beasley and Tim Ryan win their Senate races in addition to holding all Democratic seats.
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I don’t know what’s going on in the Kansas vacancies. Maybe something came up in the background checks.
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We shall soon test Durbin’s 5 nominees max rule over the next month or two. The next SJC hearing in a couple weeks should feature Brad Garcia & Dana Douglas along with Anne M. Nardacci, Jerry Blackwell & F. Kay Behm. The next hearing after that could potentially feature all remaining nominees up to today. They all would be from the third circuit but that would be six nominees. Tamika Montgomery-Reeves, Cindy Chung & the 4 district court nominees from Pennsylvania will hopefully be the first hearing with six nominees.
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I actually am pleased with most of the nominees. I still am losing hope that Andre Mathis will be confirmed but oh well.
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I still am not terribly worried. I think the biggest issue there is that Bernice Donald is still serving in that seat and there’s zero push from the home state senators for confirmation (unlike Davis). Manchin and Sinema should be Yes votes so it’s just a matter of when.
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I am pleased too. I think a left of center 41 year old circuit court nominee & 4 district court nominees with none of them being Republicans is a good deal for a purple state. We could have had a second Arianna Freeman type circuit court nominee but then either no district courts or one Chad Meredith type nominee. I would take what we got over either of the other two options.
On another subject, what’s the over/under for how many Republican yes votes all pending circuit court nominees will get in the SJC? Here’s my predictions;
Florence Y. Pan – 4
Rachel Bloomekatz – 1
Doris Pryor – 3
Brad Garcia – 1
Dana Douglas – 3
Roopali Desai – Tie vote
Tamika Montgomery-Reeves – 1
Cindy Chung – 2
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I’d say that Pan/Pryor/Douglas get 3, TMR gets 2, Chung/Bloomekatz get only Graham, Garcia and Desai will require discharges. Perhaps Graham passes on one or both of them and lets them be confirmed 11-10.
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I went back & fourth on if I think Garcia would get one GOP. A 35 year old on the second highest court probably will prove you right. I predicted one only because he’s Hispanic & the vote will be in September closer to the midterms.
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@Dequan
It is also because Garcia and Desai are seen as partisan hacks, which frankly there is some truth to it. It’s just that after Trump appointed shitloads of partisan hacks, I just don’t give a shit if they are partisan hacks.
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Speaking of nominating US Attorneys for judgeships, Biden should just nominate Zachary Myers for the Kanne seat and be done with it. He’s only 40-41.
That’s just a dream though since I doubt Biden has the guts to do it.
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@Delco
It’s funny you mentioned that. After I saw Cindy Chung nominated today I immediately thought about who else that Biden nominated to a position could he later nominate to a circuit court seat. So far in addition to Chung, Biden has nominated to a position & then nominated to a circuit court Brad Garcia, Florence Pan, Sarah A. L. Merriam & of course KBJ.
I was thinking Zachary Myers would be a strong possibility for the 7th circuit. Another name I think would have a strong possibility at getting a second Biden nod would be Brian Nelson ( current Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence) if another 9th (California) seat opens up. Other district court judges for future possible vacancies with a good chance would be Margaret Strickland, Jia Cobb, Dale Ho (Although there probably won’t be any 2nd (NY) vacancies anytime soon while he is young enough to be considered), Nancy L. Maldonado & Elizabeth Hanes.
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Disregard my earlier question. It looks like senator Toomey is on board so there shouldn’t be any blue slips withheld.
(https://www.casey.senate.gov/news/releases/casey-toomey-applaud-nominations-of-us-district-judges-for-eastern-district-of-pennsylvania)
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I don’t remember where I got the following article from, but, boy, does it make me furious! How does Alaska have a more progressive supreme court than my loving, liberal New York?
I blame Cuomo but Hochul isn’t without culpability. Cuomo put a majority of these awful people on my state’s highest court. This court is symptomatic of the Dems wholesale failure or neglect (pick one… or both… or something stronger) when it comes to staffing the third branch of the federal/state government.
Biden’s bad deal shouldn’t be looked at as normal or in the abstract. Taken together, it shows a Democratic party wholly incapable of FULLY governing, because sometimes, picking judges is part of governing.
Thank God Chief Judge Janet DiFiore is leaving. Good riddance. Now, Hochul gets a second chance, one that has come 3 years earlier than it normally would, to really reshape this court. The one major hitch: There are still a few Cuomo-picked allies on NY’s judicial nomination commission, that will have to send Hochul recommendations. I’m not to verse in what happens when a governor rejects recs, but I hope Hochul will do just that if the commission keeps sending her other awful picks. And the supermajority Dem NY senate should absolutely reject a terrible candidate if Hochul is too business-as-usual to do it.
Dems have no right whining about SCOTUS when they don’t care about their home state courts.
https://www.nysfocus.com/2022/07/07/court-of-appeals-conservative-bloc/
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@Gavi
Cuomo has some horrible picks to the NY court of appeals (Their SCOTUS). One of the. Is actually a Republican. I won’t put Al the blame on the NY’ judicial nomination commission however. Cuomo passed up some recommended nominees that would have been significantly better.
One of the passed up lawyers was Caitlin Halligan, president Obama’s blocked nominee to tie DC circuit. She’s 55 now so back then she would have been in her 40’s.
Another one passed up was Hector Gonzalez. President Biden put him on the Eastern district in NY earlier this year. He’s in his low 60’s now so back then he would have been in his mid 50’s & much more progressive.
New York’s highest court is a shame, even with Kathy Hochul’s 60’s year old judge she put on last year. I’m not sure who’s in their commission or how they get on it but It needs to be changed. Either force them to give additional names then they currently do or give the governor more latitude to pick somebody else. But I definitely blame Cuomo for passing up on much better options.
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Yeah and this is among the reasons why I would have voted GOP in 2014 and 2018 for NY Governor. I hated Cuomo for a long time for his left bashing and his general backstabbing of progressives. I would vote for Clarence Thomas or John Eastman over him any day.
The majority of his nominees to the NY Supreme Court were horrible choices. Even allowing for one GOP nominee, you could have done a lot better than these terrible picks. And I don’t think it was incompetence here. In addition to the four that are on the court, he put a judge from the Conservative Party of NY on the highest court as well (who retired in 2021). And there is corruption involved as well, he purposely picked two conservatives who were close allies in 2021 to help him fight the impeachment charges that he knew were coming for his treatment of women. In addition, he was totally corrupt, Preet Bharara was prepared to indict him on federal charges until Trump fired him.
Andrew Cuomo is a conservative Democrat, and I think he intentionally picked nominees in the mold of J. Michelle Childs just like he intentionally sabotaged Democrats efforts to win the state Senate in his state until 2018. I mean Florence Pan is more liberal than all but one of the NY state justices, that’s how bad these choices are.
F Andrew Cuomo, he is a criminal thug in so many ways and he belongs in an underground prison and should never see the light of day again. He’s on par with Robert Menendez as far as the worst Democrats in the country.
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John Frank Murphy is likely the Toomey nominee. I looked at his donor history and there are a ton of donations to Toomey and other Republicans before 2016. After 2016, there are donations to candidates of both parties. Most of his donations are to candidates in PA. It seems like he is a NeverTrump Republican and possibly a conservative.
Secondly I looked the case where he represented “voter-rights organizations and individual voters in challenge to certification of voting machine.” This was a curious and dubious case suing the state of PA for using certain electronic voting machines. If this had been post-2020 I would consider this in the right-wing conspiracy theory realm. However this was in 2019 and the group he was representing was John Bonifaz’s group, which is extremely progressive. (that said it is still a bogus lawsuit IMO, I strongly objected to the conspiracy theories on the left regarding voting machines around 2004.)
I’d quite disappointed with this batch. I will give grades to the nominees, but the grade for Murphy will be given from Toomey’s perspective because he is likely not a Democratic nominee.
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@Shawn
Excellent info. I agree Murphy is likely a Republican, especially after reading your info. I’m actually relieved & it makes me like the batch even more.
There are still 3 district court vacancies in the state. Had all 4 of these nominees been Democrats, I was worried we were getting 1 or 2 Chad Meredith type nominees for the remaining seats. Murphy is more than acceptable for Toomey to return his blue slips for the other 3. I would assume the deal is 3 for 1 so they will wait for one additional vacancies to make 4 & we will get a future batch for the state.
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So TBF, I would be entirely willing to allow a Chad Meredith type (w/o the pardon scandal, that should be completely disqualifying) for Toomey’s selection if we got 3 Arianna Freeman’s in exchange.
I would far prefer 3 progressives and one hard right nutjob than what we got today.
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Cindy Chung: B. A fairly progressive AUSA/USA. But could have done far better.
Mia Roberts Perez: A-. The best of this bunch for district court nominees
Kai Scott: B. Good background but too old.
Kelley Hodge: D-/F. Corporate lawyer and criminal prosecutor who started out in criminal hardliner Lynne Abraham’s thug DA’s office. Literally Abraham is the worst of the worst on criminal justice matters, worse than most conservatives frankly.
John Frank Murphy. C, maybe D. This is likely a Toomey pick, so I give a grade from the GOP perspective. He is a likely a young center-right nominee, I don’t know how conservative he really is. If he is more conservative that he seems, the grade would go up to B or better. But his pro bono background and his lack of Fed Society ties makes him not as good as a selection as some of Toomey’s other selections from the GOP perspective.
Would probably put him on par with say Peter Phipps.
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I think this is the most nominees @Shawn & I had the exact same grades… Lol
Dequan… Shawn
Cindy K. Chung: B+… B
Kelley B. Hodge: B… D-/F
John Frank Murphy: C… C
Mia Roberts Perez: A-… A-
Kai Scott: B… B
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Yeah but my Murphy grade is from the GOP perspective, because he is not a Democratic nominee.
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We now have the ages or years of births for all 5 nominees from today. Two were previously listed on Wikipedia. Here are the other 3 from a news article I will put the link below to.
Cindy K. Chung – 1975
Kelley B. Hodge – November 17, 1971
John Frank Murphy – 1977/1978 (age 44)
Mia Roberts Perez – 1981/1982 (age 40)
Kai Scott – 1970/1971 (age 51)
(https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/biden-nominates-five-including-former-philly-da-to-federal-courts-in-pa/ar-AAZuSjn)
As for my grades, after some additional research I am considering lowering Kelley B. Hodge down to a “C”. Also, Mia Roberts Perez is looking even better, more like an “A” to me.
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I found more about Mia Roberts Perez. Apparently her husband is a sergeant on the police force. It turns out that Roberts is her maiden name, while her mother’s maiden name is Marin.
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It seems that she identifies as Latina, specifically as Afro-Latina and that Hispanic attorney groups consider her one.
“Philly elects a Latina millennial as judge”
https://aldianews.com/en/politics/policy/philly-elects-latina
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Exactly. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander. Until I see Biden out 54 partisan hacks on the circuit courts, 176 on the district court & 3 on the SCOTUS, then I say keep ‘em coming. And hopefully a majority of them in their 40’s if not 30’s. Even today’s batch had 3 of the 5 in their 40’s. The other two both 51.
On another note, here’s an article discussing something we have talked about on this site many times previously.
(https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/reform-group-urges-us-judiciary-bar-judges-picking-successors-2022-07-11/)
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Good find, Shawn. I believe her father’s name is Bruce Roberts. Her mother is Luz Marin Roberts.
I wonder if Mia is a nickname? It often is.
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This post refuses to show up, but here is John Frank Murphy’s donation history.
https://www.opensecrets.org/donor-lookup/results?name=John+Murphy&cycle=&state=PA&zip=19312&employ=&jurisdiction=&cand=&type=
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I can see your post.
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Yeah it took me three tries for it to post.
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Here’s a popular Twitter user saying the exact same thing I’ve been saying about Elizabeth Warren…
(https://mobile.twitter.com/fedjudges/status/1547218594693582851?cxt=HHwWhsC46ajH6fgqAAAA)
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That’s a braindead and shallow comment by a user who should know far better. I’m 100% sure that the bottleneck is the White House not Warren/Markey. The fact that California also sent up nominees only confirms this for me.
I think the White House felt burned by the US Attorney nomination of Rachael Rollins and may well have told those senators that they weren’t going to nominate their progressive choices. Angel Kelley was likely the only nominee of their list that was acceptable to the Biden White House. The 5 judges who were nominated by Obama from MA in his second all had progressive backgrounds..
I’m getting pretty disgusted by the Biden White House with their incompetence and bashing of progressives. There’s a reason why progressives and younger voters hate this President. I recently told a pollster that I “strongly disapprove” of Biden, frankly I can’t stand the guy.
There was a poll showing younger voters between 18-34 supporting Democrats by a 60-34 margin in November, and also giving Biden a 23-70 approval rating.
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Considering the Biden has lagged behind in terms of nominees for other executive positions when compared to his predecessors, I think Shawn is on point here for the most part.
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Speaking of polls, polls show Fetterman up around 9% over Dr. Oz & Ryan up by 7% over Vance. And that’s not even taking into account Ron Johnson is the most venerable senator. I don’t want to see these great poll numbers so early. I just hope they hold up. We don’t need any 2022 Cal Cunningham’s.
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We got plenty of nominees this week. There are still dozens that haven’t been brought to the floor for a vote
What people really don’t want to admit is that the judges we’ve seen so far have been very good.
I don’t know who younger “voters” are going to support .They don’t usually vote anyway,
I don’t think polls at this point don’t have any relevance for Biden he isn’t on the ballot for 2022. George H.W Bush had an approval rating of 90% in the spring of 1991.
The following year 1992 he was voted out of office.
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Definitely agree with Maurice’s reply:
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One judge a month would make me blush at this point. I checked the up to date stats. We are getting close to GW Bush having more confirmed judges at the same point of his presidency as Biden. So much for that great start.
I would actually be ok with that due to the 50/50 senate if they used their time wisely. But they haven’t with too many 3 day work weeks, not queuing up circuit court nominees on a Thursday for a confirmation vote on Monday or at least taking more votes when Republicans are out like when senator Kramer was gone for a week. Truly a wasted opportunity.
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OMG, OMG, we have another batch back to back days. Yes yes yes
(https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/07/13/president-biden-names-twenty-second-round-of-judicial-nominees/)
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A mixed batch, particularly in light of two old nominees. But I like the current pace 🙂
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Nominee batches two days in a row! Someone’s getting serious.
Including MA finally!
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/07/13/president-biden-names-twenty-second-round-of-judicial-nominees/
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I’m going to guess that this was a compromise candidate between the White House and the MA senators.
But zero Circuit Court nominees? Horrible.
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Ok, now that my heart has stopped beating so fast from excitement, time to come back down to Earth & evaluate these nominees…
Judge Margaret R. Guzman (C 1967) – She seems to be fairly progressive as a public defender for the Massachusetts Committee for Public Counsel Services . And of course a much needed addition to the Hispanic representation for Biden nominees. Unfortunately another Massachusetts nominee in their mid 50’s adds to my frustration with the nominees that come out of that blue state…. B+
Kymberly Evanson (C. 1977) – A much needed disabilities rights lawyer here… A-
Jamal Whitehead (C. 1982) – This was one of my two picks along with Marsha Chien I wanted to see for the 9th circuit vacancy. I would have tether see him with no black men being confirmed to any circuit court in 3,101 days & counting. I’m extremely pleased to see him get the district court seat at least… A (With a STRONG possibility of upgrading to an A+ upon further review).
Robert Stewart Ballou (C. 1962) – This is an absolute horrible pick. The Virginia senators made two recommendations for
This seat almost a year ago. I honestly didn’t even give this guy a second look because Juval Scott was a young, progressive, public defender black woman. I can’t believe they chose this guy over her. And on top of it he’s in his 60’s. This may be my personal worst Biden pick after O’Hearn, Childs & Pan. He goes straight to the top of the list with few exceptions. I have to actually give him a lower grade then Childs because there’s no negotiations or Republican senators to please with this seat. I’m actually in shock I’m reading his name & not Juval Scott’s right now… D-
Jamar K. Walker (C. 1986) – I was actually hoping this would be the nominee over the other recommended black man. Walker is younger & LGBT. He also has a good civil rights portfolio. This may be the best black man nominated to the federal judiciary since Robert Wilkins. This is who I want to see elevated to the 4th circuit should a future vacancy arise despite that circuit needing more woman… A (With a possibility of upgrading to an A+ upon further review).
Jorge Alberto Rodriguez (c. 1978) – This was a senator Gillibrand pick & to be Frank, she has been below par to piss poor. I can’t seem to find anything progressive in his background but I’m at work & will dive deeper later on. I would give the benefit of the doubt normally but knowing who recommended him I’m not. I’ll give him some points for being Hispanic & young until further review. For now… C
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The only name I’ve seen before is Robert Ballou of Western Virginia. Ballou seems like a poor choice to some because so many of Biden’s nominees have been bold and ground-breaking. Ballou a very traditional choice, someone any other Democratic President would have chosen. He’s a locally known quantity and is considered to be safe and confirmable.
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@Mitch
We have discussed Jamal Whitehead at length on previous post on this site. Usually along side Marsha Chien & mostly before Salvador Mendoza Jr. was nominated to the 9th (WA) seat because we felt either of them would have been the best choice. I’ve also mentioned his during my daily lack of young, progressive black men nominated to the federal bench rants… Lol
As for Robert Ballou, he is an absolutely horrible choice. He would be a bad choice if I knew nothing about the vetting & recommendation process. But to know that Juval Scott was also recommended for this seat makes this an absolute disaster of a pick. I won’t say he is the worse, but he has easily moved into my top 5 worst Biden picks.
But I won’t complain too much overall. This week we got 1 circuit court & 10 district court nominees. Just what the doctor ordered.
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@dequan
I remember we had discussed U.S. Attorney Nicholas Brown and I thought he’d be appointed Judge if he was interested. Maybe he’s happy where he is.
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There’s actually several US Attorney’s I think could be considered for circuit court vaca neither now or in the future should one open up in their states.
Nicholas Brown, Zackary Myers (Currently a vacancy), Damian Williams, Clare E. Connors (Former Obama district court nominee that never got a vote), Brandon Brown (He would have probably been a better pick then Dana Douglas), Alexander M.M. Uballez & Rachel Rollins (The Democrats would need to increase their majority by at least one most likely).
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Honestly, I’m satisfied with Biden’s work by this point. Biden has given us enough nominees to take the rest of the Senate’s year at the pace they’re going. I think Durbin’s been doing a good job too. At this point, I’m just frustrated with Schumer for going to recess wayyy too often & lagging on judicial confirmations.
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I forgot to name one condition: I’m satisfied with Biden’s judicial nomination work for the year, even if he were to stop nominating for the rest of the year, provided he does NOT nominate Chad Meredith or anyone else of that sort.
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though some more good nominees wouldn’t hurt, even if they’ve got 0 chance of being confirmed by the end of the year.
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All the circuit court vacancies should be filled before the end of the year.
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if Biden, Durbin, and Schumer worked together, that could actually happen…
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sadly that is wishful thinking
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Happy to see more nominees and that Anthony Brindisi will NOT be the nominee for the Utica seat on the Northern District Of New York.
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Grades:
Margaret Guzman: B. Progressive background but far too old.
Kymberly Evanson: B+ Young nominee with strong progressive credentials, but a corporate attorney. Marsha Chien would have been a much better selection…
Jamal Whitehead: A. Excellent nominee. A former civil rights attorney and now a plaintiffs attorney.
Robert Ballou: F. Terrible selection over Juval Scott. I’ve heard rumors that Scott was difficult to work with, that may have played a role in all of this.
Jamar Walker: A-. Super young Black LGBT attorney, that’s good. AUSA, not as great. But was better than the alternative Kevin Duffan, who despite his plaintiff’s attorney background, is actually a Republican.
Jorge Rodriguez: C. Corporate law partner turned assistant attorney general. Doesn’t look like he has any progressive credentials
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Mahoney & Keane is an admiralty law firm, like boats and stuff, not a corporate firm. It’s a very strange background for a federal judge.
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I suspect Schumer plans to cancel that first week of the August recess to hold one more hearing (with Montgomery Reeves, Chung, and some combo of this weeks district nominees) and also to do more reconciliation stuff. Nothing to base this on really, but if they were going to wait until September 7 there’d be no reason to nominate anyone until early August. Fingers crossed haha
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What are the chances the 2nd is flipped by the midterms?
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By the midterms? None. By the end of the year, probably.
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Now we know why Chad Meredith had an “8” before his name in that awful (but revealing) copy/paste job. Seems like it was supposed to be one batch but has since been divided into three. Another interesting thing, base on that email and reporting, Biden was ready to announce that batch on June 24 (Dobbs ruling). The WH may have held off on the non-Meredith announcements because any news would’ve been lost in the aftermath of Dobbs.
The most recent nominations and dates:
6/29: 2
7/12: 5
7/13: 6
I CANNOT wait to see the SJC questionnaire for the MA nominee (annoyingly singular after all this time!). Only then will I shift the blame for those holdups to the senators. Otherwise, I blame Biden.
Here’s something I join this tweeter in praising Biden for:
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@Gavi
Me too, I will be looking closely at the questionnaire for all Massachusetts nominees very closely. And I agree, two women on the third circuit didn’t cut it. Biden deserves a lot of credit for the way the judiciary will look by the time he leaves office despite some of my deep disagreements with a handful of his nominees.
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I’m always interested in the follow up questions…Did you see Bloomekatz’s answers to questions is on SJC site now….It’s about 65 pages
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Ok I’ve done some more research so I’m gonna update two of my grades from earlier today. Here is what I put earlier & below that is my updates…
Judge Margaret R. Guzman (C 1967) – B+
Kymberly Evanson (C. 1977) – A-
Jamal Whitehead (C. 1982) – A (With a STRONG possibility of upgrading to an A+ upon further review).
Robert Stewart Ballou (C. 1962) – D-
Jamar K. Walker (C. 1986) – A (With a possibility of upgrading to an A+ upon further review).
Jorge Alberto Rodriguez (c. 1978) – C
Jorge Alberto Rodriguez was tasked with defending Governor Kathy Hochul’s mask mandates in school against a federal lawsuit brought by a group of parents. He was the second vice president of the Capital District Black & Hispanic Bar Association. With that info I’ll go ahead & upgrade him to a (B-).
I also found out Kymberly Evanson currently serves on the Board of Legal Voice & is also a volunteer attorney for the Seattle Clemency Project and for the Federal Civil Rights Legal Clinic. I’ll stick with my (A-) for her, but just wanted to add additional info about her.
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Jamal Whitehead also practices workplace and personal injury law.
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Looks like the Dems are finally listening to what I’ve been saying. They will vote for cloture on the Childs nomination tomorrow so they can burn up the 30 hours of cloture time over the weekend & confirm her on Monday.
Now hopefully they do this every Thursday & throw in a second cloture vote very now & then. That’s the best Chad Meredith-less path to confirming every circuit court nominee before the end of the year.
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Well I guess this article explains why Biden probably didn’t go with Juval Scott… OUCHZ
(https://roanoke.com/news/local/robert-ballou-nominated-for-federal-judge-in-western-virginia/article_90049c38-02fa-11ed-a810-33fcc6cd9271.html)
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Robert Ballou is a pleasant, rather bland judge who is already well-known and well-liked in the Western Virginia Judicial District. No one who’s dealt with Ballou has any problem with him. The only objection I’ve heard about him is that he’s not an exciting choice.
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@Mitch
Also he is in his 60’s. That’s also a big deal as well.
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@Dequan
That’s a valid point. One of the other posters said he heard rumors that Juval Scott is difficult to work with. With time running short, the Biden Administration didn’t need the hassle.
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Yea it would have been difficult to nominate Juval Scott after all the complaints. The Virginia Women Attorneys Association really did a hit job on her. This is why I’m a big advocate of at least 3 – 5 recommendations per vacancy. With the clear front runner out, when you only have two recommendations, your either stuck with a 60 plus year old white male with nothing progressive in his background or you have to start the process all over 4 months before the midterms. Neither choice is good so I guess they took the lesser of the bad.
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So as I hinted above, there were rumors out there that she was difficult to work with at the FPD. I feared that Ballou was going to be nominated because of these matters. I didn’t bring it up here while she was still in the running because those rumors may or may not be true (and could be the doing of a disgruntled employee or perhaps racism).
All that said, there have been Trump nominees who have had as bad or worse allegations regarding workplace behavior. So I would have still nominated Scott unless these allegations were clearly verified. Perhaps the admin did investigate these things and substantiated them. But more likely they just didn’t want a difficult confirmation battle.
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I’m fine with the administration not picking Juval Scott. She most likely would have lost a Dem which would have tanked her nomination if The Virginia Women Attorneys Association really went hard & did a hit job on her.
What I’m not ok with is picking the 60 plus year old ONLY other alternative. It’s not like there was no time. Warner & Kaine sent these two recommendations over about a year ago. I’m sure the administration immediately chose Scott. So you figure even if this stuff came up in the vetting it would have been around late November or so. They could have demanded a couple more recommendations in December or early January. Give the senators a couple months to come up with additional names & by the end of March you pick somebody else.
This is now the second time I have complained about the Virginia senators recommendation process that has led to a pick of a white man. Biden has nominated 7 white men & 2 of them have come from Virginia. Tony Heytens was a solid pick but I still didn’t like the process of sending his name along with two other candidates that were born in 1969 & 1962, in which you knew there was no way either would have been picked for a circuit court seat.
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In an unrelated development, Senator Mike Braun of Indiana turned in his Blue Slip for Doris Pryor and he may vote for her as well. This is a major boost for her nomination.
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Very excited to see Childs moving forward. I know there are concerns about her background and age but I do feel strongly that she’ll be a solid center left judge.
I would love to see the remaining 6 judges ready for floor votes all get to the senate floor before the end of this work period. Throw and Abudu discharge vote in there as well. If we can cancel a week of the recess and hold one more set of hearings that would be the cherry on top as well, but we’ll see.
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Agreed. I have Childs in my top 5 of Biden’s best circuit nominees right now, and think she will bring a fresh perspective to the DC Circuit.
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No concerns here. She’s experienced and well-qualified which is all that should matter.
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100%
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F J. Michelle Childs. I would vote HELL NO on her at every level, committee, cloture. I would rather leave that seat open for a GOP President to fill it than have Childs. It is a stab in the back WORSE than a nomination of say Chad Meredith. I’m tempted to vote straight GOP out of spite solely for this pile of shit nomination.
This is the worst appellate court selection by a Democratic President since 1960. At least the racist and GOP nominations by Democratic Presidents over the years were done as past of a deal to get progressives like Thurgood Marshall, Stephen Reinhardt, and Marsha Berzon appointed.
I’m not at all saying I hope I’m wrong about Childs. I hope that I am RIGHT that Childs is a center right judge, this one needs to be hung around the shitty Democratic Party establishment the same way the GOP base hung David Souter around their establishment.
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Ok we are getting movement on judges. I’m watching the senate floor now
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Yep cloture filed for Wang and Maldonado. Interesting that they’re jumping the line. Wang’s seat only opens up this week.
Childs cloture vote happening now. Confirmation presumably Monday night.
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Cloture was 58-33 so final confirmation should be over 60 once most absent Dems return. Sad such numbers are so rare these days.
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I’m actually happy there aren’t more 60 plus votes on judges. We are getting FAR better judges under Biden. I would have much rather 51 votes for Deepak Gupta, Melissa Murray, Dale Ho or Danielle Holley-Walker to be going onto the DC circuit on Monday instead of Childs with 60 plus votes.
But I’m thankful for all the great judges we have gotten overall under Biden. And despite Childs being my second worst Biden judge so far, I’m happy we are getting her confirmed with so many Dems out so we can get to the really good judges once all 50 are back in town.
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Anyone think they’re saving Locher and Rearden for voice votes? It would be a waste to spend floor time on them
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I would hope if Robert S. Huie didn’t need a cloture vote then they wouldn’t need to waste time on at the very least Locher.
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You called it, looks like Locher just got confirmed via voice vote.
Glad to see Childs set up for Monday confirmation. Hopefully we can get another big cloture batch on Monday to set up some votes for the end of the week.
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Childs probably won’t be until Tues.
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They really need to start having more then two votes on Monday’s. Even if they start at 6pm (Which in itself is ridiculous), they could still have 4 votes & be done 8:30pm after their 3 day weekend.
But overall this was a very good week for the judiciary. We got TWO batches of new nominees, a SJC hearing, 1 judge confirmed, 2 cloture motions filed, cloture voted on for a circuit court nominee on a Thursday to set up a vote early next week & all this will three Democrats out. Sadly we got more done this week then previous weeks with all 50 Democrats in session.
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Locher confirmed by a voice vote
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I agree Ben that it is indeed sad that 60 votes is rare these days, because that means that a nominee has solid bi-partisan support, which tells us that their qualifications are unassailable. I’d love to see more nominees like Childs put forward by this Administration & one in particular should be Judge George C. Hanks Jr. for the 5th Circuit in the SDTX (Houston).
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Looks like we got a third batch on nominees this week, including five district court nominees in NM, ND Ill, OR, and two for the SD CA
https://t.co/TAskIkpgTO
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Holy crap. I just wrote this was one of the best weeks for the judiciary & now we get THIS. THREE days in a row. Now I can finally say Biden is taking the judiciary seriously. I’ll give my opinion on each of the article 3 judges later this afternoon after I catch my breath then do some research… Lol
The ball is squarely in Durbin & Schumer’s court now. They will have to either hold more SJC hearings or more nominees per hearing & then either work more then 3 days a week or cancel some of the Summer recess to confirm everyone. Biden has done his job as far as nominations go through July.
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@Dequan I agree – what I forgot to mention is that I’m now concerned about whether these nominees will actually get confirmed. Mostly concerned about Durbin here – there are not enough SJC slots on the current schedule, so let’s hope he steps it up.
Also, almost all of the nominees in this latest batch have very traditional backgrounds – Nelson is the only one that’s remotely interesting since she was a public defender for a bit (though going from the Oregon Supreme Court to federal district court seems like a demotion…). The IL and CA nominees are all boring ex-AUSAs, which is disappointing since there were much better picks.
The silver lining is that they are probably not controversial and will (1) get through the SJC without needing to be discharged and (2) can be confirmed even on weeks (like this one) where not all Dems will be in session (since at least 4 Dem Senators have extremely competitive races). I guess it’s better than leaving these vacancies open for a Republican to fill in 2024/2028.
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Ok,
Now that I have caught my breath, here is my evaluations of today’s (Instead of this week’s) batch. I can’t believe I’m doing this for the third time this week but I’m damn happy.
Lindsay C. Jenkins (c. 1976) – Out of the handful of recommendations given last year for the Northern district, this was the person I wanted to see chosen last. Karen Sheley was who I wanted to see most chosen followed by Nancy Maldonado who was chosen. While I’m happy yo see a black woman to the district, I really didn’t want it to be another career prosecutor & law partner with no progressive background to show for it… (D+)
Matthew L. Garcia (c. 1977) – Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham’s Chief of Staff seems to be a good pick. As we have discussed, with the low number of Hispanic nominees from Biden, he has really addressed this problem over the past month. I’ll do more research on him later but give my initial grade from what I know now… (B) “I will probably upgrade this after more research”
Adrienne C. Nelson (1967) – I actually thought this was going to be the 9th circuit nominee. I was pleased when it ended up being Jennifer Sung. I don’t believe I’ve ever heard of a state SCOTUS justice going for a district court seat, like EVER. I could be wrong but I can’t remember it ever happening before since I’ve been following the judiciary in 2001. As for the nominee herself, this is the second straight we get a woman nominated to the upper West that is solid on disability rights. She’s pretty progressive but unfortunately being in her mid 50’s is her only downfall in my opinion. But I’m still happy she is getting the district court seat versus the circuit court seat so I’ll take that into consideration… (B)
Andrew G. Schopler (c. 1972) – We already knew we were going to get sitting state court judges for California. As for this nominee, he was a public defender for a short period in the late 1990’s & is a veteran so that is good. But there were younger choices then a nominee in his 50’s… (C+)
James Edward Simmons Jr. (1979) – He worked in the juvenile & gangs division & volunteered for Project LEAD. I’ll give him a slightly higher grade then his soon to be colleague for that & for being younger… (B-)
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Holy s**t! Another batch?
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Wow it’s like we have a whole new Biden administration this week – another round of nominees today:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/07/14/president-biden-names-twenty-third-round-of-judicial-nominees/
I’m annoyed that there are no circuit nominees in this batch either. But I guess with Montogmery-Reeves last week and Chung earlier, Biden is still keeping his pace of 2 circuit nominees every other week. While I’m glad that he’s not going backwards, he needs to hurry things up and fill as many circuit seats as he can before the midterms. McConnell definitely will hold any open circuit seat for the next Republican, but he’s less likely to care about district court seats in Blue states.
And to some other folks’ comments about unassailable credentials and 60+ votes – sure, that might have been true 20+ years ago when Republicans were reasonable in confirming judges. But given how many Federalist Society hacks the Trump administration confirmed, there’s no reason for Democrats to be nominating bland, centrist Big Law partners/federal prosecutors with little regard for the rights of voters that make up the Democratic base just for the sake of some extra votes. Most Democrats even voted for Federalist Society judges like Michael Scudder on CA7 during the Trump presidency, so if there’s anyone to blame for the lack of cooperation in judicial confirmations, it’s the Republicans.
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Totally agree with you here. I usually just ignore the fawning comments about Childs and Biden on here. If I had one wish, it’d be that those commenters get prominent jobs in Republican White Houses where they’d persuasively advise those presidents on their views on judicial nominations. Let those admins nominate old and centrist judges. Dem WH and senate need to balance the courts and that starts by ignoring those nonsense.
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The nominees we are getting are the best we’ve ever had. These attacks on Democrats are ridiculous. What’s your angle ? If you don’t like Democrats you are free to create your own party to replace us.
That’s not gonna happen because the people who complain about Biden and the Democrats can’t get elected to Dog Catcher.
To” listen to people bitch and moan about lack of nominees and then we get like 16 in one week. Then it’s a complaint about something else the nominees are too “old” or “centrist.” That’s nonsense. These are judges not members of congress .
You got complaints about Democrats ? What party do you belong to so that we can talk shit about you? If you can’t do better you can’t complain.
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@Kevin Collins
To answer your question I am a Democrat. I’ve campaigned & gone door to door for the Democrat nominee for president in the past 4 presidential elections. And to answer your other question, I don’t want to replace the Democrat party but I will never stop pushing to improve it.
As to your other point, yes I did prior to this week complain about the lack of nominees from Biden. That’s because we were getting to the point where we would have a SJC hearing without 5 nominees in it because of a lack of nominees from Biden. As I wrote about a half hour ago, Biden to his credit has alleviated that problem & I’m very happy about that.
So as a person who campaigns, volunteers & most importantly votes in every election, not only do I think it’s important to push my party to do better, I would say it’s my duty. This week they did good overall. But I will not hesitate to call them out when I feel they either did bad (Like the bs Chad Meredith nomination that hopefully we have stopped), or could have done better when we get nominees like O’Hearn, Childs or Pan. I think we have numerous examples of push back working for a better result. Keep pushing for more people to vote like you always do but I would advise don’t shy away from calling out short comings or when we can do better wither. It is equally as important.
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Understood,
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I can’t stand these left-bashing backstabbing “Democrats”. I wouldn’t piss on them if they were on fire. I would literally prefer right-wing J6 insurrectionists like Clarence Thomas or John Eastman over them. At least they stab me in the front.
Joe Biden has been a horrible President. Take a look at his approval rating, the worst from a Democratic President since Jimmy Carter. His approval rating among people under 35 is around 20%. Let me be blunt, the Democrats cannot win without a huge margin and strong turnout among this group. No Democratic Presidential candidate has won the over 35 popular vote since Bill Clinton in 1996, no Democratic candidate has won a majority in the over 35 vote since LBJ in 1964. Even in the depths of Great Recession with Bush sporting an approval rating around 25%, Barack Obama lost the over 35 vote in 2008. He won because he won the under 30 vote by nearly 40%.
Turning out more Democrats starts with the youth. You don’t get people to turn out and vote for you by insulting them.
President Joe Biden should consider resigning after the midterms, regardless of the results. I would like to give VP Kamala Harris a chance to govern and see what she can do. I can guarantee one thing though, she has more fight in her toenails than Biden has even shown.
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This article highlights what many here have been saying about Dem senators and covid absences. I know I haven’t been alive for too long but I cannot remember a time when one group puts itself at a perpetual disadvantage due to their own lofty ideals:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/07/14/senate-covid-testing/
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I just got an email from Daily Kos asking me to sign a petition urging the Senate to confirm J Michelle Childs to the D.C. Circuit. Though I am not opposed to her confirmation, I am definitely not signing that petition. Not like signing the petition would make her confirmation any more likely given the margin of cloture
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Yeah that’s a weird petition. They should be spending their energy on Nancy Abudu or Andre Mathis
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With Childs heading to the D.C. Court of Appeals, who’s being considered for the Fourth Circuit vacancy?
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So this is the seat I think you will see the most compromise nominee for. That is what makes me so upset that Childs was picked for the DC circuit. She could have killed two birds with one stone by being the 4th nominee. B
But as for now, I will only mention a few names I would like to see but I doubt they will be picked because we have to keep senator Graham happy while we have a 50/50 senate so he can keep voting yes in the SJC.
Meliah Bowers Jefferson – I am concerned with her because I remember reading she has escaped death twice including a past issue with her heart I believe. I would hope she got a full health check if she was being considered.
Lauren Williams
Bakari Sellers – I doubt he will get any consideration but he would be my personal favorite pick.
Janet Rhodes
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Childs is no doubt the right person chosen for the DC Circuit, and more importantly she represents the diversity & inclusion that is needed on the DC Circuit and on all Federal Appellate Circuit Courts across the Nation. Which is why we need to see a well-qualified African-American such as Judge Hanks appointed to the 5th Circuit in Texas.
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I just hope we get circuit court nominees soon
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*more circuit court nominees soon
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If Schumer decides to hold nominations hearings during the August recess we should get at least two more circuit nominees by the end of next week.
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This is an interesting name for the 5th Circuit pick – Latina, current magistrate judge, former public defender, young (I assume she was born in 1981 based on her college graduation date). It would also be only the second Latina Biden has nominated to a circuit seat after Perez on CA2, since all the other Latino picks have been men. I can’t imagine Cruz would cooperate, but perhaps Cornyn?
https://www.txs.uscourts.gov/content/appointment-united-states-magistrate-judge-nadia-medrano-mcallen-division
I could still see Biden picking one of the Latina district court judges though, since that would open up a vacancy on the district court that Cruz/Cornyn can block until the next Republican president. I just hope Biden actually gets around to filling this seat.
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Here’s the Twitter thread that mentions her: https://twitter.com/fedjudges/status/1547721495949897728?cxt=HHwWgMCjlYOgzvoqAAAA
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Another option for a Latina 5th Circuit nominee could be Texas First District Court of Appeals Judge Amparo Monique Guerra (1977). But she is from Houston.
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Texas (unlike Louisiana and Mississippi) in it’s entire history of Appointments to the 5th Circuit, has never ever appointed an African-American. So it is my hope that the 5th Circuit seat soon to be vacated by Judge Greg Costa in the SDTX will be filled with the most well-qualified African-American who in my humble opinion is Judge George C. Hanks Jr. whose commitment to public service has been impeccable and who is well-respected and regarded on the Federal Bench and who will garner bi-partisan support because of his unassailable qualifications.
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The 5th Circuit needs Latino representation, especially a qualified Latina. Judge George Hanks, Jr. is almost 60! No way should Biden elevate such an old person to that court, not in a huge state like Texas. I am sure there must be many qualified, young, and vibrant attorneys who can do the job much better than a near-retired judge.
Judges are not remembered by how bipartisan or partisan their confirmation vote was, they are remembered by their judicial performance. I want judges who will be judicial scholars on the bench.
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I’m in favor of nominating a African-American nominee for the seat and think it shouldn’t be overlooked with the lack of such nominees on the circuit courts for the Biden administration so far. However, although I’ll agree with you that Hanks has a great set of credentials, they are overlapping quite a bit with other judges already on that circuit. That being said, Hanks would be a solid addition even just from his diversity and overall experience, especially if Cruz and Cronyn could somehow be persuaded to turn in their blip slip (not that it matters much now and it is likely a pipe dream for a non Federalist society person).
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@ Gavi
I have not and will not subscribe to this farce that is Agism for every single District Court or Circuit Court Nomination, and I am delighted that this administration hasn’t either, and 57 is not old. If you’re looking for a Judicial Scholar to serve on the Circuit Court then look no further then Judge Hanks.
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@Angie
Unfortunately, the Republicans have subscribed to this farce that is Agism & they are kicking our butts in the judiciary. We simply can’t expect to ever win the judiciary back if we don’t at the very least respond in kind.
So yes, 57 is too old for Biden to put somebody on the circuit courts. Out of his 32 nominees so far, only Beth Robinson was as old as George Hanks. She was pretty much hands down the best person for the job out of the state of Vermont as she was on the forefront of fighting for LGBT rights & she was on the state supreme court.
But besides age, there are other reasons Hanks would be a bad choice. He would vacant his district court seat. While a blue slip is not required for a circuit court seat, to backfill his current seat would require senators Corny & Cruz to turn in their blue slips. That almost guarantees we will either get a nominee much further to the right of Hanks or some Chan Meredith type deal involving other seats.
Also, the 5th circuit does not have any Hispanic judges. For the states it covers that’s almost criminal. There are simply Hispanic judges in Texas that are younger & more progressive than Hanks.
Trust me, as a black man I want to see more black men on teh circuit courts, but Hanks isn’t not one I want to see at all as one of them. In addition to Andre Mathis, we can hope for Justin Driver for the 2nd circuit & maybe Zackary Myers to the 7th.
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@Dequan
Here is a list of Hispanic Judges that have been appointed & confirmed to serve on the 5th Circuit in Texas History:
Judge Reynaldo Guerra Garza
Judge Emilio Garza
Judge Edward C. Prado
Judge Fortunato Benavides
But you would be hard-pressed to find one African-American in Texas History. And for long-standing members of the Texas Bar who are African-American, this is appalling and unacceptable. The time is now for Texas to join Louisiana and Mississippi in appointing its first African-American to fill the vacant seat on the 5th Circuit in Texas. If not now then when?
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George Hanks is also a Republican. There is less than zero need to nominate him. I would rather leave the seat empty than nominate George Hanks.
If there were to be a Black nominee for this seat, it would be 5th District state appellate court judge Erin Nowell. But she is running for the state Supreme Court (along with another awesome state appellate court judge Amanda Reichek, who was a labor lawyer). Another possibility would be Tonya Parker (LGBT state district court judge) who is a member of the American Law Institute.
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Amongst Judge Hanks’ many achievements (& the list is long and impressive ) of his illustrious career of public service on the State & Federal Judiciary in Texas is his ALI membership which I think came about during his 8 years of service as a Judge on the Texas 1st Court of Appeals before being chosen by a bi-partisan committee to become only the 2nd African-American Federal Magistrate in the SDTX, before being elevated to the District Court four years later by then President Obama. Which is what stands-out for me that because of his unassailable qualifications and commitment to public service, Hanks has always garnered bi-partisan support throughout his years of service on the bench.
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George Hanks would be someone to nominate if Republicans win control of the Senate. He’s a Republican, but he’s not conservative. But even then, I don’t think the Biden White House would do that unless they had a commitment on his successor for District Court. Senate Republicans would likely conclude that Hanks is the best they could get out of a Democratic President.
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Another set of bad nominees from a bad President.
Matthew Garcia- A. This is the one excellent nominee in this batch. Garcia was a civil rights and plaintiffs attorney prior to becoming Lujan Grisham’s counsel. One of his law partners is on the appellate court in NM, also appointed by Lujan Grisham. The NM senators have done a fantastic job in their selection of judges.
Lujan Grisham was supposed to be Biden’s HHS secretary but failed the vetting process (reportedly had the same issues as Juval Scott supposedly had).
Lindsay Jenkins- D. Corporate attorney and former AUSA with zero progressive credentials. I’m fed up nominees like this from a blue state.
Adrienne Nelson- C. I want to give her a higher grade, but she was a partner at a management law firm. There are far better options here even though Nelson has a pretty progressive record and was a public defender. Thankfully she wasn’t nominated to the 9th Circuit.
Andrew Schepler- D. Another awful nominee from Dianne Feinstein, who should have retired a long time ago.
James Simmons- C-. Also zero progressive credentials. These nominees for San Diego have been garbage, on par with the New Jersey nominees.
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@Shawn
As I said earlier I would do a little more research & get back to Matthew Garcia & my initial grade of (B). I see he has a solid progressive background so I’m going to up my grade for him. He is actually older then I initially thought from his graduation date. He is about about 5 years (c. 1973) according to a New Mexico article I read. I believe the last New Mexico judge Biden nominated had the same issue where he was about a decade older then we initially thought from his graduation date. I also think he might get questioning about the New Mexico governor paying off sexual harassment complainants while he was her chief of staff so his hearing might be rockier then we might wish. So for that I’ll go higher then I initially did but slightly lower then you… A-
I went back & fourth about Adrienne Nelson too, mostly because of her age. But after factoring I’m her disability rights background (Which is sorely needed on the bench), her federal defender background plus my genuine happiness she wasn’t selected over JennSung for the appeals court, I couldn’t go as low as a C like you did for her.
Linsey Jenkins was the worst of the recommendations in my book. Perhaps her being part of a team that investigated the force practices of the Chicago Police Department was enough to put her over the top for Durbin but I agree with your grade on her. There were far too many better choices.
The district court nominees for California have really been sub par as you said. It’s ironic there has only been one non sitting judge nominated there so far & he is the only one that was allowed to forgo a cloture vote. In one of the bluest states with 39 million people, it’s sad the quality of judges we are getting from Feinstein & surprisingly Padilla. It will be interesting to see the other 5 judges that have been recommended.
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I expect Matthew Garcia will be asked about his boss’s sexual harassment suit.
I wouldn’t have his confirmation as a sure thing.
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I expect Matthew Garcia to have a hard confrimation hearing and rightfully so due to his boss’s sexual misconduct.
If I had to pick a Dem nominee failing, he would be it.
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I expect Garcia to have a tough confirmation hearing and won’t be shocked if he’s not confirmed due to his boss’s misconduct.
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I agree with Shawn. Was going to post my opinion about the nominees more last night but Kevin came in here with his typical Dems can’t criticize one thing and must treat Biden and the Democratic Party as dictators rant. And accusing others of some ulterior motive while no Kevin, we’re just allowed to have opinions.
Garcia is a superb nominee. I researched the firms he’s been with and they are not typical generic firms. They all specialize in civil rights and criminal defense. I have also been impressed with the NM senators nominees. They are going out the box to find them and I appreciate that.
While I am relieved Nelson was nominated to district court instead of the 9th circuit, a much better nominee would have been fellow Oregon Supreme Court justice Rebecca Duncan. 4/5 years younger and has spent all her life working as a public defender before being appointed to the bench.
All the other nominees are very underwhelming. I do get the sense Biden is nominating more generic candidates now thinking they will get confirmed more easily, which is just lol for many reasons.
Here’s to hoping more circuit court nominees are released soon .
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I wish that Kevin Collins is a troll, but honestly I don’t believe he is. He thinks the same way that much of the older Democratic establishment thinks. And this is why they keep losing to Republicans. The fundamental #1 reason why the Donald Trump was elected in 2016 was the DNC’s disgusting behavior. Sanders’ young supporters were beginning to make peace with a President Hillary Clinton until those DNC emails came out just before the convention (which was Putin’s exact intention). It’s too bad because Hillary would have been a far better President than Joe Biden even could be.
People like Kevin Collins and DKE’s filthy scumbag pademocrat as well as judicial nominees like J. Michelle Childs really tempt me to vote straight GOP out of spite. I don’t do third party voting, we have a two party system. I would just consider a J6 insurrectionist as a lesser evil than left bashing “Democrats” who are backstabbing, period. If there is a professional left-bashing Democratic candidate, I will vote GOP, period.
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I’ve been called many before but a “troll” that’s very funny. The truth is the “older” democrats are ones who selected Biden in South Carolina. This gave him the bump he needed to win the nomination,
I’ve said this many times I don’t care if people complain about Biden. I don’t see anyone out there who challenge Biden in a primary. It’s too early for talk like that.
So, this guy Shawn comes out here and says he would like to give Kamala Harris a chance. O.K , having just kicked her butt in the Democratic primary ,Biden is expected to leave office and let Kamala Harris take over. That’s insane.
Those of us who live in California know that Kamala Harris isn’t qualified to be President. She couldn’t handle a staff during a campaign people were complaining about her. She got out debated and knocked out of the race by a third tiered candidate Tulsi Gabbard. Does anyone really believe she would do any better against Trump or Desantis? Of course not. Oh, if you are thinking Gavin Newsome you can leave him off your list too. He’s not ready now and has the sense to know he can’t challenge a sitting president of the same party.
I find it bizarre to see someone claiming to be a progressive while using talking points from Fox news and rightwing conspiracy groups. It’s the same type of nonsense that Naderites gave us in 2000 against Al Gore that gave us George W. Bush. This is why we have the Supreme Court of today. Were it not for moderate Democrats and older voters we would have a Supreme Court full of Clarence Thomases and Brett Kavanaughs,
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I find myself “moderate” as pertains to this blog. I consider myself very progressive but also a pragmatist, which puts me in between the Kevin Collins/Frank/Angie bloc and basically everyone else.
1)I think age should be considered for judicial nominees, especially in courts where there is an opportunity to make a future Chief Judge, but it’s ok to nominate older judges if they are progressive enough and thus unlikely to vacate under a Republican
2) I’m unhappy with picks such as J. Michelle Childs & Christine O’Hearn, but I would rather have Childs & O’Hearn leave the seat vacant, which would likely result in the next GOP administration (or Biden/Dem president crippled by a GOP Senate) picking a Chad Meredith-type judge.
3) No matter how bad & inefficient Dems are, they will always be the lesser of 2 evils given that the GOP still supports voter suppression, controlling women’s bodies, & a criminal insurrectionist who was involved in planning a coup. I will never vote Republican unless it’s someone like Liz Cheney or Lisa Murkowski.
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While I’m not too thrilled about the Lindsay Jenkins nomination, I am thrilled that Biden sent out he “intends to nominate” her. This is the second time he has done this. Florence Pan was the other time way back in his first batch of nominees. Coincidentally I wasn’t thrilled about her nomination either.
This is really good & hopefully a sign to come. Hopefully we get three more intent to nominates for the district courts if Eastern Washington state, Connecticut & DC. I won’t bother to include the district court of South Carolina to the list because I don’t expect another batch before Tuesday but at the rate Biden is going even that is still possible… Lol
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Does anyone have a running list somewhere of the open/pending vacancies for District seats in states with two Dem senators? I’m just wondering about how many more District nominees we can reasonably expect this term.
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Balls and Strikes keeps such a list, though I’m not sure how up to date it is.
https://ballsandstrikes.org/judicial-vacancy-tracker/
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Very cool, thank you. Looks like California has many more to go, although I suspect this list is counting vacancies with nominees still pending.
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Great link Ben!
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