In 2016, D.C. Superior Court Judge Todd Edelman was nominated for a federal judgeship on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia but was not processed by the Republican-controlled Senate. Today, Edelman faces a short window for confirmation before the end of the Congress.
Background
Born January 16, 1968 in St. Louis Missouri, Todd Eric Edelman graduated cum laude from the Yale University in 1990 and then received his J.D. from the N.Y.U. School of Law in 1994.
After graduating, Edelman clerked for Judge William Bryant on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia before joining the Georgetown University Law Center as a E. Barrett Prettyman Fellow. Edelman then joined the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia.
In 2005, he joined Bredhoff & Kaiser PLLC and in 2008, became a visiting associate professor at the Georgetown University Law Center. He was appointed by President Obama to the D.C. Superior Court in 2010.
On April 28, 2016, Edelman was nominated by President Barack Obama to become a U.S. District Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, replacing Judge Richard Roberts. However, his nomination was not processed by the U.S. Senate, which was then under Republican control, and after President Donald Trump was elected, he filled the vacancy with Carl Nichols.
History of the Seat
The seat Edelman has been nominated for opens with the elevation of Judge Florence Pan to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
Legal Experience
Edelman started his legal career as a clerk to Judge William Bryant on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Edelman then spent two years at the Georgetown University Law Center, where he worked in their Criminal Justice Clinic.
Starting in 1997, Edelman spent eight years as a public defender in Washington D.C., representing indigent defendants in approximately 30 to 35 jury trials, among other proceedings. Notably, Edelman represented a defendant in his second murder trial in Washington D.C., which concluded with an acquittal on the primary charge of murder. See Benn v. United States, 978 A.2d 1257 (D.C. 2009) (reversing convictions on lesser offenses). He was also trial counsel for a defendant in an assault to commit murder case, in which he objected to the peremptory strikes of all black females from the venire under Batson v. Kentucky. See Robinson v. United States, 878 A.2d 1273 (D.C. 2005). A subsequent appeal led to a ruling of first impression reversing the conviction. See id.
Edelman entered private practice in 2005, working primarily on complex civil litigation. For example, Edelman represented a class of employees who had been forced to drop out of their company health plan due to a dramatic premium rise in a class action against their employer. See Fields v. Lyon Workspace Products et al., Case No. 1:07-cv-6894 (N.D. Ill.) (Lefkow, J.).
Judicial Experience
Since his confirmation in 2010, Edelman has served as a Judge on the D.C. Superior Court. He started his time in the court on the Civil docket, but has since served on the Domestic Violence and Criminal dockets as well.
Notably, while on the civil docket, Edelman presided over a contract dispute between the American Thoracic Society and the American Cancer Association, mediating the dispute to a settlement before trial. See American Thoracic Society v. American Cancer Association, 2009 CA 4543 (D.C. Super. Ct. Dec. 10, 2015). On the criminal side, he presided over the trial of a man alleged to be the “Petworth serial stabber”, which ended in the defendant’s acquittal of all charges. See United States v. Jones, 2013 CF3 10586 (D.C. Super. Ct. June 2, 2015).
Overall Assessment
In 2010, Todd Edelman was smoothly confirmed to the D.C. Superior Court. Subsequently, in 2016, his nomination to the federal bench stalled and remained unconfirmed. This time around, Edelman’s biggest enemy is the clock. With limited time on the Senate’s calendar before the end of the Congress, it remains unclear if Edelman’s nomination will receive a hearing in time. If he is not processed and control of the Senate flips in November, Edelman risks seeing a repeat of his 2016 nomination failure.
The Vetting Room 
Other then being in his mid 50’s, Edelman is a good nominee. Since he was nominated by Obama but never given a vote, I’ll give him some deference just as I did Regina Rodriguez, Julien Neals & others on his age. I think the biggest problem I have with his nomination is I wish the seat hadn’t been open in the first place because I didn’t want to see Florence Pan (Nor J. Childs for that matter) as judges in the DC circuit.
As their post says, Edelman’s biggest obstacle to getting confirmed is time. He is the only current Biden nominee who’s name still hasn’t officially been sent to the senate as Pan was just recently confirmed. Without Durbin adding at least one additional hearing this year, I’m afraid Edelman will have to hope the Democrats hold control of the senate to be confirmed.
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Seems like a fine nominee to me and I would also give deference to anyone that got denied a floor vote in 2015/16
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The 4th circuit wouldn’t have been tied if Durbin had held an extra SJC hearing during the 4 week Summer recess & the senate had already confirmed DeAndrea G. Benjamin. We also need blue state Maryland to get a nominee for judge Motz seat.
(https://twitter.com/fedjudges/status/1573388046338502657?cxt=HHwWgsDRvfGF5tUrAAAA)
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I think I know how the 7-7 split was. My guess would be that Diaz and the 6 GOP appointees were on the same side, and the 7 Dem appointees on the other. Had Motz already taken senior status, the conservatives would have outright won this case.
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Judge Diaz was appointed at a time blue slips were required for circuit court nominees. That’s actually one thing I’m happy that happened regarding the judiciary under Trump. I wish Dems had gotten rid of blue slips under Obama but at least we don’t have to worry about it anymore. Now if Dems can gain a seat or two in the midterms, I think there’s a chance they can get rid of them for district court seats as well.
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They really should have added at least one additional hearing to make up for the missed time during the KBJ hearings. If they didn’t want to do August they could’ve worked in consecutive hearings in June/July.
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Or at the very least have another hearing next Wednesday, since the following Wednesday will be recess week so we know there will be no hearing on the normal every other week schedule. But instead next Wednesday they are having hearings for “From Nuremberg to Ukraine: Accountability for War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity” & “The Economic Inclusion Civil Rights Act”.
Durbin could have even worked out a deal where they only had 5 district court nominees next week. I’m not too worried about all of the circuit court nominees getting a hearing & vote before the end of the year. It’s district court nominees that will end the year without a hearing if no additional ones are scheduled.
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That would have been a good compromise. As you’ve pointed out, we have a very big backlog of district nominees that need to be worked through.
It is what it is at this point, I’m frustrated but overall they have done quite a good job with 50 senators and a split SJC getting a lot of these moved through. Following the rules and making quiet deals is probably a big reason why we’ve gotten this much done. I just desperately hope Dems can keep/expand their majority so the rest of the pending vacancies can be filling in 2023 and 2024.
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Yea I agree Joe. With a 50/50 senate & so many other items that have taken up precious senate floor time, the Democrats have done a phenomenal job so far when it comes to getting judges confirmed. I assume Durbin doesn’t want to rock the boat with shoving an extra hearing down their throats because Graham is still playing nice & for the most part not forcing discharge votes.
I guess Schumer is not pushing Durbin too hard because Republicans have been playing nice with the 30 hours of post cloture they could force on each nominee. By my count, out of the last 8 nominees to get a vote including Freeman, we are averaging about 20 hours. So that’s around 80 hours of floor time saved.
At this point all of the circuit court nominees should be confirmed before the end of the year. Maybe even an additional 1 or 2 if we get the Maryland or New Hampshire nominees within the next week or two. As for the district court nominees, it all comes down to the midterms for about a dozen or so of them to have a chance to get confirmed by the end of January.
Not that I’m a huge fan of polls but the latest ones I’ve seen shows Hassan with a near double digit lead, Kelly with a nice size lead, Val Demmings only behind by 2 points & even the North Carolina race within the margin of error. Let’s hope for no unexpected bad news or unforced errors (I’m looking at you Cal Cunningham in North Carolina) over the next 6 weeks. Biden can really close the gap on the conservative stamp on the judiciary if he can get 4 years of Democrats in the senate majority.
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Exactly. At this point I feel pretty good about getting 36-38 circuit court and 80ish district court nominees confirmed prior to the end of the year. That’s a pretty phenomenal job all things considered. I very badly hope we can continue the ride with some even more progressive judges in the next two years.
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His nomination came too late to be acted on. If Democrats hold the U.S. Senate, he has a shot.
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We now have our first Biden judicial nominee to that has waited over a full year. Hernán D. Vera was nominated September 20th last year. Dale Ho is not far behind as he was nominated September 30 of last year. Both need a discharge vote.
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What exactly is the controversy regarding Vera (as I don’t remember his hearing)? Ho has a well documented set of issues (even as I would reluctantly vote to confirm him), but other than perhaps being not tough enough on crime in his legal career I don’t see why Vera wasn’t able to secure the vote (or pass) from Graham.
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Vera worked for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund & Public Counsel. I think one is pushing it but both is too much even for Graham apparently.
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I still feel there is a chance we have some discharge votes next week. The senate is in session and while the spending bill is being negotiated they will require all 50 dem senators to be there and VP Harris so if the negotiations drag on into Thursday/Friday, Schumer may use that time to do some discharge votes and also to get senators to the floor to make a deal on the spending.
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As I’ve said before, I’m an optimist when it comes to Democrats winning elections, and a pessimist in actually getting progressive policy accomplished and confirming good judges. The main reason is that the Democratic leadership are a lazy pile of shit.
If the Democrats pick up seats in the Senate (as I think they will), I can easily see very few judges confirmed in the lame duck session. Which is atrocious for any number of reasons.
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If we looked at the pool of possible judges who were white males over 50, Todd Edelman would be near the top. He would have been far better than two of Biden’s DC Circuit selections.
I would give Edelman a grade of B.
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I agree with @Shawn on Todd Edelman being amongst the best white males over 50 that would still be good enough to be nominated & I not have a problem with it. And he is definitely better then 2 of the 4 DC circuit Biden nominees.
On another note, it looks like Jim Clyburn was the person that recommended DeAndrea Benjamin for the 4th circuit seat. From all accounts, she seems to be a better pick then his first circuit court recommendation… Lol
(https://www.aol.com/news/biden-nominate-sc-judge-deandrea-184305387.html)
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Yeah so this is exactly the problem. Clyburn is picking political hacks and cronies for his selections rather than solid progressive who would be top notch judges. And this is an abuse of power and a reason why I am considering voting GOP for Congress just to see him and the rest of the dinosaurs in the Dem leadership kicked out.
His first selection was absolutely an unqualified hack who has no business being on the DC Circuit. Benjamin is qualified for the 4th Circuit and is actually pretty progressive, but let’s face it, a big reason why she was selected was because she is the wife of one of Clyburn’s proteges.
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Benjamin is far better then what I was expecting for this seat. I was actually expecting a Steven Lochner type of nominee. I would have been fine with it if Graham continued to keep voting yea in the SJC.
I don’t have an issue with political patronage as long as I get what I want out of it. That didn’t happen from Clyburn’s first recommendation (Although I strongly disagree with you about her not being qualified), but I’m thankful I got more then I expected for his second.
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Benjamin is going to be a good one. She is quite progressive and has a great legal background.
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I just read that article. Judge Benjamin is willing to throw the book at violent felons (Brett Parker should have gotten the death penalty, but I don’t know if the prosecution sought it). That ought to help her win a few cross party votes if she makes it out of committee.
Have Senator Graham and Scott taken a position on her yet?
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I haven’t seen any comments from Senator Graham or Scott on her specifically. I know I saw comments from Graham I believe last year saying the administration hadn’t reached out to him yet about the vacancy. I find it hard to believe they wouldn’t consult with him out of all 50 GOP senators so I will assume that between those comments & last month when she was nominated, he was consulted.
October 12th will likely be the day she gets her SJC hearing so it will be interesting to see if both senators turn in their blue slips.
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I have a strong suspicion that Graham will be supportive of Benjamin. He and Steve Benjamin are friendly and on good terms and this is the type of mainstream nominee he has supported in the past.
No clue on Tim Scott
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I too think Graham is likely to support her. The reason that I could see make Graham vote no is more likely the calendar & election results. As I’ve said before should the Democrats lose the majority in the election, I would expect unanimous opposition in the SJC in the lame duck just to slow thing down on the number of pre Republican majority congress.
Of course Democrats maintaining or gaining any seats means Graham’s vote won’t matter as much regardless. This is really why I was hoping for an additional SJC hearing next week so she & Wamble could be voted out of committee before the midterms.
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Of course Clyburn got what he wanted. If there is another scotus vacancy under a Dem president Childs will automatically be nominated thanks to Clyburn.
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@Delco
I highly doubt that for several reasons. I think Childs two best chances at SCOTUS was the Breyer seat or any future seat under a Republican senate majority. I don’t even think she will be a finalist for a future vacancy with a Democrat majority.
First off she would be amongst the oldest possibilities. Second, there would be little pressure for Biden to nominate another black woman. He surely would look for another historic first which is why I think Alison Nathan would be the front runner.
I think Roopali Desai will get some strong consideration as well after some time in the 9th. Although I wouldn’t be thrilled, I expect Florence Pan, Lucy Koh & John Lee would also get a close look too. I would also expect Myrna Perez & Rachel Bloomekatz to get a closer look as well.
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The formal investiture of seventh circuit judge candace jackson akiwumi , and she is being sworn in by her dad who is also a federal judge. Also attended by chief judge roger gregory. Great stuff. I have watched so far beth robinson, alison nathan investiture live and seen pictures of a few others but nothing more, personally i always find it fascinating and the speeches given intriguing.
I have prowled the internet for several hours trying to find more public investitures of biden judges, either circuit or district court.
If you guys have additional links to or videos pictures of other swearing/investiture please feel free to contribute.
I think alison nathan is the only one of biden judges to have a supreme court justice/justices at her formal investiture
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@Aangren
Yes those ceremonies are heart felt & I really like them too. And what sweet irony in this case with her dad administering the oath.
As for Alison Nathan, before her investiture I said I believe she would be the front runner for any associate Justice SCOTUS other then Sotomayor’s seat. After seeing those in attendance for her investiture, that only hardened my position. I’ve guessed the last three SCOTUS Justices correctly & I feel more confident about Nathan then I do about any of the last three I guessed.
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Do they not take an oath when they first take the bench? Has she been gaining seniority since taking the bench in July 2021 or does that just start now?
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They begin seniority once the president signs their commission but I believe they can’t hear cases until they take the judicial oath. So for example, Roopali Desai was confirmed August 4th. Biden has not signed her commission yet.
Salvador Mendoza Jr. was confirmed to the same court over a month later in September 12th. Biden signed his commission September 15th so he will have seniority over Desai as I assume she is finishing cases in her private practice.
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New comments from chairman Durbin…
1. Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said in an interview he plans to advance more than 20 additional nominees this year.
2. If he remains chair for two more years, Durbin said, he intends to preserve the “blue slip” courtesy that allows senators to effectively veto picks for district courts that oversee their home states. Durbin said: “I’m sticking with it. We’ve made it work.”
(https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-installed-a-historic-number-of-judges-biden-is-outpacing-him-so-far/ar-AA12dyZP?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=a9e14509e88a49829429136d00f61401)
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I see that there has been discussion on Biden circuit court nominees who could eventually be elevated to SCOTUS. And now I’d like to discuss some Biden district court nominees who I think have the potential to be elevated to an appellate court.
DC circuit:
-DDC: Jia Cobb would be a great option.
1st circuit:
-MA: While she hasn’t even been confirmed yet, Julia Kobick definitely has the potential to be elevated, as she is a former SCOTUS clerk with a background in appellate law (Deputy Solicitor of MA).
-NH: The bench isn’t that deep in NH, so I think there is a chance that Samantha Elliott could be elevated.
2nd circuit:
-CT: Sarala Nagala is young and when she was a prosecutor, she focused on prosecuting hate crimes at one point in her career.
-EDNY: They have yet to be confirmed, but both Nusrat Choudhury and Natasha Merle are strong progressive who would be great choices to be elevated, if they can get the votes.
-SDNY. Obviously Dale Ho, whenever he finally gets confirmed. Arun Subramanian could definitely be elevated, as he is a former SCOTUS clerk. Same things that I said about Nusrat Choudhury and Natasha Merle could be said about Jessica Clarke.
3rd circuit:
-NJ: Georgette Castner and Zahid Qurashi are the only ones from NJ who I would be okay with being elevated. Qurashi definitely has potential given the history he made.
-EDPA: Mia Roberts Perez is the only one I would be okay with being elevated, as she is the only one under 50, but she needs some more experience on the EDPA court first.
4th circuit:
-EDVA: Elisabeth Hanes’ public defender background would be welcome on the 4th circuit, as would Jamar Walker’s youth.
6th circuit:
-EDMI: Jonathan J.C. Grey is a young black man who clerked for the late great Damon Keith on the 6th circuit. Would be a great pick to succeed Eric Clay when he goes senior.
-NDOH: Bridget Brennan and David Ruiz are both solid coming from a purple state.
7th circuit:
-NDIL: Nancy Maldonado definitely has the potential to be elevated, as there has never been a Latina on the 7th circuit. Lindsay Jenkins has a chance as well.
9th circuit:
-CDCA: Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong definitely has the potential to be elevated, as she has extensive experience at Main Justice and is a former clerk to “liberal lion” Stephen Reinhardt. Susnhine Sykes could also be elevated given her history making status. I’d MAYBE be okay with Fred Slaughter being elevated if the reason were for Orange County representation on the 9th circuit.
-EDCA: Daniel Calabretta could definitely be elevated, as he is a former SCOTUS clerk and openly gay. Ana de Alba would also be a good choice.
-NDCA: Araceli Martinez-Olguin is young and progressive, as is P. Casey Pitts, who is also openly gay.
-SDCA: Jinsook Ohta definitely could be elevated. James Simmons could be a good choice down the road once he as more experience.
-NV: Cristina Silva would be a great choice. Anne Rachel Traum is too old, but could’ve been a great choice if her nomination under Obama had been successful.
-EDWA: I don’t expect a vacancy on the 9th circuit with a Spokane duty station anytime soon, but Mary Dimke would be a fine selection.
-WDWA: Obviously Jamal Whitehead. Lauren King too, with her history making status. Tana Lina and John Chun are too old. And Estudillo is too moderate for a deep blue state.
10th circuit:
-CO: Charlotte Sweeney would be great if only she were a few years younger, same could be said about Nina Wang. But if another CO appellate seat opened up, I’d prefer Monica Marquez or Shira Kieval.
-NM: Margaret Strickland would be a good young option.
11th circuit:
-GA: Sarah Geraghty and Victoria Calvert would both be great options.
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@Ethan
As always, good analysis from you. I agree with most of what you wrote. I’ll just disagree with a few that I will mention below & will include some I would add. I will preface my comments with I don’t expect any vacancies in the next two years on some of the circuits such as the 2nd but this is more of a list in the event of either unexpected vacancies or if Rep. Johnson’s court expansion bill somehow was passed & became law.
Disagree:
Ohio: Bridget Brennan – She has no progressive background that I can find. Just your normal, run of the mill purple state judge to me. The White House vetted two Ohio lawyers for the seat Rachel Bloomekatz was nominated for. I’d rather see the second lawyer, Alexandra Schimmer over Brennan.
Illinois: Lindsay C. Jenkins – Not enough of a progressive background at all.
California: Fred Slaughter & James Simmons – They are ok for the district court but not progressive enough for the 9th in my opinion. If I had to go with a black man, I’d rather go with Brian E. Nelson. Being that he is close to VP Harris, I would assume he would have the leg up.
Colorado: Monica Marquez – She would have been good a few years ago but now in her mid 50’s, she would be too old for me.
Add:
Deborah Boardman
Omar A. Williams
Gina R. Méndez-Miró
Jorge Alberto Rodriguez (Hopefully judge Hurd changes his mind or Rodriguez is nominated for another seat).
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Some of them are ones I would be lukewarm on.
With Fred Slaughter, I specified that I’d only be okay if they specifically wanted someone with ties to Orange County.
I forgot Gina Mendez-Miro.
Deborah Boardman is barely not too old. She is older, but more progressive than George Hazel. But there aren’t enough black men on the appellate courts, so I’d almost rather see George Hazel.
Regarding James Simmons, I was talking specifically about a Southern California vacancy with a San Diego duty station, and Brian Nelson would definitely have a Los Angeles duty station.
Monica Marquez is too old, but I’d take her since she’s both LGBT AND Latina.
Bridget Brennan would be tolerable, but I’d definitely prefer Ruiz and they would both be picked over Alexandra Schimmer if they were specifically looking for someone in the Cleveland area. Denison University (where Alexandra Schimmer is General Counsel), is closer to Columbus.
Lindsay Jenkins is one I would definitely be lukewarm on, but would be a C+ in my book.
I had thought Omar Williams was older than he was, so I agree with you on that.
Same with Rodriguez.
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Ah you’re making it district specific, ok. I hate when that’s done as I would hope the best person is chosen from the state regardless of where the vacancy occurs. But of course some states still stick to that. Thankfully New York didn’t & now all 2nd circuit judges from the state are from NYC.
I would suspect the 7th vacancy will also adhere to district specific as well since there are two Republican senators. But yea really good list overall.
BTW I noticed some additional names on your judicial chart.
I love it. Keep ‘em coming.
On a side note, for those of you that are Wikipedia users, there appears to be a second user that is helping to upload pics of some of the older federal judges. That is good news because I can’t find pics for some. He is focusing on circuit court judges so there aren’t many active judges on the circuits left without a picture.
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@Dequan Boardman should have been named the nominee when Motz announced 10 months ago she was gong to take senior upon confirmation of her successor. One of the best district court picks, proven liberal history and relatively young at 47. You’re not going to get anyone younger than hack judge Allison Jones Rushing who was appointed to the 4th Circuit at age 36 (born 1982), so Boardman is a no brainer. It’s very obvious she isn’t going to be picked at this point, which is a shame.
Only way it could be worse is if Hazel is picked. I could see him being picked but that would be awful. Zero progressive or liberal record and has ruled with Trump in their administrations attempt to sabotage the census.
Gina R. Méndez-Miró would have been better than Gelpi tremendously and Omar A. Williams would have been better than Merriam by a little but both those seats are filled now so nothing can be done about it for many years now.
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Had no idea that Hazel sided with Trump’s plans to sabotage the census. Definitely lowers my opinion of him. As I’ve said before, my absolute top pick would be Tejinder Singh, but I don’t think he will be the pick.
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Yes Ethan, Delco is correct. George Hazel would be a disaster if a pick for those like me who wants progressives on the bench. It’s a shame because at one point he was the youngest federal judge in the country. And of course we all know my admiration for black men to be put on the circuit courts. But not him or George Hanks on the 5th circuit for that matter. I’d happily take a white man in the mood of John Rappaport over either of them.
Boardman would have been a good pick. I’m not usually a fan of elevating a district court nominee if there’s another option better that would not require SJC & senate floor time to backfill their position, but she would be good enough that it’s worth it.
I’ve seen Singh mentioned before. I would almost go with him just to see senators Lee faint, Hawley head do a 360 & Cruz foam at the mouth at his hearing… Lol
My first choice would be Ajmel Quereshi. Even though he’s just a magistrate judge, Biden has already elevated two of those this year alone so it’s not impossible.
We just need at least 1 of the 4 vacant circuit court nominees to be announced before October 9th. With Anthony Johnstone’s hearing likely to be November 9th since it doesn’t look like Durbin will be adding any hearings, another nominee announced by 10/9 would give them the customary one month needed to be added & paired with him at that hearing. 2 of the 4 vacancies are in blue states so this should be easy to do.
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I went over this a few months ago, so here are the current/ pending vacancies from states with 2 Democratic Senators. I will go over my picks for each of those seats:
2nd circuit
CT:
-Bridgeport duty station (currently held by Stefan Underhill): Ndidi Moses. When she was an AUSA, she prosecuted Civil Rights cases.
-New Haven duty station (currently held by Sarah Merriam): Maria E. Garcia and Kelly Barrett would both be great. Marisol Orihuela would be great too, but not sure whether she’d rather have a CT seat or a CA seat.
SDNY:
-White Plains duty station (currently held by Vincent Briccetti): Anar R. Patel is the most likely pick. But not sure if they’ll insist on the duty station staying in White Plains.
3rd circuit
NJ:
-Camden duty station (last held by Noel Hillman): Sharon A. King. While she is 55, she is a strong progressive, having specialized in representing people victimized by police misconduct.
-Trenton duty station (currently held by Freda Wolfson): Allison Brill would be my top choice. Jeremy Feigenbaum is 32. But he’d be more qualified that Kathryn Kimball Mizell was when she was picked at age 33.
4th circuit
MD:
-Greenbelt duty station (currently held by Paul Grimm): Ajmel Qureshi. If he isn’t chosen for Motz’s 4th circuit seat.
6th circuit
MI:
-Detroit duty station (last held by Gershwin Drain): Susan Kim Declerq or Phillip Mayor.
-Flint duty station (last held by Stephanie Davis): This seat may go back to Detroit since F. Kay Behm (of Flint) was nominated for the seat last held by David Lawson, who had a Detroit duty station. I don’t have any suggestions on anyone with a potential Flint duty station, but I do wonder if they’d create another Flint seat given how many suits are probably filed there due to the after effects from the water scandal.
9th circuit
CDCA:
-Los Angeles duty station (seats last held by Virginia Phillips and John Kronstadt): Christopher Dybwad, Gia Kim, and Bryant Yang from the Los Angeles County Superior Court would all be great. Dybwad and Kim both used to be federal public defenders. And Yang would be the first Burmese-American Judge, and he used to work for Organizing for America.
SDCA:
-San Diego duty station (1 seat last held by William Hayes and 1 seat currently held by Gonzalo Curiel): The most likely picks would be Jose Scher Castillo and Armilla Staley-Ngomo. I’d love to see Mitra Ebadolahi, but not sure if she’d get picked.
Too many options for the DC area.
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@Ethan
Once again your spot on. I have a few additional names, so I’ll list those along with the ones I agree with you on. I’ll list mine in the order I would want to see them nominated.
2nd circuit
CT:
Justin Driver, Cristina Rodriguez, Joshua Perry, Jamal Greene, Marisol Orihuela (But as you mentioned, she could be considered for California as well) & James Forman, Jr.. Any combination of 2 of them would have been better (And younger) 2nd circuit nominees then Merriam & Khan).
SDNY:
Melissa Murray, Joshua Matz, Vincent Southerland, Ria Tabacco Mar, Daniel Habib & Samuel Spital.
3rd circuit
NJ:
Rajiv D. Parikh, Lori Borgen, Jason Orlando… I never heard of Jeremy Feigenbaum before reading your post but just looked him up & would love him on the court, albeit I’m not sure he would give up solicitor general for a district court seat.
4th circuit
MD:
Ajmel Qureshi (He’s my first choice for the 4th) &
Jessie Weber. I do love your suggestion of Tejinder Singh.
6th circuit
MI:
Phillip Mayor (One of my first choices for the 6th along with Fadwa Hammoud), Leah Litman & Luttrell Levingston.
9th circuit
CDCA:
Monica Ramirez-Almadani (And immediately elevated to the 9th upon the next vacancy, I don’t care what duty station it is), Bryant Yang (I mentioned him early last year for the seat that went to Lucy Koh, plus he did some voter rights work in Arizona so Sinema should welcome him), Jessica Bansal, Fatima Goss Graves, Melissa Goodman, Jon Michaels &
Alvaro Huerta.
SDCA:
Mitra Ebadolahi, Armilla Staley-Ngomo, Harini Raghupathi & Jose Scher Castillo.
DC:
Andrew Manuel Crespo (If he doesn’t want to wait for the next Massachuttesets vacancy with so many of those judges over 70 years old), Deepak Gupta (I would push for him to get the 4th Maryland seat), Karla Gilbride, Roscoe Jones Jr., Ariela Migdal, Roberto J. Gonzalez & Alice Wang.
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I had heard of everyone on you mentioned except James Forman Jr., who was born around 1966. He’d be great otherwise. The others I don’t disagree with, but I do worry about having too many ACLU lawyers nominated, as to not deplete them. Sometimes I’m not sure whether to put someone on SDNY or EDNY. I generally look on people search websites to see if they have a Manhattan or Brooklyn address, but that’s not always reliable.
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The ACLU would love to have the problem of being depleted because too many of their lawyers have become federal judges… Lol
Yea James Forman Jr. she is the only knock against him. And the SDNY & EDNY are so close, I don’t think it would be an issue to make them interchangeable. I think the bigger issue is the SDNY is probably the most important of the 93 district courts so Schumer would be more careful about who he put on that court similar to a president & the DC circuit.
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for those of you that use Wikipedia, I went through each circuit court judge. Here are the remaining pages that do not have a picture uploaded. Judges that have already announced senior status are not included.
William J. Kayatta Jr.
Debra Ann Livingston
Paul V. Niemeyer
Robert Bruce King
Karen Nelson Moore
Eric L. Clay
Ilana Rovner
Lavenski Smith
James B. Loken
Bobby Shepherd
Harris Hartz
Jerome Holmes
Charles R. Wilson
Karen L. Henderson
Alan David Lourie
Timothy B. Dyk
Jimmie V. Reyna
Richard G. Taranto
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I do wonder if we’ll get some nominees this week. I believe they could wait until the get back in October if they wanted to, as I think the rule is technically 28 days rather than a month. But it would be nice to go ahead and get it out there.
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