Judge Shane “Kato” Crews is the third magistrate judge nominated by President Biden to the federal bench in Colorado, after colleagues Nina Wang and Gordon Gallagher.
Background
A native of Pueblo in South Colorado, Crews graduated in 1997 from the University of Northern Colorado and then received a J.D. from the University of Arizona School of Law in 2000.
After graduating, Crews spent two years at the National Labor Relations Board and then joined Rothberger Johnson & Lyons LLP in 2001. In 2011, he shifted to be a name partner at Mastin Hoffman & Crews LLC and then moved to Hoffman Crews Nies Waggener & Foster LLP in 2013.
In 2018, Crews was appointed to be a U.S. Magistrate Judge and has served as such since.
History of the Seat
Crews has been nominated for a vacancy on the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado. This seat will open on June 20, 2023 when Judge Raymond Moore takes senior status. Crews was previously recommended by Colorado Senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper to replace Judge William Martinez, but fellow magistrate judge Gordon Gallagher was chosen instead. Crews was then nominated to replace Moore.
Legal Experience
While Crews has shifted positions over the course of his career, he has worked on civil litigation in all of those positions, including in labor law, business law, and real estate. Among the suits he handled in private practice, Crews was part of the legal team defending Pizza Hut against an allegation of violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act. See Smith v. Pizza Hut, Inc., 694 F. Supp. 2d 1227 (D. Colo. 2010).
Notably, Crews represented the Colorado State University System in defending against a lawsuit brought by Rodney Smith, a police officer who alleged a hostile work environment as a result of his race. See Smith v. Bd. of Gov. of the Colorado State Univ. Sys., Civil Action No. 15-cv-00770-REB-KMT (D. Colo. 2017). Judge Robert Blackburn granted summary judgment in favor of Crews’ client, finding that the plaintiff failed to meet his burden to show that any harassment was sufficiently pervasive to constitute a hostile work environment and that animosity was racial rather than personal. See id.
Jurisprudence
Crews has served as a federal magistrate judge since his appointment in 2018. In this role, he presides by consent over civil matters and misdemeanors, assists district judges with discovery and settlement, and writes reports and recommendations on legal issues. Among the cases that he presided over, Crews denied summary judgment in favor of the defendant in a slip and fall case at a Dollar Tree retail store. See Oliver v. Dollar Tree Stores, Inc., Civil Action No. 1:21-cv-3443-SKC (2022). Crews found that material disputes of fact remained about the actions of Dollar Tree employees regarding obstructions in the aisle where the plaintiff fell. See id.
Writings and Statements
In 2016, Crews was among 16 attorneys and law students who were interviewed by the Colorado Bar on diversity, inclusion, and bias in the legal community. For his part, Crews noted that he strove throughout his life to work harder and exceed expectations in a desire to overcome any “unconscious” bias on the part of others, noting:
“My experience with implicit bias has not been a story of suffering, rejection, or hurt. Rather, I have found empowerment and positive results from pushing myself to outperform biased expectations.”
Overall Assessment
As he himself describes it, Crews has lived a “charmed” life, rising at a young age (in his early 40s) to be a federal magistrate judge. He is now poised for confirmation to the federal bench, with little in his record that should cause him delay.
The Vetting Room 
I don’t think Manchin would vote for a Scotus nominee late in the election cycle. Not sure what his cutoff is though. September was clearly too late but what if it’s the summer? No one knows.
You’re right that he would probably vote for district/circuit nominees though and I suspect he would also vote in favor of a nominee in the dead period as well (regardless of the outcome of any election).
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If anyone’s interested, there’s a livestream ceremony to honor RBG at the Supreme Court at 1:45pm DC time. It should be interesting to see the speakers and attendees.
Yes, yes, I am WELL aware of how RBG’s obstinacy cost liberals a seat on SCOTUS. This isn’t an invitation to rehash that well-trodden argument, I just wanted to share:
https://www.supremecourt.gov/
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I got a little curious on Manchin’s voting history so I did a little research:
In October 2018 he did vote no on David Porter, Ryan Nelson, and one district judge. Couldn’t find a source on why, but presumably it being right before an election (including his election) was a major factor.
In September and October 2020 he voted for every trump nominee for a district court. There were no appellate nominees during this period but of course he voted no on ACB. After the 2020 election, he voted for 11 of 12 District nominees and voted for Thomas Kirsch for the 7th circuit as well.
Manchin voted in favor of every Obama nominee during these periods as well and of course has been a yes on every Biden judicial nominee so far. Unlike some, I don’t anticipate Manchin being a gigantic factor here and would likely only vote “no” on a Biden nominee if he was assured that the nominee would still be confirmed.
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@Joe
Very interesting. Maybe Manchin is just against SCOTUS confirmations during the lame duck then. I would be fine with that since a SCOTUS nominee would still get confirmed even if he voted no. So perhaps Biden can get much closer to Trump’s 230 but of course I still stand by my prediction he won’t get close unless blue slips are either ditched or at least amended.
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It sounds like it. To be honest that was such an unusual situation that it seems unlikely to happen again for a long time. I am reassured that he seems perfectly willing to take a vote on a lower level judge though, because I’m sure there will be some of those.
I also don’t anticipate Biden matching Trump’s total. There just aren’t enough openings without abandoning the blue slip tradition, and I’m not sure they’re prepared to do that (at least at this point).
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Yea, sadly I agree with you completely. It will take a second Biden term & Democrats to pull off a senate miracle & just lose one senate seat. I do think it’s very possible, even with blue slips, to pass 230 in a 5th year. He probably can pass 54 circuit court judges in his 5th year as well as even if he filled all current vacancies, he would only be 11 behind & I fully expect additional vacancies this year alone. But it’s important to get as close as possible by the end of next year.
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I do think flipping Maine and NC will again be on the table in 2026, so even if senate Ds dip back to 49 or even 48 I think it’s possible to gain control back for 2027-2028.
There are a lot of other variables as well before we even get there, though.
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I’ll also add that some packages for red state district judges may still be possible in a 51-49 or 52-48 R senate, but those would be pretty limited I’d imagine. But if Biden could get home state support, I’d imagine some judges like Lochner, Brookman, and a small handful of others could get through with Collins/Murkowshi and home state senators.
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The RBG Bar memorial just wrapped, after tributes from some of her more preeminent former clerks.
I might not always agree with her legal strategy, but it would be an absolute shame if SG Elizabeth Prelogar doesn’t make it onto the DC Circuit. I don’t know whose seat she would take, since I don’t see any voluntary vacancies soon. But what a talent!
If only Justin Walker or Neomi Rao would decide that this judging thing isn’t for them.
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People like Elizabeth Prelogar are the reason I’m so hard on the Childs & Pan nominations. Not only were there far younger & better choices but there were even if you just count people in the administration alone. Two wasted picks. Hopefully Biden gets second term because several DC circuit judges will be eligible to retire before January 2029.
She also could be considered for the SCOTUS as well. I doubt anybody who’s not a sitting circuit court judge would be nominated but she’s so good it’s possible. I believe the last time anybody was picked for the SCOTUS without having never been nominated for a circuit court judgeship was Sandra Day O’Connor. But of course, as a sitting Solicitor General, Prelogar could be considered like Kagan (Who was nominated for the DC circuit in 1998) for any non-Sotomayor seat.
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I think by now we can see a pattern on how the White House selects judges.
Pan and Childs paid their dues so they should have promoted and they were.
How do we know that Prelogar wants to be a judge? Not everyone wants to be a judge. And, they have to ask or submit resume or something.
It shouldn’t be Biden’s job to “make” someone when they are 40 something so someone else down the line can choose them.
Every President wants to be re-elected judges aren’t gonna make that happen . Look at what happened to Trump.
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Of course we don’t know if Prelogar wants to be a judge. We’re just speculating. This is a blog, that’s what we do unless somebody personally knows the person being spoken about which in most cases we don’t. But if I had to make an educated guess, I would assume she’s not Solicitor General for the money. She could be in private practice right now making much more. So if she can be talked into a 4 or 8 year position, something tells me it would take little arm twisting to get her to accept a lifetime appointment one step below the SCOTUS.
And I’m sorry but circuit court seats are far too important to hand them out because somebody “paid their dues”. Especially the DC circuit. Positions to hand out for paying your dues would be Ambassador to the Bahamas, not one of the 179 circuit court seats one step below the highest court in the land.
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Pan and Childs are both on DC Circuit so whoever is pickings judges saw that they both have 12-15 years as a judge. That had to be a feeling point that got them selected.
I don’t think anyone believes the the promotions that Pan and Child received were “handed” to them.
They were both rated “well-qualified” by the ABA. People who came before them or worked with them approved of their nominations.
When people find themselves in court they need experienced judges. Not someone selected with less experience because someone wants to “make” them at a later time.
I don’t know what else to say except that you free to write the White House and report back how they respond. But , Pan and Childs ;that bus has already left station.
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I don’t think Childs, Pan or any other circuit court judge Biden has nominated had their positions handed to them. I was responding to what you wrote. As I’ve said before anybody nominated by the president for a lifetime position is going to be qualified. It’s not about qualified, we discuss if a pick is good or not. I personally think the Childs nomination to the DC circuit was horrible & Pan not much better but what’s done is done.
And I keep hearing the argument people want experienced judges. Just because somebody is in their 40’s doesn’t mean they aren’t good, experienced picks. It just means statistically they will remain on the bench longer like Republican appointees.
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Prelogar is very impressive and apparently so because, she was the most sought after law clerk for sure! Definitely see her as a strong contender for SCOTUS looking into the future.
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Re: getting to 230–it would be a lot easier, of course, if we could get some more nominees. It baffles me that there are 13 potential district court vacancies in blue states or Claims & International Trade that don’t have nominees. I know we’re getting to the end of the low-hanging fruit stage of the appointment process and we’ll have to start getting some red & purple state nominees soon, but 13 seems like a lot to just sit there without nominees. MI? CT? HI? Anybody home?
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Well we can’t even get a nominee for the 4th in Maryland because senator Cardin was willing to risk holding up a circuit court seat on the election results. So no wonder no nominees for many other blue state seats yet.
I truly hope this new White House Counsel is gathering a list of potential nominees for every circuit court seat where the judge is eligible to retire. I took a look at some of Trump’s circuit court vacancies from blue states in 2019 which would be the equivalent to red state vacancies in 2023. Here’s the breakdown on when the seat became vacant to the day the nominee was confirmed;
Peter J. Phipps: November 30, 2018 – July 16, 2019
Danielle J. Forrest – I’m not going to count her since she was the second nominee for this seat after Ryan Bounds failed.
William J. Nardini: June 30, 2019 – November 7, 2019
Steven Menashi: May 31, 2019 – November 14, 2019
Patrick J. Bumatay: December 18, 2017 – December 10, 2019
Only Bumatay took more then 9 months to fill. We are going on over two years for the 10th seat & many blue states are taking well over 9 months to fill.
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Bumatay was confirmed to Bea’s seat on December 10, 2019. Bea announced he would go senior upon the confirmation of a successor on June 24, 2019.
Kozinski’s seat, which became vacant on December 18, 2017, was filled by Daniel Aaron Bress on July 26, 2019.
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I agree @Dequan which is why I focused on district court vacancies and non-Maryland vacancies (although they entirely fit my original point and include the 4th CCA vacancy you mention). While Cardin’s hold-up is outrageous given time and politics, where are the MI, HI, and CT Senators with their nominees?
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The Maryland situation angers me knowing the polls were showing the Democrats could lose the midterms. But I’ll give Hawaii a pass because that vacancy was just announced about a month ago. I’ll also give the 3 Pennsylvania seats a pass since we all know Fetterman’s situation. Here are the blue states that should have a nominee by now along with their announced vacancy dates;
CT: 09/15/2022 & 11/01/2022
MI-E: 05/24/2022 & 08/13/2022
NY-S: 09/15/2022
DC: 12/12/2022
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Exactly. Put those 6 up there and wait on PA and HI (forgot it was so recent). A lot of this is momentum. We had it, and now we don’t. Keep nominating and holding hearings Eventually we’ll have the votes on SJC. As for the floor, remember “oh, now we’ll really concentrate on judges in 2023” (from Schumer)? W/GOP absences, we have to move nominations forward. No excuses.
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Yup. This new White House Counsel is dropping the ball. No question about it. Two SJC hearings missed because of a lack of nominees. That shouldn’t happen
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I actually disagree about the PA situation slightly. As the senior senator, Casey should be making most of the picks there, so the Biden administration should be in contact with him now regarding possible nominees
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You could be right about Pennsylvania albeit I don’t agree with your reason. I do think it’s possible The White House could just work with Casey to get nominees despite Fetterman being out but not because he’s the senior senator. I think it’s possible more so because Fetterman would agree to let him take the lead so his illness doesn’t hold up the process combined with Fetterman just doesn’t seem like the type to be extremely well invested in his own picks.
I don’t think the same would be true in every case however. For instance if it was Georgia, I don’t see senator Warnock saying Ossoff could just recommend three nominees to The White House if he was out for months because Warnock seems interested in the judiciary. As a matter of fact, I can’t think of another blue state I would say the junior senator would just let the senior senator make three picks without their input perhaps except New York & only that because Schumer has a 3 to 1 deal with Gillibrand anyway. Unless there’s another state I’m missing that has a similar deal, I don’t believe the junior senator would be so deferential, particularly with 21 months left in the term.
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The HI vacancy won’t occur until January 2024, so there’s not much of a point in nominating someone there right now.
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The new white counsel is incompetent same for the white house chief of staff, but again biden is a cowardly and incompetent president so he doesn’t care.
When it becomes apparent to folks on here that biden will finish his first term with several open appellate vacancies simply due to his incompetence and cowardliness to ignore republican senators tantrums, then we all can agree in consensus he has been the worst dem president since carter.
He will be known as a failure and a 1 term president.
They have dropped the ball throughout this year despite getting a wider senate majority. just incompetent clowns
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Anthony Johnstone’s nomination would have been withdrawn if Biden was such a coward as would have others.
I’m not happy with the slow pace in nominees right now but we’ve had several confirmations by now to show Republican senators opposing nominees on a circuit court level doesn’t doom them.
Your disliking Biden because he isn’t as far left as you like doesn’t make him a coward or failure and posting it over and over again won’t make it so.
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If Jacy Hurst is the nominee for the 10th, I expect to hear a lot about this case in her hearing.
(https://www.yahoo.com/news/calling-voting-fundamental-ks-court-182836695.html)
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Hopefully they nominate Hurst the afternoon after Wambles SJC hearing lol.
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Wednesday is the one month anniversary of the last “batch” with one new nominee. There’s a SJC hearing this Wednesday as well. Once Wamble is sworn in perhaps they will release the 31st batch…lol
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@Dequan
Has the ABA released its rating on Wamble? It’s taken an awfully long tome to do so.
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Still no ABA rating for Wamble. But I can’t imagine him not getting a WQ, especially for a district court seat.
(https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/administrative/government_affairs_office/webratingchart-117.pdf)
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@Dequan
“Still no ABA rating for Wamble. But I can’t imagine him not getting a WQ…”
Actually, to be a bit pessimistic, this is a cause for concern. The ABA does a single review to get to WQ, then they issue the rating. If it’s not WQ or Q, the ABA does the whole thing over again to make sure they didn’t miss something or overweigh something. Basically, to diminish the chance that an error produced the NQ rating. This often leads to delay *and* leaks.
I don’t know if this is the case for Wamble. But I wouldn’t be surprised if the WH got wind a negative rating.
“….especially for a district court seat.”
You are correct in a sense. Wamble is extremely well qualified for an *appeals court seat, let alone a district court.
But professional qualification isn’t the only thing the ABA look into and rate. In today’s hyper sensitive climate, it’s not unthinkable that raising your voice or getting angry at someone on the job could worsen your total ABA rating.
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I thought that was a possibility as well. The one saving grace is Scott Colom still doesn’t have a rating either.
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We can only hope haha. At least then the mystery around this seat would start to make some sense.
Really it’s high time we get nominees for at least the 4th, 5th, 7th, and 10th. Particularly the 4th. But we will see.
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I’m thinking Wednesday will be a new batch day. That’s four weeks before the first Wed back after recess.
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I believe Wednesday as well. 4 weeks since the last batch & 4 weeks before the next SJC hearing. I just hope it’s enough nominees for two batches.
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Wednesday is a logical day. But it may be a small batch like the last one was.
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Ha! We’ve been saying this for the past month.
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Haaaa… True but the other weeks were more wishful thinking. I actually think this week we should see another batch or it will be a complete dereliction of duty by the new White House Counsel’s office.
On another note, here’s a perfect example of what I’m talking about with age. The Eastern district of Missouri now has a Trump appointed chief judge. This is despite four Obama judges that were pass over for chief judge because the Trump judge is young enough to meet the requirements for the position. Yet another example of what I’m talking about.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_District_Court_for_the_Eastern_District_of_Missouri)
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I remember when Bill Clinton nominated Ronnie White to a seat in Missouri I believe it was East and West District. John Ashcroft was opposed to White but he eventually was scheduled for a floor vote.
However, before the vote they Dems and GOP met for their weekly caucus. When they got back all Republicans voted against Ronnie White . Leahy was pissed and accused them of racial bias.
Almost 10 years later Obama nominated White and he was confirmed. He was obviously much older at that point but I think it was the right thing to do.
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@Dequan
Awesome share, thanks!
But don’t let Frank and the other old-nominee proponents hear you, they might be forced to repeat their non-arguments yet again.
But Frank is not alone in lacking judicial personnel strategy. The WH, too, should sign and issue commissions based on age, not order of confirmation. (Schumer doesn’t need to worry about this because confirmation doesn’t equal appointment.)
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Good point. Biden signing the commissions determine the order not Schumer deciding who gets confirmed first. I still can’t believe in the year 2023 they are still confirming judges in alphabetical order. There’s no way shape & form should I, somebody that has never stepped foot inside of a law school, should have a better strategy then The White House…smh
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I’ll be happy if we can just get 2 appellate and 3 district nominees. Even 1 and 4 would be fine.
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For the 7th Circuit, I still believe that it’s Mario Garcia’s nomination to lose.
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@Zack Jones,
As much as I’d like for the nominee to be Mario Garcia, the last three holders of that seat have been from northern Indiana (not Indianapolis). As such, I think someone like David Hollar (Appellate Chief of the US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Indiana), who clerked for Clinton appointed (now senior) 7th circuit Judge Diane Wood.
https://www.luc.edu/law/faculty/facultyandadministrationprofiles/hollar-david.shtml
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Durbin has COVID so no movement on judges getting to the floor that aren’t there already.
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Uuuggghhh… I swear Dems just can’t catch a break. Back to a temporary Republican majority. I truly hope Fetterman & Feinstein are back 100% after the two week Easter recess in a month. That way one senator being out doesn’t lose the majority. I hope they can still have the SJC hearing Wednesday.
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I hate that SJC will be deadlocked again. At least McConnell is likely still out so I guess it’ll be 48-48 for the week unless Feinstein comes back early. There will likely be other absences as well.
Still, might be able to squeeze in Gallagher, Brookman, or someone else on Thursday morning if they want to.
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I guess the only saving grace is this was a 2 day work week anyway. Schumer didn’t send any cloture motions to the desk Thursday so there was never going to be much movement on judges this week anyway. But hey, some on this blog still thinks there is plenty of time sooooooo…
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So not only did delaney try to silence a victim of sexual assault he also signed onto an anti abortion brief? Look this is getting ridiculous pull his nomination and stop wasting time.
The sad reality is the biden administration and white house counsel are so incompetent that we are very likely to not put up a nominee to replace delaney until 2024, i put the odds at 90 to 100 percent.
We are getting to april in a few days and still nothing about a nominee to the 7th circuit that has been open since last year june!! Why? because biden and his administration officials are cowards who do not have the courage to tell todd young and mike braun to piss off and nominate who ever he wants to like trump did severally to states with two democratic senators. They are allowing the GOP senators to deliberately stall this process, and biden the fool is going along with it.
There will be no new batch of nominations this month i think that’s getting clear now, just total incompetence and malfeasance from the white house since the midterm elections.
Still no nominee to the 10circuit vancacy, 5th, or even the 4th vacancy, literally the lowest bar and the whitehouse cant clear it.
In two years when its trump/desantis filling the several vacant appellate judicial positions biden left open out of cowardice with federalist society hacks there should be no whining then. People should raise the alarm right now. Enough is enough.
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Delaney signed onto an anti abortion brief? I hadn’t heard about that. Is that new news?
And while I don’t agree with everything you said, I do agree that it’s almost April & despite what some on this blog thinks, time is running out. I do believe we will see a new batch this week however. Albeit if it doesn’t happen, I may agree with a lot more of what you said.
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Its a new article out on how he signed an anti abortion brief. Enough is enough its time to pull his nomination and i look forward to seeing who is right this week i say no nominations or atleast not any for circuit court seats thats the one i am very confident about.
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Ok, now I’m fully on board with this nomination being withdrawn. When it was first announced I said it didn’t blow my socks off. Still, I understood we probably weren’t going to get an exciting pick for this seat such as Gilles Bissonnette.
Then the issue regarding if he tried to expose a sexual assault survivor came up. I stuck by him because when you looked at all of the elements of the case, I gave him the benefit of the doubt in every aspect. I also took into account his entire career. I wasn’t happy that when asked to name ten important cases on his SJC questionnaire, this wasn’t one of the cases he mentioned. But I still reluctantly said I would probably vote to confirm him if I was a senator.
But now THIS??? Come on, I’m sorry but this nomination needs to be withdrawn. It’s March 2023, we can get another nominee vetted, announced & confirmed by the end of this year, let alone the end of Biden’s term. I understand what the administration said in the article regarding they don’t want to set a precedent that one case can tank a nominee. But this isn’t ONE case or one issue. It’s multiple issues. Pull this nomination please. Enough is enough.
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I agree that we’ll see a new batch, but like the most recent ones it likely will include some red seats so it’ll be comparable to the most recent batches in terms of there being a lack of progressives.
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Not true. The attorney’s representing Prout wanted to try the case in media. How could this be done without revealing her identity? It was her attorney’s who sought to out her to get some leverage and their enormous “fees.”
What happened with the pace of nominations are too slow? To rescind a nominee because you don’t like him for whatever reason is a waste of time.
It’s desperation and the case against Delaney is weak for someone who been a practicing attorney for 30 years.
So, Delaney submitted a brief on behalf of the Attorney General Kelly Ayotte? So what? He was just doing his job.
The article mentioned that Biden didn’t make a nomination in Kentucky because of an “outcry” from Democrats. That is totally untrue. It was Rand Paul who said he wouldn’t support the nomination so there was no point in making the nomination.
I don’t see much substance in the pushback on Delaney and hope Biden sticks with him.
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Of course, if Biden goes through with this nomination, it’s harder to say that he’s truly pro-choice (just like with Chad M). There is definitely a smear campaign by progressives to try and tank this nomination since there is definitely time to find a replacement for any open circuit court seat (despite what one troll here would have you believing). While your point is valid, it is quite nuanced for anyone not involved in law regularly. At the end of the day though, unless multiple progressives such as Warren and Sanders openly announce that they aren’t going to vote for him, Delaney will be confirmed, likely after the Easter break. Since the NH senators are campaigning heavily for him, I think the likelihood of that happening is minuscule.
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Yes I am one of the main advocates of we don’t have that much time left. But I also am one of the main advocates for we just don’t need nominees, we need the RIGHT nominees. Every week it seems more & more as if this nominee isn’t the right one.
In regard to the Missouri district court, I too agree Ronnie White deserved to be nominated by Obama despite his age after what happened to him under Clinton. It just sucks that a total of FOUR Obama nominees were not young enough to not get passed over by Trump’s for chief judge.
As for the Rand Paul is the ONLY reason Chad Meredith wasn’t nominated statement, that may be nice to say but the timeline simply doesn’t add up to that being the complete truth. Let’s review what actually happened;
On June 23, 2022, The White House sent the governor of Kentucky an email stating they were going to nominate Chad Meredith “tomorrow”. Then the next day on June 24th, the Dobbs decision came out. The next batch of judicial nominees was released on June 29th. Rand Paul didn’t disclose he would not return his blue slip for Meredith until July 15th.
Between June 23rd to July 15th, let’s take a look at what happened within those 22 days. The Democrat governor of Kentucky came out against the nomination. Then the senior Democrat congressman came out against him. Then numerous progressive groups came out against him. The White House released FOUR new batches of nominees within those 22 days (As Archie Bunker use to say, those were the days) & not one of them included Meredith’s name despite them saying they would announce him “tomorrow”.
I say all that to point out yes it was dumb for The White House to consider Meredith in the first place. It was even more dumb of a consideration when you take into account what they would get in return, which was speculated to be two US attorney’s that can be fired on day one of the next Republican president. But there are too many factors to consider that lead me to believe Biden actually read the room, albeit late, with this would be terrible decision & did so prior to Rand Paul’s announcement 22 days later.
And before you say Biden just waited the 22 days before finding out Rand Paul’s decision on if he would return his blue slip, that makes even less sense for two reasons. First, The White House nominated Scott Colom, an African American Democrat in his early 40’s without knowing if both Mississippi senators would return their blue slips. We know that to be true because Wicker announced he would return his blue slip about a month after the nomination & Hyde-Smith apparently still hasn’t returned her blue slip in. What argument could have been made at that time that Rand Paul wouldn’t return his blue slip for a White male Republican that argued in court for anti-abortion bills, particularly when he was nominated by the senate minority leader. And second, the Colom nomination happened AFTER Meredith’s so you can’t say they learned their lesson by seeing what happened in Mississippi.
So if we are going to give him the blame for this dumb consideration, let’s give him some credit for reversing course as well.
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You never really wanted to see Delaney selected anyway. You said that he didn’t “blow your socks off.” Is that really how we should evaluate people who want to be judges? But, that’s besides the point , I am speculating on what I think Biden will do based on statements coming from the White House and how Biden voted when he was a Senator. He voted for a lot of conservative judges but not based on one issue.
There aren’t any new “findings” on Delaney he was a Deputy Attorney General filing a brief on behalf of the Attorney General. All I see are rebased arguments re-packaged as if it’s fresh and new. It’s not.
It’s well known that the White House pulled the plug on Meredith when they learned that Rand Paul would not return the blue slip. What would be the point? It’s highly usual for 2 Senators’ of the same party splitting on a nominee with a President from another party. I think the White House was surprised by Rand Paul’s opposition. We all were.
The one thing that I have noticed about Biden and his approach to nominations : he sticks with them. I was surprised that Eric Garcetti for Ambassador to India wasn’t dropped after 2 years of waiting. He could have been replaced by Ro Khanna or someone like that. I was also surprised that some Republicans voted for him when
a few Democrats abandoned him.
I don’t expect Biden to walk away from Delaney.
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Well your half right. I wasn’t thrilled about Delaney’s nomination, but I initially had no issue with him being confirmed. When you say I never wanted him to be confirmed in the first place, I think the only Biden nominees I felt that strongly about was Childs & Pan to the DC Circuit. Every other nominee I never initially said should not be confirmed. Delaney has worked his way into a deserved no vote in my opinion.
And once again just saying Biden dumped Meridith because of Rand Paul without evidence isn’t making the statement true. I provided a step-by-step timeline of the events from last year. While I do believe Paul’s refusal to turn in his blue slips was the final death nail, I believe other events in the 22 days between then email & final decision not to nominate him shows other reasons can be attributed to the decision as well. There were four batches in those 22 days. He could have easily nominated him before Paul’s decision if that was the only reason.
But if your point is what Biden will do, I do agree with you on that point. I think Biden will also back him until the end. I’m just giving my opinion that in this case I disagree with him.
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If Fetterman, Feinstein and McConnell are out, wouldn’t that mean it’s 49D and 48R in the senate this week?
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Durbin in addition to Fetterman & Feinstein would mean only 48 Democrats are in town this week. If McConnell is still out, at least Democrats will have a 48-48 tie. But there’s only 2 days in session this week so it probably won’t matter much anyway.
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I think the only votes this week are the Iraq resolution and then probably a bunch of other executive posts. Perhaps Gallagher, Brookman, or another district nominee can slide in there.
Since next week is longer I really hope Feinstein can come back to give Ds a true majority plus also vote out these 10 nominees. Then after Easter hopefully we can finally knock out all of the big ones.
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Thanks for sharing, @aagren.
Wow. What a mess. This was mishandled from the very beginning.
Here’s what I think:
Filling this vacancy:
This is the biggest obstacle for me. The defeat of this nominee will absolutely result in this seat not being filled this year. And who knows what next year holds. Now we know that of the two senators, Shaheen is his recommender. It took a year from when Shaheen first reached out to him to his being nominated. Do we really want to risk repeating this timeline? This would get us into summer 2024, depending if/when the nomination fails. I would much rather a chastened Delaney serve than not getting a replacement confirmed in time.
Deputy AG role:
I am not sure to what extent he was involved in the document he signed. It could be related to his role as Deputy AG.
Planned Parenthood + ABA:
PP hasn’t come out against this nominee and they are not shy about doing so. This could be dispositive for me. Also, if the ABA revised his rating downwards, that could be fatal.
Wavering Senators:
Basically all the wavering senators in the article sound like they will ultimately support him in the end. Durbin’s stated support is a big plus for him.
Shaheen’s heft:
This is one of the biggest indications that he’ll be confirmed. Despite what I’ve read on here (that the delay and Delaney’s nomination is somehow the NH senators’ payback for their state’s primary getting bumped—utter nonsense), Shaheen is a very well-respected member of the caucus and will very likely prevail upon her colleagues.
If it weren’t for absences, this nominee would have already cleared SJC, and would have been even harder to kill. Hopefully, Dem senators will now see this debacle and try to avoid it in their state at all cost.
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I am almost entirely agnostic on the Delaney pick, since the first is entirely Obama/Biden picks. If he does not have the votes I think it’d be very simple to turn around and nominate Elliott and call it a day. There is plenty of time to have her confirmed by the end of 2023. Then you could turn around and fight it out over a less important district seat in 2024.
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If Delaney doesn’t have the votes, this is exactly why the proposed timeline proposed by some on a new nominee is likely not accurate. Elliott has already gone through a background check recently and had bipartisan support in her district court nomination. There is no reason to think it would take long to nominate her to the circuit court opening.
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Four new district nominees incoming today, for MD, IL, and LA. Let the research and analysis commence.
https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/biden-nominates-four-new-federal-judges-across-three-states-2023-03-20/
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Always happy to see US Magistrate Judges elevated to lifetime appointments, and the Louisiana nominee seems to be well-qualified has Cassidy’s support on record thus far.
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Looks like Biden is nominating four more district judges, including Darrell Papillion for the Eastern District of Louisiana. Hopefully he already has or will soon get Blue Slips from Kennedy and Cassidy. He seems fairly mainstream and non controversial at first glance.
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It seems the ugly troll frank has come back again.
So I was right. If Biden nominates anyone it wouldn’t be any circuit court picks.
It would be ones he had “permission” with the right wing senate republicans. It’s clear biden isn’t serious and cares more about pandering to republicans . He has let them stall the CA10 AND CA5 appellate seats instead of nominating a far left Liberal and slamming it down their throats like trump and mcconell did severally to democratic senators.
Am I the only one that sees what’s happening here? They keep given biden crumbs by working in “good faith ” with meaningless district court picks while they can stall the real influential appellate vacancie for as open as possible hoping they can get trump or desantis to be the one to choose nominees.
The list is filled of two magistrate judges,a former prosecutor, the standard right wing blueprint that biden was supposed to reject when he came into office . I give this “batch” which was apparently signed off by right wing senators an F.
I would have rather this seats remain unfilled than go waste valuable time filling the bench with federal prosecutors.
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We have had multiple batches in a week before, so your proclamation doesn’t make any sense right now since it is only Monday and the week isn’t even half over. Just look at last July, when there were 4 batches in the same week!
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It looks like the White House and Ben Cardin achieved a breakthrough. Two district judges nominated in one day for Maryland.
Brendan Hurson is a former public defender, which should please progressives.
Matthew Maddox is a more traditional nominee, which seems to be what Cardin values. It’s a reflection of his generation, similar to Dianne Feinstein.
In Eastern Louisiana, Darrel Papillion is a longtime personal injury lawyer.
In Northern Illinois, AUSA Jeremy Daniel got chosen. I thought he was going to be nominated for U.S. Attorney. The White House and Senator Durbin probably figured he’d be an easy confirmation. Also, he’s a military veteran and that’s always a plus.
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Most nominees I would think would prefer a lifetime appointment over a Political appointment, if given the choice.
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I agree Jill, especially in areas with a lower cost of living makes it somewhat easier for a younger nominee to last long on the bench.
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Some people early in their careers may not be ready to assume a lifetime position.
Yes, Leondra Kruger was offered Solicitor General twice but turned it down. This could have effected the outcome of the decision of who to replace Stephen Breyer.
She would have had a better chance I think but California is too far to uproot your family for 4 years.
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After reading some more background it seems like an excellent batch overall to me. Good nominees and it’s always good to get one in a red state. Only downside is it does not include any circuit nominees, particularly for CA4 or CA10.
Next hearing after April 19 would be May 3, so hopefully we get another batch in two weeks (or possibly next because of the recess).
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@Joe
I found a picture of Brendan Hurson at a civil rights protest a few years ago. It wasn’t what I expected.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/biden-nominates-2-baltimore-men-including-another-former-public-defender-to-maryland-federal-court/ar-AA18ROdP?fullscreen=true&cvid=6f2eb70156de46da9a711fc48d292cc6&ei=23#image=1
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Here is the official release: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/03/20/president-biden-names-thirty-first-round-of-judicial-nominees-and-announces-new-nominees-to-serve-as-u-s-attorney/
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Although it’s a small sample size; I think Darrel Papillion is the best red state district court nominee to date by Biden. He is better than double digit blue state nominees as well. Senator Cassidy voted to impeach Trump & senator Kennedy is tough but usually fair & has supported other Black men in past judicial nominations so I think they will turn in their blue slips.
I’m starting to worry about who will get the 4th seat. Brendan Hurson would have been a great choice but now that he got the district court seat, I’m wondering if that means Cardin will win out & get his choice for the 4th. If so, I expect a disappointment.
I know it hasn’t been mentioned here yet but I’m also happy to see two nominees for the Superior Court in DC. While those are 15 year terms, you can use those seats to set up nominees for future elevation. And it’s low hanging fruit because they usually are confirmed by voice vote, not wasting senate floor time.
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Brendan Hurson sounds like a good nominee if there is a future 4th Circuit vacancy from MD in the next two years besides Motz’s.
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