D.C. Court of Appeals Judge Loren AliKhan has been tapped for a lifetime appointment to the federal bench. While AliKhan’s first Senate confirmation was relatively smooth, she will likely draw more opposition this time around.
Background
Born June 24, 1983, Loren Linn AliKhan graduated from Bard’s College at Simon’s Rock in 2003 and then received her J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center in 2006.
After graduating, AliKhan clerked for Judge Louis Pollak on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and for Judge Thomas L. Ambro on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit before joining the Department of Justice as a Bristow Fellow in the Office of the Solicitor General. AliKhan then joined the Washington D.C. office of O’Melveny & Myers as an associate.
In 2013, AliKhan joined the D.C. Attorney General’s Office to work as Deputy Solicitor General. In 2018, she was appointed by Attorney General Karl Racine to be Solicitor General for the District of Columbia.
On September 30, 2021, AliKhan was nominated by President Biden to become a judge on the D.C. Court of Appeals (not to be confused with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit), replacing Judge John Fisher. AliKhan was confirmed to the position on February 8, 2022 by a 55-41 vote and has served on the D.C. Court of Appeals since February 18, 2022.
History of the Seat
The seat AliKhan has been nominated for opened on May 1, 2023 from Judge Amy Berman Jackson’s move to senior status.
Legal Experience
AliKhan started her legal career as a clerk to Judge Louis Pollak on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and then for Judge Thomas L. Ambro on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. After a brief stint with the Solicitor General’s office, AliKhan joined O’Melveny & Myers, where she litigated primarily in federal court. Notably, AliKhan was part of the legal team representing a noncitizen challenging a determination that his convictions for simple drug possession constituted “aggravated felonies” that warranted adverse immigration consequences. See Carachuri-Rosado v. Holder, 560 U.S. 563 (2010). In that case, AliKhan and O’Melveny worked with the University of Houston Law Center alongside the primary petitioner’s counsel Sri Srinivasan (currently a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit). Notably, AliKhan’s team was opposed by then-Solicitor General Elena Kagan (currently a Justice on the U.S. Supreme Court). The case ended with a unanimous ruling in favor of the petitioner. See id. AliKhan was also on the legal team representing Cheryl Perich, a teacher who successfully sought a judgment arguing that her religious employer had unlawfully fired her under federal antidiscrimination laws. See Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical v. EEOC, 565 U.S. 171 (2012). The Supreme Court ultimately sided in favor of the employer, finding that the ministerial exception to anti discrimination laws applies whenever an employer engages in hiring and firing of a “minister.” See id.
In 2013, AliKhan joined the D.C. Attorney General’s Office as Deputy Solicitor General. In this role, AliKhan was part of the legal team defending D.C.’s licensing requirements for tour guides within the city, which were struck down as violating the First Amendment. See Edwards v. District of Columbia, 755 F.3d 996 (D.C. Cir. 2014). Notably, AliKhan was part of the legal team defending against an unlawful arrest suit brought by partygoers who had been arrested for unlawful entry after being granted access by an individual who was not the property owner. See Wesby v. District of Columbia, 765 F.3d 13 (D.C. Cir. 2014). After the district court granted summary judgment to the plaintiffs and the D.C. Circuit affirmed 2-1, the Supreme Court unanimously reversed, finding that the arrests were supported by probable cause. See District of Columbia v. Wesby, 583 U.S. ___ (2018).
Additionally, as Deputy Solicitor General, AliKhan argued one case before the Supreme Court, arguing that a Title VII claim filed by a Department of Health code inspector was barred by the statute of limitations. See Artis v. District of Columbia, 583 U.S. ____ (2018). In a 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court reversed a lower court dismissal and found that a tolling provision in federal law benefited the plaintiff. See id.
In 2018, AliKhan became Solicitor General for the District of Columbia. In this role, AliKhan frequently joined other Democratic Attorneys General and Solicitors General in impact litigation around the country. Notably, AliKhan joined California in challenging a Texas suit seeking invalidation of the Affordable Care Act. See California v. Texas, 593 U.S. ___ (2021). The suit ended with a 7-2 Supreme Court ruling finding that Texas lacked standing to challenge the ACA individual mandate. See id.
Judicial Experience
Since her confirmation in 2022, AliKhan has served as a Judge on the D.C. Court of Appeals, overseeing appeals from the D.C. Superior Court. In her tenure on the court, AliKhan has, so far, authored ten opinions for the court. Of these opinions, all of which were unanimous, two involved challenges to criminal convictions. In one case, AliKhan affirmed the defendant’s conviction for first degree sexual abuse. In the other, AliKhan reversed convictions for second-degree murder and possession of a firearm due to the erroneous admission of testimony from a previous trial, finding error in the determination that the witness was unavailable.
An additional three cases involved professional misconduct by attorneys. In each case, AliKhan affirmed the finding of misconduct, although she reduced the penalty in one suit from a 90-day suspension to a 30-day suspension.
Two other cases involved family law. In one case, AliKhan affirmed a lower court award of sanctions against a father who filed frivolous adoption petitions for his children in Washington D.C. when a West Virginia court had already awarded custody to the mother. In the other, AliKhan reversed a lower court denial of a grandfather’s petition to intervene in a custody case involving his granddaughter, finding that the proper standard had not been applied.
The final three cases are civil in nature. In the first, AliKhan wrote for the court in ordering the dismissal of a judgment as moot. In the second, AliKhan affirmed a breach of contract judgment against a tenant but reversed the calculation of damages and sent the case back for recalculation. In the final case, AliKhan reversed a lower court decision finding that a rent contract failed to set adequately detailed price terms to be enforceable.
Overall Assessment
At 39, AliKhan has a significant record of legal achievements, including a Supreme Court argument. However, her involvement in a number of controversial cases, including Hosanna-Tabor and California v. Texas is likely to draw scrutiny. While AliKhan attracted the votes of seven Republicans the first time around, her second round is likely to be more contentious.
The Vetting Room 
Wikipedia says her parents are immigrants from Pakistan. If confirmed, would she be the first Muslim woman to serve on the U.S. District Court for D.C.?
I learned that she graduated from high school at the age of 15 and she’s married to a man named Justin Noble. There is an author by that name, but I doubt it’s the same one.
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Oh that’s cool, wonder if she’s confirmed before Nusrat Choudhury who I thought was going to be the first Muslim women to become a federal judge.
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@Mike
Good question. Nusrat Choudhury is very controversial, so it’s possible.
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This is a good pick. I was actually waiting for Harsh’s write up on her to learn more & Harsh didn’t disappoint. She had a deep legal history for somebody that hasn’t seen her 40th birthday yet.
Her youth & history making background is a big plus. She is a good example of my retort from last week pushing back on others on this blog saying if a nominee is in their 30’s, they automatically are concerned they don’t have enough experience. I look forward to her confirmation. I give her an A-.
I hope Biden had a nominee in vetting to backfill her DC court of appeals seat along with the second vacancy on the court. While we are at it, there’s double digit vacancies on the Superior court of DC. I know both courts are 15 year terms instead of lifetime tenure but as you can see in the case if this nominee, you can build a bench for elevation if you use the picks for young progressives.
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Seems like a great candidate. Should hopefully have a long judicial career in front of her.
In other news:
Happy Brad Garcia confirmation day.
NJ Gov Murphy seems to have made another good pick for SCONJ in Michael Noriega.
KY district judge Karen Caldwell has rescinded her future senior status call now that it’s clear Biden won’t nominate someone of her liking to replace her. Thankfully.
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OMG governor Murphy is the best governor in the country at nominating justices to their states highest court. Michael Noriega is a A 45 year old Hispanic public defender, immigration attorney. He’s also a law professor. He’s straight out of central casting for what I’ve been looking for in judges. Murphy needs to be involved with picking New Jersey federal judges since Menendez & Booker are so bad at it. Great job governor.
No surprise at all about Karen Caldwell withdrawing her retirement. She initially did it because it looked like Chad Meredith was going to be her replacement. She even said she won’t retire unless a conservative was her replacement. Screw that. She can stay on the bench.
I’m looking forward to seeing Brad Garcia confirmed & the DC circuit getting its first Hispanic judge. Special shout out to Miguel Estrada. He’s one of the few unsuccessful Republican nominees that I actually would have voted for had I been in the senate. I’m sorry his wife died after the street of the confirmation process. I hope he has moved on to have a great life. But congrats to Brad Garcia. He should be on Biden’s SCOTUS short list by 8pm tonight.
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You have to be kidding me. You are suggesting a “shout out” to a hard core conservative like Miguel Estrada?
He was an awful nominee on par with Janice Rogers Brown. When he was interviewing potential clerks for Justice Kennedy he was tanking anyone who was remotely liberal.
For months on end you complain that Child’s is a conservative and more recently saying the nominee for the 5th Circuit is right of center. What gives?
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No not at all. Again let me be clear, I am a Democrat & want young progressives on the bench. So in no way am I saying I want a Democrat to nominate Miguel Estrada. Had Obama or Biden nominated him then I would be just as forceful against his nomination as Childs.
GW Bush nominated Miguel Estrada. Had GW Bush or Trump nominated J Childs, I would have said she was amongst one of their best circuit court nominees. Hell had Trump nominated her over ANY of his three appointments to the court I would have happily carried her piggy back to her SJC hearing.
We got some ultra conservative DC circuit Judges out if GW Bush. So yes, I would have rather Miguel Estrada over Janice Rogers Brown & Brett Kavanaugh. If your argument is he wasn’t experienced enough then we just have a disagreement because his 2001 credentials were on par with Brad Garcia’s. During her SCOTUS hearing, Elana Kagan mentioned Estrada was well qualified for the DC circuit & even the SCOTUS. She then put it in writing.
So I’m not being a hypocrite. For a GW Bush nominee I would have voted for Miguel Estrada, particularly over some of his other choices. That’s not being hypocritical, that’s being strategic.
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I wasn’t saying that you thought a Democratic President should nominate Estrada. He was a bad nominee not just because he is hardcore conservative. Estrada did not want to Kennedy to hire liberal clerks so was trashing them behind the scenes. When Schumer was asked him about this he lied under oath.
It would not have been good had he been confirmed. He would on the Supreme Court today and you know what kind of Justice he would be.
Of course he could do the job but doesn’t mean that I would want him there. Estrada has ethical issues big time!
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I would still take Miguel Estrada over Janice Rogers Brown & Brett Kavanaugh on the DC circuit & certainly over Alito on the SCOTUS. As Joe Biden often days, don’t compare him to the almighty, compare him to the alternative.
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Why? Because he is from Honduras? He would be another Clarence Thomas. How would that be beneficial for anyone?
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I see nothing that makes me believe he would be to the right of Brown or Alito nor have the past personal issues combined with the current voting record of Brett. Not saying I would be happy with him on the bench, just saying I would rather have him than any of those 3.
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Excellent pick. Prime candidate to be elevated to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals.
Any future judicial reform needs to include rules prohibiting judges from rescinding senior status (besides Caldwell, looking at you Robert Bruce King and David Hurd).
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@Ethan
Good idea. Rescinding retirements need to be looked at. I know it would require a Herculean response by Congress because federal judges have lifetime tenure, but I would love to see the practice getting a stop put to it.
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This is an easy A nominee for me as well. An excellent pick.
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Senator Kennedy opinion on Keeping the Blue Slip
https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/other/the-american-people-deserve-a-say-over-their-district-court-judges/ar-AA1baBpJ
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I respect senator Kennedy but if he felt so strongly about this view, he should have brought it up when Republicans scrapped blue slips for circuit court vacancies. He didn’t of course. And his statement “ leave this responsibility to unelected bureaucrats in the White House Counsel’s Office who don’t know or understand the people we represent” forgets to include the president gets the final day so on all nominees & he is elected.
But he does bring up some good points that have been brought up in this very blog. I disagree with the view keeping blue slips is worth it because Democrats will be in the minority in the future because there’s no guarantee Republicans won’t scrap it in the future. As a matter of fact, history leads me to believe scrapping blue slips is actually what they will do.
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I agree. Senator Kennedy good faith effort to work with the White House is not at all the sentiment of his Republican colleagues. I don’t believe states like South Dakota, Alabama, and Wyoming, which have vacancies will not even be reasonable and work to get a nominee during this administration.
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I can see South Dakota & Wyoming possibly getting an Idaho type nominee. But I completely agree with you on Alabama with senator Tuberville. I would add Arkansas (Despite senator Cotton saying yea having good conversations with the WH) & Missouri to the list we won’t get any nominees before the end of next year unless it includes a Chad Meredith type.
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Thanks for sharing. I’ve said it a few times but I am cautiously in favor of the blue slip tradition – for now. If the WH can work out deals for a couple of dozen more Darrell Papillions and Steven Lochners then I’m fine with keeping it and daring the GOP to break it under a future administration. Of course, if January 2024 rolls around and we’ve barely made any progress then I think we should give serious considering to breaking glass and moving forward without it.
For now though, there are still several appellate seats to confirm and lots of blue state seats that need to be filled. We’ve heard rumors of FL and SC nominees coming down the pike but hopefully there are many more to follow.
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Kennedy’s surprisingly principled when it comes to judicial nominations (and I’ll give him credit for voting for Mathis), but he also definitely has issues with essentially harassing women of color nominees during their committee questioning (Sung being the most prominent example). He can’t honestly look at trash like Hyde-Smith and think they’ll ever work in good faith.
And why aren’t progressive groups pushing harder for Durbin/Schumer/Dems to call Republicans’ bluff on blue slips – specifically, proposing a Senate rule that makes blue slips officially required rather than just a custom, and require 60 votes (or more) to overwrite the rule in the future. That way the next Republican SJC chair/Republican majority can’t abolish blue slips on their own.
If the Republicans agree to that, then great and we’ve protected blue state seats going forward (and given this administration’s slow pace, I doubt we’d fill any red state district court seats without a blue slip). If Republicans won’t agree to that, then I’d be on board with abolishing blue slips there will be proof that the R’s are full of BS.
I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if at least some R’s would agree to codifying blue slips/preserving their rights as individual senators to reject district court nominees, and that way Biden can claim some bipartisan cred on judges too ahead of his reelection (since moving to the right is so important to him).
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This is an A nominee.
Drown me in ages like hers. So what if some of the hot air GOP senators want to make her out to be controversial? They should vote against her if they want. She doesn’t need 7 or any Republican votes. Her gavel will bang as loudly as those judges confirmed by voice votes.
She shouldn’t hold her breath on quick confirmation, though. It looks like DC and NY district court nominees wait the longest for a final vote. DC, because they don’t have senators pushing for confirmation. And NY, because Schumer seems to not mind delaying his own state’s nominees. Oh well, I hope she’ll get there before the end of the year.
Rescinding Retirements
I’m against any formal laws and I don’t see how any such laws could be constitutional. I want liberal judges to reserve the right to use this in the future to avoid the high number of vacancies an incoming Republican president inherits, like Trump did in 2017.
At any rate, if *a WH wants to push back on these or curb the growing practice, it simply should ignore the withdrawal. The OLC opinion states that when a president accepts a (non-medical-) retirement/resignation or a notice of intent of the same, then the president can fill the vacancy, even if the judge rescinds.
I make a bright line distinction between rescinding retirements and conditional retirements (“I’ll retire only if…”). The latter is a big no-no for me.
*-Obviously not this WH, which is headed by this weak, conflict-averse president.
Miguel Estrada
I have no sympathy for the defeat of the Estrada nomination. I’m sure he’s moved on and has since made millions in corporate law. Personal tragedies shouldn’t improve your chances to secure a lifetime judgeship. Not for Estrada, not for Salas. I don’t understand why this is a factor for some. Of course Estrada was qualified, just like any number of nominees who failed to get confirmed. Qualification is the baseline. Judicial philosophy is the bar.
Alito’s wife broke down and ran out of the room during his SCOTUS nomination hearing. Should this have given him sympathy points to later vote to strip more than half the country of their rights?
Ditto for future insurrectionist Ginni Thomas during the Anita Hill hearings. Did her crocodile tears make her awful husband more confirmable?
Ted Olson was a GOP SCOTUS candidate. His wife was killed on 9/11. Should that have made him Chief Justice? (Admittedly, Olson is a champion for marriage equality and helped to bring it about. But he’s a true conservative on everything else.)
Unless a president threatens to nominate a specifically worse candidate in the event a nomination is rejected, there’s no way to know for sure who’ll be the replacement nominee and if the replacement will be more acceptable or less acceptable.
Brad Garcia
Very excited about his pending confirmation. With that, the judicial nominations teams (WHCL+DOJ) will take an even bigger hit, since Paige Herwig is also leaving. Pace yourselves for even worse outcomes.
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@Gavi
Haaaaaaa… Right, drown me in conservatives tears because Biden is nominating judges in their 30’s. I too am very surprised at how many NY nominees have had long waits for confirmation given the majority leader recommended them in the first place.
While I disagree with you on the reasons for not implementing new rules, I do agree with you that any retirement rescinding laws are likely unconstitutional. I’ve seen you mention the OLC opinion before. While we know Biden wouldn’t abide by the opinion anyway, I doubt the opinion would hold up over the will of a sitting judge to continue service regardless.
As for spouses, of course somebody’s spouse dying shouldn’t be the deciding factor in picking federal judges. But I’m fine with it being a factor, particularly if all else is equal. But that’s not usually the case. For instance there are far better choices in New Jersey for the 3rd for people like me that want young progressives than Esther Salas. Hell, governor Murphy’s pick for the NJ Supreme Court today alone would be a better Hispanic pick.
My point was I felt Miguel Estrada would have better on the DC circuit then Brown or Kavanaugh & better on the SCOTUS then Alito for what I’m looking for, which is the best possible pick from a Republican president & senate majority. Me saying I’m sorry his wife died after the confirmation process, miscarriage of their child & drug overdose was just me being compassionate & had nothing to do with my original point.
While I don’t agree with everything mentioned above, I completely agree with you on your two ending pints. I’m thrilled to see Brad Garcia finally getting confirmed. I am also extremely worried about Paige’s departure from the WHC office.
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Are black people better off because Clarence Thomas is the Supreme Court? Of course not. Listen to yourself!
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@ shawnee68
What are you talking about? Like really??? lol
I thought we went over this more then once but let me repeat (Hopefully for the last time). Nobody is saying somebody should be nominated for a lifetime appointment to the federal bench ONLY because of their race. I would take 39 straight White male Dale Ho’s over one Clarence Thomas.
Now can we PLEASE put this question to bed so we don’t have to answer it again. Please, pretty please with a cherry on top… Lol
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I, too, do not care much about final vote margins. Andre Mathis (48-47) is just as much of a Circuit Court Judge as Roopali Desai (67-29)
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My take on Miguel Estrada is that conservatives fail to mention Bill Clinton nominees to the D.C. Circuit (including Elana Kagan) and Allen Snyder, who was given a confirmation hearing but was left twisting in the wind for more then a full year before his nomination expired under George W by Orrin Hatch and Republicans who claimed the D.C. Circuit had enough judges and didn’t need anymore.
Wouldn’t you know it, they forgot that the minute they had control of the White House and they thought Democrats were supposed to just roll over and play nice on a far right nominee after that?
I feel bad for what happened with Estrada’s wife but he was a far right hack and my only issue with what happened to him is that Democrats needed to show that kind of fight more often.
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Haaaaaa… I remember that excuse. The DC circuit had too many judges until GW Bush became president. Then as soon as Obama became president they had too many judges again. There were 4 vacancies & they said the court only needed 8 judges instead of 11. It’s part of the treason Sri was confirmed 97-0, so they can try to justify eliminating the other 3 seats. As soon as Trump was president again, BAM, they needed 11 again… Lol
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Yup and it’s why Harry Reid did what he did with the filibuster.
And to the folks saying it was a mistake, Reid not doing it would have simply given McConnell more Circuit court seats to fill.
The only mistake made was not doing away with the stupid blue rule at the same time, which would have allowed us to flip the 11th Circuit while protecting seats on the 7th and 5th Circuit.
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OMG now @Zack jones you’re talking big facts. Now we will be having the same conversation a decade from now sadly since they still trust Republicans
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congrats to brad garcia… he was confirmed to a seat that once belonged to 2 different right wing lunatic scotus nominees (robert bork and clarence thomas)
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I didn’t even realize that was the same seat as Bork & Thomas. Elections have consequences. I hope Roe’s overturning gets oriole out to vote next year so Biden can be re-elected & the Democrats pull off another senate miracle. There will be a number of other flips over the next 5 years if that can happen. I know this wasn’t a direct flip since Thomas was replaced by a Clinton appointee but I’ll still take it… Lol
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The other night I was thinking about how 5 (now 4) circuit court seats once held by judges who went on to become Justices are either vacant or becoming vacant and it was crazy to think about. Biden has now filled 3 circuit court seats of SCOTUS justices (those of Thomas, Ginsburg, & KBJ) and could get 7 if he fills the 4 remaining seats.
Bork – THOMAS – Rogers – Garcia
The 4 still vacant or being vacated are:
KENNEDY – Rymer – Watford (vacating) (9th Cir.)
SOUTER – Stahl – Howard – vacant (1st Cir.)
BREYER – Lynch – vacant (`1st Cir.)
ALITO – Greenaway (vacating) (3rd Cir.)
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Very interesting. It looks like Biden will get those other four seats you have at the bottom.
Doesn’t if feel good to finally have the youngest circuit court judge in the country be a Biden appointee. Now if we can get a 1988 birth year from him, we could also have the youngest federal judge period.
Ok Schumer is talking now. Let’s see if we get some cloture motions.
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@Ryan Joshi
Brad Garcia’s vote was not all that close. Who will the next nominees voted on be?
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Most of the out senators were Republicans. The vote was 53-40 with 3 GOP voting in the affirmative meaning 6 of the 7 missing senators were Republicans.
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Abudu! Ethan scooped everyone with that one.
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@Joe, I had also asked him about Rikelman and Bloomekatz but he didn’t know.
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Hey it was worth a shot. After Garcia and Abudu in one week I won’t get too greedy.
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No @Joe, be greedy. Be very greedy when it comes to judges… Lol
@Gavi
I’m so happy to finally hear Abudu’s name come out of Schumer’s mouth, I may forgo my weekly governor Hochul & daily Feinstein digs… Lol
Ok now looking at the senate calendar, below is where we stand. Remember the debt ceiling debate may take up to two weeks so just go ahead & subtract that.
Next week – Recess
May 28th – Monday off so a 2 day work week.
June 4th – Monday off so a 2 day work week.
June 11th – Full work week
June 18th – Monday off so a 2 day work week.
June 25th – Recess
July 2nd – Recess
July 9th – Full week
July 16th – Monday off so a 2 day work week.
July 23rd – Monday off so a 2 day work week.
Then a five week Summer recess.
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Schumer files cloture on Daniel and Papillion, no clue why he’s jumping all the way down to the recent ones when there’s so many long standing ones. But whatever.
More importantly cloture on Nancy Abudu filed!
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@Ben
Because Jeremy Daniel and Darrell Papillion are easy wins.
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Schumer is sending cloture motions to the desk now;
Jeremy Daniels
Darrel Papillion
Nancy Abudu… Yes yes yes yes yes
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On Wednesday, the SJC will have hearings on two Circuit Court nominees. Irma Ramirez’s should go without incident. Anna de Alba’s could produce some fireworks.
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I figured they would skip Matthew Maddox. It was unlikely they would let one district court judge sit alone in panel 2 but they should have just for the optics
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I see this referenced above, but to say again, it is strange how Durbin’s nominees to IL-N are always prioritized over Schumer’s choices for NY-S or NY-E. No disrespect to Daniel, but if Schumer is scheduling Abudu, he can certainly schedule another tough vote (say, Choudhury) at the same time.
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Simply put, Durbin’s nominees have been much less controversial, so it is easier to have them be confirmed.
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Is there any particular reason why 2 District Court nominees who cleared the SJC LAST THURSDAY have to leap frog ahead of the 20+ people who’ve been waiting many months, or even over a year
Papillion should have been a voice vote
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If nothing else, several of the seats in NY are judicial emergencies.
Those seats along with ones in CA should be getting votes first, not people who had hearings last week.
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And worst of all, both Daniels & Papillion could have gotten confirmed with Feinstein, Fetterman & another 1 or 2 Democrats out. Schumer needs to be confirming the judges that need all 51 Democrats on the floor while we have 51. Now the senate is off next week so we have to hope nobody gets kneecapped in a parade, gets Covid or any other reason to be out. Hopefully Schumer sends cloture motions to the desk later this week to set up the week after the return from next week off.
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It doesn’t work like that. The nominees who have the most support or lack of opposition go first.
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@ shawnee68
It works like that if the majority leader says it does. There’s nothing stopping Schumer from sending cloture motions for Dale Ho & Nursat Choundhury today instead of Daniels & Papillion.
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Maybe he doesn’t have the votes yet. You don’t know so what difference will it make when they get voted on?
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That’s a big difference from what you said which was not true. As for this statement, that’s even more of a reason to call them up. Get it over with. Either Dale Ho & company have 50 votes or they don’t. Now if your argument was the VP will not be in town this week I will agree that’s a good reason. And I assume that’s the actual reason.
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The guy Ethan said he asked Ossoff about Delaney. He said the Senator did not know yet. He’s on the committee.
So, why would it be unusual for Senator’s not on the committee to not have a position on a nominee?
You are arguing balls and strikes. It doesn’t matter which order they go so long as they are confirmed.
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We had this discussion a while back. When you make your most progressive nominees just like when you make Black men wait years for confirmation, even when the Democrats are in control of the senate, it sends a message. It tells senators, don’t pick these type of nominees or else they will be waiting in limbo for a long time.
I get it when the senate was split 50/50. I get it when Fetterman was out. I get it when Feinstein was out. I get it when the VP is out of town. But this I do not get.
We delivered the senate majority to the Democrats & even added a seat despite historical trends. Both Daniels & Papillion could be confirmed even if McConnell was majority leader. It’s time to confirm the heady hitters. I’m happy Abudu is teed up. I hope the rest will follow after the recess.
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I don’t know what you mean by “heavy hitters.” They are just judicial nominees. This isn’t Marvel comics or anything like that. People are being lined up for votes and you are still complaining.
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Haaaaaa… Well if you don’t know what I mean by heavy hitters then that in itself is probably the problem… Lol
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Oh, I see. To the best of my knowledge, I don’t get the impression that any of Biden’s nominees are egotistical.
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Anybody who’s been on this blog for more than 3 minutes can identify the heavy hitters. Come on now… Lol
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Yeah since they’re going to need all 51 senators (or at least 50) to confirm Abudu, not sure why they didn’t schedule some of the more progressive district court nominees that they could do the same day/the day before the Abudu vote.
Daniel and Papillon are (relatively) easy confirmations, but they should’ve been held off until Feinstein (inevitably) is MIA again. Papillon was not going to be a voice vote since he had 6 R no’s in the SJC.
Also, just flagging that the only judges that have been confirmed through voice votes are white. Make of that what you will.
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Maybe someone needed more time to make up their mind. What difference does that make now?
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Really Hank? There’s nothing to make of all of the voice votes being white when there have only been four total voice votes. If there had been 44 thus far, I would agree that you are on to something, but we are nowhere else to that. Not everything is racially motivated, simply in this case the lack of voice votes is politically motivated.
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For the district court court seats, I can only try to imagine what nominees like Cartwright, Choudhury, and Merle are thinking when they see people leapfrog them who had their hearing a month and a week ago respectively. Especially Merle who had a vote scheduled months ago but then it was cancelled.
Great news on Abudu.
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They are grown ups. They knew the process when they decided to apply for the job. It’s not like they are unemployed.
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Exactly. If they were less controversial, they’d already be confirmed. Just be happy that more nominees will be confirmed in the coming days.
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Uuuggghhh
I was wondering what the senate would be doing tomorrow. It looks like another vote on a DC bill which I believe the senate has to fire on. Schumer has no say so over when they can vote on it. I really wish they would stop passing these new laws. It’s taking up too much senate floor time. Honestly Schumer should just hold these votes on Fridays. Instead of pro forma sessions, just do all of these DC votes then.
(https://twitter.com/SenatePress/status/1658253634256117763?cxt=HHwWhoCxlaC5poMuAAAA)
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@Dequan
I think you are mistaken.
DC bills don’t need an affirmative vote in congress. Meaning that congress doesn’t have to approve of a DC law before it takes effect, so it isn’t always happening.
Someone has in the House or Senate has to file a joint resolution of disapproval, which is privileged. So DC can pass as many laws as it wants. Those laws are only blocked if someone in congress wants to fight it, have congress disapprove of it, and the president sign it–something that hadn’t happened for decades before Biden’s about-face a couple months ago. We are only noticing these now because crime and policing are major political topics at the moment.
As with all privileged measures (like impeachments, CRA, expulsions, etc.) ANYONE can introduce it, even over the objection of the Speaker or Majority Leader.
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Uuuggghhh… Of course now Republicans know any privileged measures will likely take up a full senate day worth of time like today so I expect to see more of this. Once again if there is no punishment then there’s no incentive not to do it. Making all votes of this type be on Friday’s would at least make them think twice but when they see your scheduling votes in a Tuesday, that just means less judges confirmed so why not.
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I’m not concerned at all about the timing of some of these. The Dems likely just want to keep Cassidy/Kennedy happy and also want to avoid the appearance of pushing through a bunch of partisan confirmations at the same time.
The most important thing by far is that Garcia and Abudu (and hopefully Bloomekatz and Rikelman in the near future) are getting confirmed. The appellate nominees should always get top priority.
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@Frank
We don’t want less controversial nominees. We want young progressives. They will be controversial be we don’t care. We are thinking like Republicans now, as long as they can get to 51 votes they are appointed for life & votes count just as much over that life span as the 4 that got voice votes. The response to 4 years of Trump packing the courts with young conservatives isn’t let’s just nominate the safe, least controversial nominees so they can breeze through.
@Joe
I’m concerned for one reason, math. When Feinstein goes back out, we are down to one red state Democrat tanking any nominee. We don’t know if Feinstein will make it through October without missing significant time again or if she will make it past next Tuesday. So while we have her & the other 50 Democrats, we should be getting the most liberal nominees confirmed. It’s nice to keep senator Kennedy happy but he ain’t voting for Joe Biden, I am. So keep people like me happy. Dance with the one that brought you… Lol
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Fair enough. Overall, I am very encouraged by recent developments. Just hope we can maintain this focus.
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Schumer just spoke on the senate floor. He said yesterday he filed cloture in 3 much needed diverse judicial nominees. He praised the confirmation of the first Latino to the second highest court. He also said “We will not relent on filling the remaining judicial vacancies”.
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So Ana de Alba and Irma Carrillo Ramirez will have their hearings tomorrow.
De Alba said she was contacted almost immediately by Sen. Padilla about the 9th Circuit vacancy.
Nice to see that unlike some other senators, Padilla cares about making sure a seat doesn’t flip.
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@Zack
I love reading nominees’ SJC questionnaires. It helps with putting the nomination in context.
This timeline confirms that Feinstein’s absence isn’t the reason for Biden selecting Ana de Alba, as was unconvincingly suggested here. (The argument was that they went with de Alba because Feinstein’s absences would be a problem for another, more liberal candidate.)
Padilla and Feinstein are much like Biden; they all prefer boring/standard nominees over potential heavyweights to do battle with the Trump judges on the 9th. It’s a wonder Holly A. Thomas was even considered. Thank goodness for that.
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So I want to put my opinion in context a little. When I said de Alba wouldn’t have been my top 3, she still would have been fourth in a bright blue state of 40 million people. I give de Alba an A- for three reasons. One, as I said there were three better choices in my opinion. Two, Democrats now have to backfill her district court seat (Which I don’t take any points off for if they were the best choice like if Dale Ho was elevated for instance). And third, because even though she has some progressive background, it is limited. Here ACLU work wasn’t even a year.
But with that said, I am not complaining about de Alba. And the speed in which she was nominated was spectacular. I am really looking forward to Padilla being the senior senator come 2025.
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I’m actually more intrigued by the Ramirez SJC questionnaire. It says she submitted her application September 13, 2022. It’s insane that Greg Costa announced he was resigning on April 27, 2022 & the person who was selected to replace him didn’t apply for another 4 & a half months.
Many other circuit court judges SJC questionnaire including red state Andre Mathis said they were reached out to first. It seems as though this new WH Counsel’s office is definitely deferring to home state senators.
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@Dequan,
Gregg Costa announced his resignation in January 2022, not April.
We don’t know when the process was open to receive applications, so it may not be Ramirez slacking off. But it’s clear that the Texas senators are slow walking it and Biden let them get away with it. If the senate flipped to GOP, this would have been a lost seat because her selection wouldn’t have been made in time. Crazy.
The list of names Cornyn sent Biden in late January 2022 was for the district court vacancies, it seems.
And people say that aagren is unreasonable.
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Ah ok. I was going by Madison Adler’s article below but it’s paywalled, so she probably mentioned he had announced earlier. And your being too nice. It’s not CRAZY they were willing to lose a circuit court seat had Democrats lost the midterms. It’s completely INSANE. And the 5th pales in comparison to the 4th vacancy.
It just goes to show you while Democrats have made strides, they still have a long way to go to catch Republicans when it comes to taking the courts seriously. Two Trump examples from Trump’s finally months in office comes to mind. ACB was announced in late September 2020, yet Republicans were still able to nominate & confirm her replacement on the 7th. And the Puerto Rico judge on the 1st died in October 2020. His replacement was nominated & given a hearing AFTER Christmas. It’s a wonder they didn’t call the senate back in to confirm him too. That may be one of the few mistake senate Republicans made & I’m thankful for that. But the effort was there right up until the end.
(https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/resigning-fifth-circuit-judge-fears-politicization-of-judiciary)
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It’s hard to say that for certain how progressive Padilla is when the two have different selection committees and he isn’t the senior senator. I’m curious to see if his recommendations get slightly more progressive once Feinstein retires.
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I won’t fault people if they want more progressive nominees but I personally don’t care about folks doing battle with Trump/George W judges.
Witty dissents are still options written by the losing side and that kind of logic was used to excuse the poor choice made by RBG to stay on that bench, that we needed to see and hear her dissents rather then ensure her seat didn’t flip.
At the end of the day for me, a judge not being a rubberstamp for the Federalist Society/far right matters more then anything else for me.
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RBG & a few of her supporters were making that argument. That was never made by the majority of us that wanted her to retire in 2014 so we could get a justice in their 40’s or low 50’s to replace her. Whitty dissents are great but the seat not flipping is what’s most important.
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The Biden team didn’t really give Ted Cruz the Irma Carrillo Ramirez nomination for nothing in return right?
Nothing against her, she’s probably a great person and well respected state judge but there’s got to be something we’re missing because on its face it seems like a great for Ted.
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There’s definitely something we’re missing in exchange for Ramirez. A nominee for any of the EIGHT district court vacancies in the state. That, along with her being 59 & at best a moderate is what easily makes her one of the two worst Biden circuit court nominees to date… Lol
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We have our first Trump appointed federal judge that has passed away. He’s the lone Trump appointee to leave his seat so far. Prayers to his family
(https://www.theadvertiser.com/story/news/2023/05/12/former-louisiana-federal-judge-michael-juneau-dies/70213927007/)
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I know it’s a mistype because it’s missing a comma, but still funny to see them refer to him as “King Manchin”… Lol
(https://twitter.com/SenatePress/status/1658554415215697921?cxt=HHwWgoCz-YCdr4QuAAAA)
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Here’s a toot:
FYI: this will have *nearly ZERO effect. Remember, what she’s really saying she’s doing is deny all UC requests to confirm NY nominees, which is never requested hahaha.
*-This may be an issue with other non-Article III “judicial” nominees, like US marshalls or attorneys. But those will be easily confirmed with a simple majority. What a woman.
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Haaaaaa… Did somebody forget to tell her that each nominee already has to go through a cloture & confirmation vote except 4? That’s like your boss calling you in to fire you then you say I quit. Schumer should hold the senate in session Friday & Saturday just to confirm all of the pending New York nominees out of spite… Lol
For God’s sake please let somebody defeat her when she runs for re-election. I think the two Black men from the Tennessee Three are too young to run for the senate so perhaps the White woman could run. Or Taylor Swift for all I care, just defeat her please… Lol
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Yes, I totally agree, Dequan. Schumer should now make a point of confirming all outstanding NY nominees, putting the lie to her “hold.” As I said yesterday, coming from the Majority Leader’s state puts you in a worse position for quick or even reasonable confirmation time. What better way to reset this timeframe? She’s practically served this up on a platter for him. Come on Schumer!
It would be embarrassing if it weren’t just an election ploy. Trick the poor people of Tennessee into thinking she’s really socking it to Schumer. That’ll teach him.
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There was a time when a senator, even from the other party wouldn’t even DARE to do this to the majority leader. What a perfect time to say you will not pull this crap with the majority leader. If there was ever a time to work on a Friday this would be it. They are on vacation for 11 days even if they worked Friday. I’m tired of Democrats not playing hard ball.
While I admit I’m a little bias because Dale Ho is my favorite Biden nominee but even if these were all Robert Kirsch type’s I would feel the same way. As I have said before if there are no consequences to doing crap like this or the Tuberville hold then what reason is it for them to stop. The answer is NONE so give them a reason to think twice about doing it again.
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Now I really wish Jane Stranch would go Senior so Biden could nominate another young progressive to the Sixth Circuit. Haha.
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@Joe
Really hoping for Tricia Herzfeld for that seat.
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The problem with that is THIS WH Counsel’s office wouldn’t shove another Andre Mathis down their throats. In all likelihood we would get Camille McMullin (Who wouldn’t be bad for this WHC office) or even more likely a worse nominee. I have zero faith we will have another Andre Mathis repeat before the election. Blue slips are likely defacto back for all circuit court vacancies that occur between now & election day.
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That’s not really a bad thing though, the way you are inundating it to be. More norms produce more seasoned and fair nominees; and the only downside is that career diversity is not achieved, which while big doesn’t make it not worthwhile.
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@Mitch
I saw that later after I wrote about the Jacksonville race. I love it. Keep the blue upsets coming. On another note I think Democrats definitely need to invest more in North Carolina next year. With the abortion override yesterday, I could see surprise upsets there just like in Tennessee.
@Frank
If that process produces a young progressive I’m all for it. I’m actually not against it if it produces a Camille McMullin. I am against it if it produces a 59 year old centrist like for the 5th.
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That’s fair. Finding reasonable nominees with a wide range of career diversity such as Darrel Papillon is what the blue slip process can produce at its best, but it’s concerning how many senators on both sides of the aisle are holding seats hostage when the president is not in their party.
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Schumer has scheduled cloture votes for all three pending nominees tomorrow, including Abudu. I thought she’d be the final vote on Thursday and she’d have to wait until post recess for confirmation. I guess not?
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Was about to complain that Schumer didn’t file cloture for any more nominees for Thursday but I guess if her cloture vote is at 5:30 pm tomorrow then they won’t confirm her until the end of the session Thursday.
4 confirmations in a week isn’t anything wild but at least that’s 2 less hyper important circuit seats to worry about.
I’m getting pretty annoyed with how slow these confirmations have been going, no excuse for every current nominee not to be confirmed before August recess.
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Sen Tuberville is holding around 189 military officer promotions from being confirmed unanimous consent
Could. you. imagine. the. time. it. would, take, to. confirm. 189. people. if. it. had. to. be. done. via. roll. call. votes ?????
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@Ben: I think having Abudu’s cloture vote tomorrow still makes it so that she gets her confirmation vote after recess, because there aren’t 30 hours between the end of tomorrow and when they adjourn on Friday.
But I defer to @Gavi here.
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Yikes. Quite the end to a once promising federal legal career:
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/massachusetts-us-attorney-resign-after-becoming-mired-justice-dept-ethics-probe-2023-05-16/
@rayspace
True, but with a UC, Schumer could move for final confirmation before the senate leaves. It would still be a significant amount of post-cloture time used, anyway. Like the 18 hour timeframe they’ve been using.
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On no. Indeed a horrible way for a promising career to come to an end. She required a VP Harris tie breaking vote to get confirmed. Some on this blog suggested her for the 1st vacancy. Thank God we got Rikelman instead. I wish her well.
As for the Abudu post cloture time, as @Gavi mentioned a unanimous consent agreement could shorten that 30 hour timeframe. Surprisingly very few of Biden’s circuit court nominees have required the entire 30 hours. Of course Schumer should just threaten to hold the senate in session until the 30 hours are up but the Republicans would probably know he’s only bluffing so let’s just hope they play nice… Lol
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Re: Rollins – Frank will be over the moon. He’s one of her naysayers, to the surprise of nobody.
—
Nothing confirms nominees as quickly as jet fumes.
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Haaaaa… That’s hilarious. It’s amazing how short that pair cloture time can get when the weekend is here. Particularly when it’s the weekend followed by a recess week. I want Abudu confirmed before the recess & hopefully a few more nominees lined up for when they return. We’re getting close to the point where any nominee still be a good one so soon we won’t have to worry about it the nominee will be another lackluster one.
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Good riddance. Rollins never should’ve been confirmed in the first place. Hopefully we see a new attorney who is both ethical and competent in prosecution.
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By rule, she would technically have to wait until after recess. But in all likelihood they will get unanimous consent to shorten the debate time and hold the confirmation vote sometime Thursday. This has happened many times throughout the last 2.5 years, including for several party line nominees.
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Thanks @gavi and @joe. I guess I just assumed that given how little GOP support Abudu has, there wouldn’t be any UC on her confirmation vote. But hope springs eternal.
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Does this mean that Joe Manchin has signed off on Abudu? I’m wondering why just Abudu now and not Julie Reikelman or Rachel Bloomekatz too?
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I don’t think Manchin was ever a no. Schumer just seems to be holding off on the heavy hitters unless he knows he will have all 51 Dems in town. he probably wanted to give Feinstein a few days to make sure she was good.
On another note, Brad Garcia got his commission today. I love when Biden signs the commission the next day for circuit court nominees. No reason to hold off. These guys all wait months for confirmation. They should have their current job wrapped up by the time they are confirmed & ready to get to work the next day. It’s good to see the DC circuit back to full strength. Now if we can get Karen Henderson to leave the bench, we could round the court out with Elizabeth Prelogar.
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@Dequan
I don’t expect Karen Henderson to leave until 2025 at the earliest. I noticed that while Biden has nominated some really progressive Circuit judges, his D.C. Circuit nominees have been cautious choices.
I have some speculation on Elizabeth Prelogar. I suspect that the Biden Administration wants her for the vacancy on the 4th. Circuit, but that Ben Carden wants the nominee to live in Maryland and have some roots there and that’s the source of their conflict (Prelogar lives in DC and is originally from Idaho). Just my opinion.
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I could definitely see that being the reason for the delay for the 4th. I’m still angry Cardin would play Russian Roulette with a circuit court seat as Elizabeth Prelogar. would be a phenomenal judge. She would be an A+ in my book & so far I’ve only given that grade to 9 out of Biden’s 39 circuit court nominees.
On another note, while most people think the city I live in, Miami is Florida’s most populated city, it’s actually Jacksonville. A Democrat just won the mayor’s race their tonight for the first time since I’ve lived here. Unbelievable upset.
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I don’t think Manchin was ever much in doubt either. His biggest line in the sand is usually combative/overtly partisan public statements. I don’t see any of that with Abudu and in fact I wouldn’t even be surprised if Collins is a Yes.
I think the only possible No votes for Manchin might be Rikelman, Ho, or Kato but even on those three I feel better than 50/50 that Manchin will ultimately vote in favor.
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If anyone is interested there is a free zoom event coming up in a few hours hosted by the federal bar association with three newly confirmed district judges in michigan appointed by biden
Judges shalina kumar, jc grey and kay behm
Here are the details to join below if anyone wants to I for one will be watching
Use this link:
Topic: Meet the new Judges of the Eastern District of Michigan
Time: May 17, 2023 12:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87967518622?pwd=ejdrT2t3dzlGTEtPaEp1SHJIZXgzdz09
Meeting ID: 879 6751 8622
Passcode: NEWinTOWN
One tap mobile: +13092053325
Meeting ID: 879 6751 8622
Passcode: 436702146
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Oh wow, thanks @aangren
I’ll be working but maybe I can sneak away for a bit. Thanks for the info
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@Dequan
You wrote about the Jacksonville mayoral election yesterday. I found another which may surprise you. Democrats unseated the Republican Mayor of Colorado Springs. The new Mayor there is Yemi Mobolade, an immigrant from Nigeria.
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Wow, the senate is only in 2 full weeks between now and the summer recess.. All the other weeks they have the Monday off
Click to access 2023_calendar.pdf
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Here’s my recap from todays SJC hearing.
Durbin – He thanked the Texas senators for working in good faith to get a nominee for the 5th. I would take issue with the words “good faith” but this is a recap, not an opinion so I’ll keep my thoughts to myself.
Graham – He spoke about the Durham Report. He called it “This is J Hover stuff”.
Cornyn – He agreed with Graham. He said “The American people think there’s a deep state & conspiracy theories”. He then spoke about Hunter Biden.
Durbin – He said he sees the Durham Report differently.
Cornyn – He introduced Ramirez & said she came out number one of the Texas bi-partisan judicial committee. He said the president didn’t have to pick her after he & Cruz recommended her but he’s happy he did & she will be confirmed as a result.
Durbin said he believes in the blue slip process & knows there are critics of it. He wants to over done that criticism.
de Alba gave a heart warming story about when she was a child, her entire family had to work in the fields. She said one Summer, the rancher filed for bankruptcy & her family didn’t get paid. She said she could hear her mother crying in the bathroom over them not having money. That drove her to public service. Later in the hearing answering senator Hirono she went back to this example saying this was one of the reasons she started a legal clinic. Fresno didn’t have one & had there been one when her family hadn’t been paid, perhaps somebody could have told her mother she could have been a creditor to the bankruptcy & gotten some of the money they worked for.
Graham asked de Alba about a light sentence she gave in a child pornography case.
Lee continued questioning de Alba about the child pornography case.
Cotton – Senator Cotton immediately used his time to bash Rachel Rollins who resigned yesterday. He said it was the first time in 28 years a roll court vote was needed for a U.S. Attorney. He said the last time it was needed was because the nominee bashed Clarence Thomas, which Democrats continue to do 28 years later. He said about Rollins “Good riddance”. He then warned other Biden officials who are abusing the law, justice is coming.
Kennedy – He asked the nominees about race. He then asked de Alba about the Dormit Commerce Clause. She was not aware about it. Kennedy responded there was just a big case in her state about it. She said she was aware of the Commerce Clause so he asked her to explain that then. He then asked her about the 4th amendment & the Warrant Requirement. She was able to answer that fully. He then asked her about the Prunyard (Not sure if I’m spelling that correctly) Case. He gave an example about if Florida implemented a law that was opposite of a SCOTUS holding, would that be acceptable. She said she would need to look at in more in depth.
Blackburn – She asked de Alba about a case in which she released an immigrant who helped his brother evade law enforcement after the brother killed a police officer. She then asked about the child pornography case. She then brought up an interview in which de Alba described herself as a “Lefty liberal from Berkeley”. de Alba said she was making the comment in jest because that’s what some people called her.
Durbin – He brought up more details about the pornography case stating the defendant had two ankle monitors on him. de Alba only had one of the two removed & left the more restrictive ankle monitor on.
Cruz – He commended Ramirez & said she is an example of what can happen when The White House & joke state senators work together. He then asked de Alba about the case regarding the immigrant that helped his brother who killed the police officer.
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Durham Report
It’ll be no surprise to anyone here that I think Durbin in general is a weak chair for SJC, especially in this time. Yes, he’s continued the Republican-established precedent on circuit court blue slips and resisted calls for a second hearing for Choudhary, but these are not groundbreaking moves; this was him simply following the standard, instead of setting any.
Anyway, the point of this post isn’t to bash Durbin. This preamble is to set up the upcoming tussle with Republicans over the Durham Report. Republican SJC members started today’s hearing by attempting to pressure Durbin into holding hearings on Durham’s findings. Republicans will only try to increase the pressure. Durbin must resist this. Leave all these show-hearings to the lesser House of Congress.
Sen. Kennedy could have asked his race-preference questions to some on here haha. At any rate, it’s nice that the two nominees are on record as being opposed to this ideology.
Re: Abudu/Manchin
Manchin usually publicly telegraphs his opposition to nominees before they come to a vote (he didn’t for Bret Kavanaugh), but it would not shock me at all if he votes against Abudu, especially if she already has the votes for confirmation, without his support. It’ll be an easy way to lower his “Voted-With-Biden” percentage, a staple of political attack ads. I’m OK with that. Ditto for Dale Ho. As I always say, 50+1 carries the day.
—
Finally, Ramirez is still an F for me
Anyone else’s feed got disrupted as Cruz was spewing his hypocrisy on WH-home state consultations?
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@Gavi
I was most disappointed by Durbin today in regards to his comments supporting blue slips still. I almost dropped my phone when he said Cornyn & Cruz worked in good faith to recommend Ramirez. I too hope he doesn’t relent to calls for a hearing on the Durham Report.
Senator Kennedy’s race question could have been asked to me for sure. And I would have happily answered it… Haaaaa
I too am completely fine with Manchin voting against whoever he needs to as long as the other 50 senators are on board.
Yes the feed started messing up when Cruz was speaking as well.
I still give Ramirez a F+. The only thing that can raise it for me is a good package deal on the district court vacancies. On a side note, I updated Ramirez Wikipedia picture. The side by side of today & her picture from 2016 on her page shows how much she has aged in 7 years. I’m sorry but she counts for federal judges & hers makes her a really bad pick.
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It’s not about Durbin. I don’t know of any Democrat’s who want to dump blue slips. It’s not gonna happen!
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@ shawnee68
I’m sure they said the same thing about the filibuster for lower court nominees until it happened. Just because something hasn’t happened doesn’t mean you just throw up your hands & quit. The senators answer to us, we the people. They can be voted out. If the public wants something bad enough they can scare our elected leaders into doing what they want through the ballot box.
Don’t sell yourself so short. It may not happen as you predicted but it shouldn’t be due to a lack of trying. They work for us.
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I know your generation likes to tell McDonalds to put a apple pie in the milkshake or Filet-o- Fish on a Big Mac but we don’t have a say on how the Senate operates.
You don’t have patience nor do like to compromise. But, the blue slip process isn’t gonna change. What do you get out of it? You can get a handful of judges in red states and give away your rights choose judges in your own.
It’s wishful thinking to believe that Democrat’s will change this practice.
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We don’t have a say on what the senate does? Did they go back to the legislatures direct electing senators & I missed it? Because if not, last I checked WE are the ones who elect them & can also fire them… Lol
On the contrary I’m actually very patient. I was fine with most of the senate norms right up until Mitch invented a new rule that Democrats can’t pick SCOTUS justices.
As for what we get if we scrap blue slips, we get liberal judges in red states. If your next question is what happens next time Republicans are in power what happens my answer is Democrats already work in good faith with Republicans under that scenario so it will be a net gain.
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We don’t have a say in HOW the run the place. Feel free to demand changes, but it’s not happening. That’s all that I am saying.
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Thank God you weren’t saying that during the Civil War, woman’s rights movement, civil rights movement, LGBT movement or any other time in American history. I can imagine what rights we wouldn’t have today had the people listened to you instead of demanding change… Lol
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Yeah sure there will be a march on Washington to drop the blue slip. lol
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There actually have already been protest to amongst other things, end blue slips. I got the email to join a couple. But hey, no need to demand change. Let’s just have everybody listen to @Shawnee68 & don’t do anything & accept whatever the people elect do whatever they want. That should work… Lol
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You are too much. A protest like they do college campuses? Those Democrat’s will be shaking in their boots! lol
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Yea I guess you’re right. Sitting down on our hands doing nothing would work much much better. We should definitely take your advice if we want our elected leaders to do better… (Damn, I could barely type that without laughing)… Haaaaaa
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I live in California the changes that we needed make have been done. Do the same in Florida before you change the Senate.
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That’s not how change works or have ever worked. You don’t just say “Let’s go after the elected officials down the street from me” when demanding change. I recall MLK was from Atlanta. Most (If not all) of his arrest were in other states like Alabama, Mississippi & the state he was assassinated in Tennessee. I’m thankful he nor virtually any other leader didn’t take your advice. I would likely still be riding in the back of the bus had they.
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Who are you John Lewis? lol
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Your generation couldn’t handle a day without your cell phone. You shouldn’t talk about Civil Rights movement. It’s little more to you than a history lesson.
Your Generation doesn’t vote. So , the Cvil Rights movement is just footnote in history. You have to have someone knock on your door and grab you by your lapels to inspire you to vote. That’s unheard of in 60’s which know little about.
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I’m no more John Lewis than you are Lester Maddox. But I can tell you this. I’m sure when John Lewis was in his teenage years, he had people like yourself telling him sit back & let change happen on its own. Thankfully he didn’t listen to those people. If you think sitting back & expecting change to just happen will work, then you are on the wrong side of history.
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@shawnee68
At first, I thought perhaps you were somebody that had a different political view then me. Frank is an example of that, but Frank makes good intellectual points despite our disagreements from time to time. Now I’m starting to wonder if you’re just trolling.
You on the other hand I have no clue what you are talking about. What does how long you can go without your cell phone have to do with the federal judiciary or our rights being taken away? And if I recall, it was the youth vote that saved the Democrat majority in the senate last year.
But neither here nor there, YOU are the person advocating we should sit on our hands & do nothing because our leaders get to decide our future without our input. I am the one saying we should speak out, protest & yes vote leaders out that don’t listen. Your position isn’t supported by any civil rights leader I’ve ever heard of in my life.
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That’s nice I’m sure Frank will be pleased to know that you find him acceptable. Now, he’ll be able get a good nights sleep. You were comparing your generation with that of the the 60’s. Nothing could be be further from the truth.
Your generation is liberal but heavy on p.c . I speak my mind which your generation is afraid to do. That is unless it’s statements saying that people are too to old to serve in government positions.
It takes a lot of nerve to say stuff like that but not guts because we many operate in virtual communities. You wouldn’t say that to someones face.
I don’t have a problem with most of Biden’s nominees because he has been around for years and his views on those issues are pretty clear. Have a nice day!
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Thank you @Shawnee68. You have a nice day too. That should be easy since you won’t be participating in our democracy by doing anything humanly possible to convince the leaders WE elect to do more… Lol
And I’m not sure what you’re talking about when you say this generation is afraid to speak its mind. That’s literally the farthest thing from the truth you have said yet today.
I would be happy to tell any blue state district court or any circuit court judicial nominee to their face I believe they are too old for the position if given the opportunity to have a constructive conversation as to why I oppose them or felt we could have gotten a better nominee. You wrote government positions but as I’ve said before my age limit only applies to lifetime appointments to the judiciary or state supreme courts so I wouldn’t say it to anybody in another position.
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@Gavi, regarding Manchin I suspect this is the reason behind a lot of the GOP backed resolutions getting floor votes lately. If Manchin can side with the GOP on a lot of those votes then it makes his percentage look better when he votes for Garcia and Johnston and (potentially) Abudu.
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I wish Sen Durbin would remember all the 2nd, 3rd, and 9th Circuit nominees that did not have the support of the home state senators in the last admin, and yet they were all confirmed…. Yes, Durbin may have had some luck with 7th Circuit nominees in last admin, but the CA, NY, NJ, & PA ones sure didn’t….I also think there was a nominees Sen Brown didn’t approve for 6th Circuit, yet was still confirmed
Again, Democrats worry far too much about being liked by Republicans, and never act with the ruthlessness you need to confirm some nominees
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While that is true, it’s easier to admit that when you are not a member of the Senate and interacting with them on a daily basis.
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Feinstein missed the Jeremy Daniels vote. I hope she will be there for the Abudu vote & not starting her vacation 2 days early.
(https://twitter.com/SenatePress/status/1658875299944071170?cxt=HHwWhICwvfqSwYUuAAAA)
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I think the strategy is to literally wheel her out only when it’s believed that her vote is needed. This is part of her following doctor’s order by lightening her duties. Again, I’m ok with that. It’s better than her having a relapse or something.
If only Dale Ho was from the majority whip’s state. He’d be confirmed already. Despite the delay, I am happy he’ll sit less than a mile away from me, when he’s finally confirmed.
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Yea that’s true @Gavi. Her vote won’t be needed for the first two nominees so as long as she is there for Abudu it’s fine.
Haaaaaa… Yea if only Dale Ho was from the majority leader’s home state or if a right-wing hack of a senator threaten to block all nominees from that majority leader’s home state. Mitch McConnell had Justin Walker confirmed for the DC circuit almost two months before the seat officially became vacant. He must be dying laughing… Lol
I hope Mr. Ho won’t be that close to you for long. I’m hoping for bigger & better things for him if I had my way.
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Unless he’s going to 1 First Street, Wash. D.C., he’d still be in the Thurgood Marshall Courthouses, where the 2nd Circuit also sits haha. Can’t wait to run into him. We’ll be lunch buddies.
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Haaaaa… Oh ok, I wasn’t aware the 2nd circuit was in the same building as the Southern district. I guess with the Manhattan real estate that makes sense. But a trip to Washington would be just fine with me for Mr. Ho too now that you mention it… Lol
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And what a majestic courthouse it is, another one of Cass Gilbert’s, just like One First Street.
SDNY has courthouses in the nearby Daniel Moynihan Courthouse building, too (and in White Plains, but who cares about those?).
It’s very legal down here haha, with a major prison (Jeffrey Epstein’s), other state/city courthouse buildings, and of course, 1 Police Plaza, all crowding Foley Square.
This is absolutely scientific and you should definitely take my word for it haha, but this zip code is easily the most legally important in the country.
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New York, NY. A city so nice they named it twice… Lol
On another note, will we get another batch this week I wonder. With the 4 or less nominees per batch, a missed week will result in another missed SJC hearing in a month. I would think we should at least be able to get Gowen or Shelley for the NDIL, & blue state nominees from Michigan, California & Pennsylvania. I’m not sure if the 3 nominees from Florida have been vetted yet. There should be at least a few Texas nominees vetted by now. And they might as well go ahead & nominate Claire Connors for the Hawaii seat that will become vacant in January.
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This is a great point. Why bother having her vote when it isn’t necessary for confirming the nominee?
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Unfortunately for Dale Ho, I don’t see many seats opening up on the DC or Second Circuits in the near future. Unless of course there’s a SCOTUS opening and Allison, Perez, Garcia, or someone else gets the nomination.
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It’s unlikely either of the wo courts has a vacancy anytime soon. But Livingston (2nd) next year & Henderson (DC) now will both be eligible for senior status. Both are Republican appointees so it’s unlikely they will willingly step down, but anything can happen when people get older. I think the real question is if The White House would go with Ho or a less controversial nominee such as Arun Subramanian. I think the latter is more likely so in all likelihood Mr. Ho will serve out his career as a district court judge unless one of us on this blog becomes president. He would be in my first batch of nominees if I ever got that job… Lol
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As we have seen before, a early resignation from one of the kids is never out of the question. That doesn’t mean the seat will get filled, especially with the amount of time it takes to vet and confirm a replacement (especially a especially controversial nominee), but it doesn’t rule that out completely.
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3 Dem Senators have missed votes all day today (Coons, Feinstein, Menendez) and 1 Republican (Mullin). So either they show up for the Abudu cloture vote, or Manchin has to vote for Abudu AND VP Harris has to break the tie… not feeling confident
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Seeing Jeremy C. Daniel confirmed today made me curious about Trumps judges confirmed in Illinois. I looked it up and WOW, Durbin gave the blue slips and all FOUR were confirmed in September 2020!!!
I was so wrong about thinking most of these blue state Trump judges must be reasonable moderates or left wing.
Two of whom are Federalist Society members and one of those two is an NRA member and part of the Alliance Defending Freedom which is a “conservative Christian legal advocacy group[6] that works to expand Christian practices within public schools and in government.”
The other two moderates or liberals I guess are both now in their 60s. So this is it huh, either Dems return these blue slips or the GOP really will say they’re being unreasonable and get rid of blue slips next time they’re in control and Senator Graham and Kennedy will just do a 180.
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Correct: I misread the wiki, Trump confirmed way more ILL judges but those 4 were just bunched up together.
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Mike’s being a killjoy this evening haha.
Sad how Durbin just gave away the federal judiciary in Illinois. No one should be surprised he wants to keep the blue slip — it means nothing to him since he gives it out like candy.
The bigger question is why Tammy Duckworth went ahead with it. I know, I know, the obvious answer rushing to your finger tips to type right now is she deferred to her senior senator, who also sits on SJC. Courage seems to just melt away in the face of collegiality.
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Sadly, a lot of Dem senators did just hand out blue slips out like candy. The only GOP senator who did the same was Roy Blunt, who allowed Obama to appoint 9 or so judges in Missouri including Ronnie White, who’s very liberal (At the time, Missouri’s other senator was a Democrat).
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Roy Blunt was light years better of a senator then the two Missouri has now. Although on January 6th, senator Hawley proved he was the fastest runner in the senate… Lol
In this morning’s SJC hearing senator Cruz told Irma Ramirez patience is a virtue with her being nominated by one Democrat president but not confirmed yet being nominated by the next Democrat president. The same was for Ronny White. When Clinton nominated him, it became a political issue in the senate race. He’s an example of somebody who even though they were on the older side, I was happy when they finally were confirmed. There are exceptions to the age rule. Beth Robinson is the best Biden example I can think of.
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@Mike
Haaaaaa… I’ve been trying to tell everybody this, but people like @Shawnee68 are living in a dream world & trust McConnell & Graham. I can’t wait for the Republican’s to scrap blue slips the first chance they get. Then maybe Democrats will learn but even then, I doubt it sadly…smh
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But that’s how the Senate has always operated. While you are allowed to criticize how seniority works, there is no good reason for Duckworth to oppose nominees in terms of gaining committee seats and possibly becoming a chair down the road with the way the system works. Otherwise you become castrated out of the club and become a outsider with little to no power.
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@Frank
You never disappoint haha.
The Ike years are over. Gone are the days of LBJ as the Majority Leader, Frank.
Senators can literally leave the party, and openly talk smack behind their backs and still keep their committee assignments and influence. Senators can run against their party leadership and still keep their committee assignments (outside of those of a leader’s prerogative to give).
In a perfectly politically sorted senate with tight seat margins, each senator is king/queen.
And now to the facts, in the Trump years, their were blue state splits in the return of blue slips, where one senator return them and the other didn’t. Duckworth wouldn’t have been an outlier. There goes your argument. Even a mere threat by Duckworth would have stiffened the spine of Durbin a little. And who knows, maybe IL would have gotten better judges.
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A good example of this is California… where Feinstein returned the blue slip but Kamala Harris didn’t
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I’m watching the Abudu vote now. I saw a wheelchair come in & for excited thinking it was Feinstein but it was senator Duckworth.
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I saw Feinstein walk in and vote with an aide by her side. Missed seeing if any of the others out earlier have voted.
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I’m reading that Manchin was a no and Sinema an aye. Didn’t notice Collins. Hope the VP is nearby.
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I suspect Feinstein will be needed for Ho/Rikelman and a couple of others as well.
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I just want to take a moment during Abudu’s cloture vote to thank the state of Georgia. The Geogia runoffs saved our country in two straight elections. And they are getting a superb circuit court judge as a reward. At my last count I’ve given 10 Biden circuit court nominees an A+ grade (Despite some on this blog complaining I’m too hard on them). This week 2 of the 10 A+ nominees will be confirmed if Abudu is confirmed tomorrow.
This was a very good week for the judiciary. Schumer sending some more cloture motions to set up their return from their week off & Biden announcing another batch would make it an absolute great week but either way, very good week.
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