The daughter of former federal judge James Munley, Julia K. Munley is poised to fill her father’s old seat on the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.
Background
The 57 year old Munley was born into a storied Pennsylvania family, with her great-grandfather, grandfather, and grandmother having served in the Pennsylvania General Assembly as Democrats. Munley attended Marywood University in Scranton, receiving a B.A. degree in 1987, and subsequently getting a law degree from Penn State Dickinson Law in 1992.
After graduating, Munley clerked for Judge Stephen McEwen with the Pennsylvania Superior Court and then joined Masterson, Braunfield, Maguire & Brown as an Associate. In 1995, Munley switched to Mazzoni & Karam, and in 2001, became a partner at Munley Law.
In 2016, Governor Tom Wolf appointed Munley to the Court of Common Pleas of Lackawanna County, where she currently serves.
History of the Seat
The seat Munley has been nominated for opened on September 30, 2022, with the move to senior status of Judge Robert Mariani. Mariani, in turn, replaced Munley’s father, Judge James Munley, in 2011.
Legal Experience
While she has shifted firms on occasion, Munley spent the first twenty five years of her career in private practice, practicing in state and federal court. Notably, Munley argued before the Third Circuit (with a panel including then-Judge Samuel Alito) on behalf of Wayne Stevens, who was accused of sexual harassment and won a four-day jury trial. See Johnson v. Elk Lake Sch. Dist., 283 F.3d 138 (3d Cir. 2002). The Third Circuit unanimously upheld the district court’s denial of the plaintiff’s motion for a new trial. See id. Munley also represented numerous Allstate agents in a suit against the insurance company alleging improper termination. See Romero v. Allstate Ins. Co., (E.D. Pa. July 6, 2016).
On the state court side, Munley has handled civil claims, including insurance litigation. See, e.g., Md. Casualty Co. v. McGrath, No. 355 MDA 2015 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2015).
Judicial Experience
From 2016, Munley has served as a Judge on the Lackawanna County Court of Common Pleas, which are the primary trial courts in Pennsylvania. As a judge, Munley presided over cases in civil and criminal matters, as well as domestic relations, juvenile, and family law matters. A number of Munley’s rulings in family law matters have been appealed to the Pennsylvania Superior Court, which has affirmed. See, e.g., In the Interest of MM-A, No. 928 MDA 2017 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2017); Jablonowski v. Jablonowski, No. 1481 MDA 2018 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2019); B.V. v. J.W., No. 746 MDA 2020 (Pa. Super. 2020); Jones v. Jones, No. 1647 MDA 2021 (Pa. Super. 2022).
In a notable opinion, Munley held that a plaintiff corporation could sue in Pennsylvania state court without registering with the state as it had sufficient activity within the state. See SMS Financial Ch., LLC v. Bolus Truck Parts & Towing, Inc., No. 542 MDA 2022 (Pa. Super. 2022). The Pennsylvania Superior Court affirmed Munley’s ruling, finding it to be “detailed and well-reasoned” and that it “accurately and thoroughly disposes of the standing issue.” See id.
Political Activity
Munley has donated extensively throughout her political career until her ascension to the bench. Her donations are exclusively to Democrats, including Wolf, President Biden, and former Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
Overall Assessment
Munley is the first Pennsylvania nominee, since Senator Eastland made the blue slip a home-state veto, who would not need a blue slip from a Republican senator to reach the bench. That being said, her extensive home state contacts and legal experience, alongside her relative lack of controversy makes her a consensus nominee.
The Vetting Room 
Julia K. Munley was always the front runner for this seat. Her deep family ties along with her breath of experience & being a sitting judge will give her a smooth path to confirmation. I wish she was in her 40’s instead of 57 but hopefully the rest of Pennsylvania’s nominees will not have seen their 50th birthday yet. As Harsh’s post said she “ is the first Pennsylvania nominee, since Senator Eastland made the blue slip a home-state veto, who would not need a blue slip from a Republican senator” so if Casey is re-elected, I look forward to a long list of nominees to come over the next number of years if Biden too wins next year.
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Munley is a pretty traditional nominee, the kind which used to be commonplace. The large number of donations she’s made could be a problem for her. But if none of her writings or rulings cause objections, she’s more likely than not to be confirmed.
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I know age is a concern for some, but she seems like a fine nominee to me. Not an A, but probably somewhere in the B range.
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Scranton is Bob Casey’s hometown, maybe also an aspect, who should be considered.
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Grade: D*
(*There’s a possibility of being raised to a C if she’s forever removed from consideration for elevation to a circuit court)
Age
Too old. We need to build and strengthen our muscle memory for nominating young, or, not old judges. If we keep making exceptions, this cannot happen. There’s always going to be that one well-connected, or previously blocked, or tragedy-struck, or perfectly progressive – nominee. Each of these things can be found in candidates that are young and vibrant. If all you have are exceptions, then you don’t have a standard, you have Swiss cheese.
PA senators
Like a battered wife who keeps imagining that her situation will get better the next time. Only for that time to come, so she changes it to another next time. And so, several next times have come to pass. When PA was purple (based on party-affiliation of sens.) we longed for Fetterman to get elected so that we can finally get rid of the 3-to-1 deal. Now Fetterman is the senator, so we move the target to Bob Casey’s reelection? And then after that, will the target move to Fetterman’s reelection before we can truly expect to get all A nominees?
One could argue that this is a standard nominee, but after the Trump years, we need more than just standard, since his appointees changed the definition of standard.
I will never celebrate mediocrity. Worse, don’t expect her nomination to move as quickly as her blandness would suggest. So what’s the point?
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@Gavi
The real problem was confirming the 4 ED nominees after Fetterman was elected. I said in December if the Republicans were willing to allow all 4 a voice vote then fine. But to have to spend the cloture & 4 time on them should have been enough to scrap the deal, return the nominations to Biden & use Fetterman as an excuse to certainly re-nominate Perez, probably the two Black woman Democrats (although I would have had no issue replacing either one of those left of center 50 year olds) & replace the Republican Murphy with any number of young progressive Philadelphia Democrats.
That would have been a great case for your I know you were screwed over but we can’t re-nominate you cases. I’m more upset about that than this nominee actually. I feel the same way about this nominee as I am going to feel when Esther Salas or Justin Neals is announced for the 3rd. There were better picks but we all kind of knew this was likely going to be the nominee.
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From the beginning, this Scranton based vacancy was either going to go to her or Magistrate Judge Karoline Mehalchick, who is younger (1976), but not as openly Democratic as Munley.
There is one additional Middle District of Pennsylvania vacancy in Harrisburg. I’m hoping that one goes to Federal Public Defender Heidi Freese (1976).
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I agree @Ethan. This was just one of those nominees that was the front runner from the beginning & we were hoping for younger & more progressive but the front runner got it. Similar to Regina Rodriguez & Justin Neals. Just like in sports, sometimes the #1 seed wins the championship. We get so use to upsets that we tend to forget they were the #1 seed for a reason.
I remember the Thursday night before the announcement, I mentioned to you I didn’t see Irma Ramirez on your list. I was joking & the next morning BAM, she’s a nominee for the 5th. I hope my theory is wrong for the 3rd but I’m not hopeful.
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Yeah, it would be par for the course for the NJ nominees, but that doesn’t mean I should happy about it.
This is why we need more progressive senators. You can’t expect stellar nominees from stale establishment types. Yes, there are a few exceptions.
I don’t waste my time on hoping things into existence, so I don’t expect Booker to be any better than he was before he got called out for his recs. Salas would be a near F, if not a solid one, for me.
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I was fine with keeping the PA deal and still am. If you aren’t going to abandon blue slips (which it seems like we won’t) then you have to show some measure of goodwill. If you ditch a previously agreed on deal then perhaps Brailsford, Brookman, Papillion and others don’t happen.
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It’s amazing that the burden of goodwill always falls squarely on one side only.
If only Dems are just a little teeny bit nicer to the Republicans, all our problems will simply melt away…
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Why would the Idaho, Indiana & Louisianna district court deals fall through because an incoming senator for Pennsylvania didn’t return his blue slips for an old deal? It happens except usually against the Democrats. This notion that Republicans are going to start being nice if Democrats be nice has been disproven repeatedly over the past decade plus. Schumer should have used the threat of not confirming Murphy to get a voice vote (AKA 4 more district court nominees confirmed last year). We’ve tried the nice guy approach. It got us a 6-3 SCOTUS & 54 Trump circuit court judges.
As for Esther Salas, I wouldn’t give her a F. I give Irma Ramirez a F+. Salas would be a C for me. She’s a former public defender & Latina (I know some don’t give extra credit for diversity, but I usually do). If she was 10 years younger, I would actually say she was a really good choice.
I take off a full grade because of her age & another full grade because there are, more progressive nominees in New Jersey combined with us having to backfill her district court seat. We know Menendez & Booker will backfill her with straight hot garbage so that hurts.
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Just because one side is doing something does not mean your side needs to reply in kind.
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Says the person completely unburdened by any strategic thinking, to the shocking surprise of no one.
Is that how they did things back them? So glad we don’t live in your world of being a door mat, unlevelled playing field, and unilateral disarmament. In fact, not even your contemporary Durbin is like you. At the very least he’s sticking to the Republicans’ circuit court blue slip policy. How this must send you into paroxysms of pain.
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Seems like a fine and well qualified nominee. I’d expect her to be confirmed by the end of the summer or early fall.
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I can’t believe in a couple weeks this article will be two years old. I hope Dale Ho is confirmed before June 7th.
(https://apnews.com/article/ct-state-wire-donald-trump-voting-voting-rights-government-and-politics-0dda53acd1501d5f1ae4128907215b0e)
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As a staunch environmentalist, Sackett v. EPA is the worst Supreme Court ruling of this term so far. The Court basically gutted the Clean Water Act, ruling it doesn’t apply to waters unless they have an above-surface connection to key lakes/rivers (ignoring the fact that many bodies of water have underground connections to said lakes/rivers). This ruling is going to poison the water for many people.
If the Court declines to adopt the independent state legislature theory or reinstate the judge-imposed nationwide ban on abortion pills, Sackett v. EPA will stand as the Court’s worst ruling of this term.
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Legally, it was the right decision. It was a unanimous ruling, which seems important to leave out in the discussion.
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I agree with the concurrences by Kagan and Kavanaugh. The Court could have ruled for Sackett without gutting the Clean Water Act, as shown by Kagan and Kavanaugh. The justices were unanimous in favor of Sackett, but Kavanaugh and the liberals would opt for a much narrower ruling than the majority who decided to rewrite the Clean Water Act.
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And yes, I understand that part of the ruling wasn’t signed on by all, but broadly speaking the case was clear cut
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Are we ever going to get a nominee for the 7th circuit vacancy? How long until both Kansas and Indiana senators drag their feet, and we get another 59-year-old centrist to sit on courts filled with FedSoc hacks. Blue slips aren’t required for circuit judges, so why can’t Biden find a young progressive/ACLU lawyer, and just nominate them to get them confirmed? You would think that after McConnell confirmed a few judges (looking at you, hack Judge Cannon) in the lame duck, and plenty of partisan Trump circuit judges rammed onto the 2nd and 9th circuits, that a few nominees to red states would be fair game.
I know Biden and Durbin are both consensus builders on many issues, it’s just frustrating to have one side do whatever it takes to build and hold power while the other side playing by a set of rules and customs to “keep the peace”. I
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@dawsont825
Yup, completely disappointing. I was fine with Doris Pryor & if we get another nominee like her I’ll be ok. But I have no faith that’s who we will get for the 7th or 10th. To be honest with the 51st Democrat we should be going for somebody like Jessica Eglin & Lauren Bonds for those two seats but since the Indiana senators worked in good faith to fill the first vacancy when we had a 50/50 senate, Doris Pryor should be the floor for the next vacancy, not the ceiling.
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Democrats have 51 Senators, not 61, and one of them is up for reelection in a state where Trump won 70% of the vote.
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Did that state become more red in the past two years? Because that senator was voting for liberal nominees up until last Thursday 100% of the time. The White House is not nominating more liberal nominees because de facto blue slips are back. That is the problem, not the math.
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It’s significantly redder than it was in 2018. The Dem baseline for WV in 2018 was 45.4% and is now 37.6%. The GOP has 88/100 state House seats and 31/34 state Senate seats, which is hard for any typical red state to do even with gerrymandering.
However, Manchin hasn’t even announced whether he will run for re-election, retire, or (God forbid) run for president as a spoiler candidate on the No Labels ticket.
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Manchin’s increasing rate of voting against Biden nominees is similar to how Susan Collins increased her rate of voting against Trump nominees in 2019-20 and then got re-elected in 2020.
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The lack of nominees for the 7th and 10th has been particularly frustrating. The 4th as well. I’m really upset we didn’t get any more nominees this week and it appears another missed SJC date is likely.
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As I’ve mentioned before, the 7th was an unexpected vacancy, so it really shouldn’t be surprising that there hasn’t been a named nominee yet. The 4th and 10th openings are more egregious since they have been open for longer periods of time and in the case of the 4th is in a state with 2 Democratic senators.
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With a vacancy and pending vacancy in the Eastern District of Michigan, there is speculation that state Judge Noah Hood will be a nominee.
I did some research on Judge Hood. In private practice, he did pro-bono work for Michigan Community Resources, which provides assistance for local non-profit organizations that help people in difficulty. But he also worked for a suburban law firm which specializes in white collar criminal defense. As a Federal prosecutor, he focused on money laundering and public corruption.
In addition, he recently became a father.
I predict Judge Hood be nominated if he wants to be. Michigan’s Democratic Senators have a preference for nominees with prior judicial experience.
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I don’t know if they would pick two Black men in the span of a year but Judge Noah Hood would be a good pick. I just hope it’s somebody to the left of 2 of their earlier picks, Brehm & Beckering.
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Came across this video.
This should please all the identity politics folks out there. It pleases me because there are few things I love more than Republican tears shed on judicial nominees. Just goes to show that identity politics is by no way exclusive to the left:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/republican-complains-about-lack-of-straight-white-male-judges/vi-AA1bHGfl?ocid=winp1taskbar
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Lack of straight, White, male judges… Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa… Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa… Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa…
I guess he would take me up on my offer from the other week & take 39 Straight White make Dale Ho’s over the 39 we got.
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Ha! No, he wouldn’t. He would take 39 Patrick Bumatays. That’s the bankruptcy of identity politics.
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So true. But Democrats are suppose to play nice & not respond in kind right? Since the same person that said that yesterday is the same person who said there is PLENTY of time, I guess all is good in the judicial world. They can get started when they return Monday… Oh wait, they return Tuesday since they are taking 8 of the next 10 Monday’s off…lol
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As a straight, white male it doesn’t bother me one bit that Heytens, Stark, and Johnstone are the only three that Biden has nominated.
If Republicans wanted more of them maybe they should have given voice votes or at least enthusiastically supported those three.
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That’s a great point @Joe. It would actually have been smart for the hard line Republicans to just get together in a backroom & say they will confirm all straight White males with little to no opposition. Biden would have definitely nominated more if he saw that trend.
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Exactly. If the GOP is going to dig in against every nominee regardless, then what’s the point in listening to what they say?
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Speaking of that, we are really getting down to the last few nominees that I can see having the best chance of getting more then 3 GOP votes. After Papillion Tuesday, I only see Ramon Reyes & Jeffrey Cumming as the most likely to get more than the normal 3.
There’s no SJC hearing scheduled for next week & no new batch this week, so I don’t see any new names being added to the pending nominees before the July 4th two-week recess. It’s getting to the point where Schumer is out of options & has no choice but to bring up the heavy hitters for a vote.
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@Joe
What a triumph Toby Heytens’ appointment turned out to be (so far).
Beyond my baseline of qualification and age, one of the most important things for me is a judge’s ability to go toe to toe with other judges. This requires some intellectual heft. It should surprise no one that this quality is found in Heytens, one of Biden’s few law professor appointees (yes yes Frank, we are very well aware of your view that Biden doesn’t like them).
In one of the cases I was following from the 4th Circuit, Heytens this week skillfully rebuffed the dissenting Allison Jones Rushing and aimed a hypocrisy bomb for SCOTUS to detonate. Basically, Heytens says that the admission’s policy at a Virginia high school is exactly in line with what SCOTUS has demanded: race-neutrality. He’s basically setting up SCOTUS to either accept this race-neutral policy that just happens to benefit blacks and Latinos or strike down the policy and prove that it’s a bunch of hypocritical hacks. I don’t see Irma Ramirez, more than a decade older, being this skillful.
—
Separately, Robert King wrote the actual opinion for the court (Heytens concurred). I think if he were to die or decide to retire (irrevocably this time) this year or next, there would be no nominee. I don’t see Joe Manchin, in the middle of his own re-election, recommending or approving of any decent nominee a Dem president can expect to name. There’s not a lot going on in WV, so a circuit court judgeship would be a relatively major issue.
I’ll leave you with this gem from Heytens’ concurrence:
“Having spent decades telling school officials they must consider race neutral methods for ensuring a diverse student body before turning to race-conscious ones, it would be quite the judicial bait-and-switch to say such race-neutral efforts are also presumptively unconstitutional.”
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Toby Heytens is absolutely phenomenal. I keep going back & fourth between my A grading or should he be my 11th A+. I have the way he was recommended because Kaine & Warner recommended him with two district court judges in their 60’s. The administration should have demanded they give them wo reasonable nominees. But in this case, I’m happy their trick worked out in him being the nominee, so I won’t complain but still hate the process.
And I totally agree with @Gavi about Ramirez. Her being 59 is horrible, her being a centrist is almost as bad but her unlikely to be an intellectual force against the conservative 5th judges is a total smack in the face. I have officially moved her to my worst circuit court nominee by Biden, even below Childs.
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Gavi, I saw that opinion as well. Great job by Heytens.
I think Manchin would pick a fine nominee actually. It wouldn’t be a progressive, but probably a pro labor, normal Dem who has been involved with the state party. It’s been a while, but wasn’t the issue the first time King tried to retire mostly related to WV politics? I believe King and Manchin were at odds over who the nominee would be and thus King withdrew.
I do wish that King would retire this year or next though. Even a slightly more conservative jurist that Manchin favors would be better than risking letting the next GOP president to pick.
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Yeah, it’s needless to say where I stand on judges seeking to pick their successors.
Anyway, I don’t have your level of confidence in election-mode Manchin. If Biden is at an impasse with a similarly minded Dem (Cardin) over a COA vacancy, I can’t imagine the gulf that would open up between the WH and a scared running Manchin. Not to mention that Manchin would absolutely want the full support of Capito for the nominee.
Remember, politicians in election mode act quite differently.
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I too am against judges blackmailing the president to pick their own successor. I am just surprised that Carte Goodwin wasn’t Manchin’s choice in the first place. He has close ties to him, he’s part of the most politically connected family in the state, his resume is unquestioned & he’s even relatively young. The other 4th-WV judge is a woman so it’s not like the situation Idaho had in which they have never had a female federal judge before.
I don’t understand how this couldn’t have been worked out behind the scenes. Now we will have to hope Biden & the Democrat senate majority is re-elected. Judge king is in his 80’s so it’s likely he will be off the bench one way or another by the end of 2028.
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I found the article about King. Carte Goodwin would have been great. Not sure about the personal injury lawyer. Apparently both potential nominees had close ties to Manchin.
https://wvrecord.com/stories/613723024-king-steps-back-from-moving-to-senior-status-might-have-been-unhappy-with-replacement-plan
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Munley is the type of nominee that would’ve been typical under Obama and Clinton – nothing particularly progressive, but clearly a Democrat and at least not another prosecutor.
I think Heytens is a good nominee and judge, but folks are getting ahead of themselves about his concurrence in the TJ case – any first-year law student who took Con Law would be able to point out that race-neutral practices are constitutional unless there is evidence of invidious intent. Not that it’ll matter to the hacks on SCOTUS:
I will be interested to see how SCOTUS threads the needle though – probably something along the lines of “race neutral policies are fine unless the result helps Black people” dressed up as “historical practices and understandings.”
And on the Manchin/King point – in the unlikely event that the King seat opens up, I doubt there’s going to be any backlash in WV in an election year to Manchin going with Goodwin (Legato I’m less sure about, but this seat was never going to be filled by a civil rights lawyer or public defender). The other WV seat on CA4 is held by Thacker, a former AUSA who got Manchin’s support (and was confirmed by a large bipartisan margin) and has been a solid liberal.
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I actually was unable to find much info in Legato when King withdrew. Granted that was almost two years ago so I probably should have looked more recently. If she was a civil rights lawyer and/or a public defender then she certainly would have been more progressive than Goodwin. She’s about 5 years older (c. 1969) so honestly either would have been better than King remaining & possibly leaving under a future Republican. It sucks they couldn’t work it out behind the scenes.
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I didn’t see much either – just that she was a personal injury lawyer and at one point in-house counsel for the WV public retirement board (https://www.wvretirement.com/Forms/SignedminutesJuly09.pdf), so not a civil rights lawyer or a public defender. Part of King’s issues with her were that she didn’t have the typical credentials (federal clerkship, large law firm experience, etc.) that Goodwin did.
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Oh ok. I misunderstood & thought you were saying she was a civil rights lawyer and/or a public defender. So yea, we basically found the same thing about her then. I really wish the administration went with Goodwin albeit I understand not doing it with a proverbial gun to their heads.
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Trump was ready to give Kanne his desired successor… it was Pence who thwarted the plan
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Correct, it’s one of the few good things Pence did during his time as VP prior to January 6th when he acted admirably. I still can’t understand what it was he didn’t want released from the papers. It’s not like we don’t already know Pence is super conservative. I’m not sure what the big deal was. Either way I’m happy whenever we eventually get an eventual nominee, even if it’s an Irma Ramirez type, it will be to the left of who the Trump nominee would have been.
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I hope that they can still work it out. These seats are way too important to play Russian Roulette with.
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Nancy Abudu & LaShanda Hunt received their commissions today. That just leaves Jeremy Daniels for the pending confirmed nominees left. I’m still on a high about Abudu. I pulled up some C-Span interviews she did from some years back the other day. The 11th circuit just gained an amazing new judge.
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I too thought Carte Goodwin was a lock for the 4th Circuit and am still shocked he wasn’t the nominee but I also understand having to hold firm in not allowing judges to hold their seats for blackmail.
Just hope it doesn’t result in a flip down the line.
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Good news!
(https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/27/politics/debt-limit-negotiations-latest/index.html)
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Indeed. Nice to see cooler heads prevailing here.
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If the deal is good past the elections, I think inflation will be the main concern economy related. I see little chance of a recession so hopefully the Fed continues to get inflation to decrease like the past 9 months.
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Schumer put out a statement about the upcoming schedule. Will continue with nominations the first half of the week while the House acts first, then they’ll have Friday and weekend votes as needed to pass the deal. So maybe not much if any normally scheduled senate time lost from confirming nominees. Though I suppose he could make up for it by giving them extra days off next week.
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Thanks Ben. I sure wish we had filed cloture on a few more nominees but perhaps Schumer will do that Tuesday (with some votes Thursday).
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@Ben
That would be awesome to have the senate work on the debt ceiling votes Friday & Saturday. Now of course if he just gives them another day or two the following week off as a result then that just cancels it out. Hopefully since they are already off Monday, they won’t add any more time off.
I truly was expecting the debt ceiling to take up AT LEAST a week if senate time. If we can get it done in two days, that’s a win. Now if they can just reach a deal to get Tuberville to release his military hold, I would only be worried about getting new nominees. As I’ve said before I think the perfect response would be no blue slips for any senators that has a pending hold. Right now there’s simply no consequences for unilateral holds like this.
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Now that Wamble is out, I really hope we can get another Black man in his place. I doubt we will, but here are a couple of names.
Mark A. Dupree, Sr (c. 1982) – I got this name from @Ethan. He is a former Assistant Public Defender, served on the Kansas Legal Services Board of Directors & is younger then Wamble so that should please progressives. He is a former prosecutor & is a pastor so that could make him expectable to get blue slips.
Damon D. Mitchell (c. 1972) – I found this name on my own. He is a former Assitant District Defender & served on the Board of Indigent Defense Services so that should please progressives. He is currently a Chief Deputy District Attorney, is in his low 50’s & was in the Air Force so that could make him expectable to get blue slips.
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@Dequan
I have a theory. Either one of them would get the state’s Senators support for District Judge if the White House nominates a compromise candidate for the Tenth Circuit. Whether that’ll happen is anyone’s guess. The Biden Administration has surprised me on multiple occasions.
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Uuuggghhh… I can see a Stephen Six or Terrence Campbell ending up on the 10th. What a letdown if so.
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While this senate never works Fri or weekends, I would expect the senate to be in Friday and/or weekends to finish the debt ceiling work…
They wouldn’t work a Friday to confirm a circuit court nominee, but I do think they’d work a Friday to finish this debt ceiling
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That would still be great news. Any day other than the normal Tuesday- Thursday spent on the debt ceiling is one more day left to confirm judges. We are down to about two judges that are likely to get more than the normal three GOP votes.
I don’t see de Alba & Ramirez on the SJC executive meeting mark up for this Thursday to be held over so they likely won’t be sent to the senate floor for another three weeks. That means every time Schumer sends a judicial cloture motion to the desk for the foreseeable future, it will be an exciting nominee.
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And according to 3rd paragraph, nominees should be focus until House passes the bill…..I can’t see the debt ceiling bill being ready for senate vote til Thurs at earliest..
https://www.democrats.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/majority-leader-chuck-schumer-dear-colleague-on-an-agreement-to-avoid-default
And pretty please can the White House send some nominees to the senate soon!!!!!!
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It’s great to see Schumer has the words Friday & Weekend in his vocabulary. It would have been nice if he had teed up Bloomenkatz or Rikelman for a cloture vote this week but as long as they are doing the debt ceiling votes on a normal weekend day, that’s great news.
And yes a new batch of nominees this week is key. No new batch last week has already cost us a third missed SJC slot. We really don’t need to start towards a fourth.
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de Alba & Ramirez have been added to Thursday’s SJC meeting. They will be held over.
(https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/committee-activity/hearings/06/01/2023/executive-business-meeting)
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**Speculation Alert – COA3**
As we have discussed, Phil Murphy is awesome (and lightyears away from other Dem govs) when picking judges for the state bench. His nomination of Michael Noriega for the NJ supreme court earlier this month is just another example of this. What we haven’t discussed is what could possibly be behind the nomination.
Even though there’s a vacancy, Murphy wasn’t expected to immediately move to fill it. It was expected that he would wait to nominate a bi-partisan pair next year when Republican Justice Lee Solomon reaches the mandatory retirement age.
Could Murphy’s nomination of Noriega be a sign that Biden is going to nominate Fabiana Pierre-Louis or Rachel Wainer Apter for the 3rd circuit and Murphy wanting to avoid another protracted period of multiple vacancies on that court?
Or is a Pierre-Louis or Wainer Apter nomination too good to be true and impossible for NJ? Am I just being a crazy Joe-level optimist? It’s not one of my flaws, but dare I be hopeful?
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@Gavi
Haaaaaaaaaaaaa… We get an A or A+ nominee for the 3rd circuit? For a New Jersey seat? While Menendez & Booker are the two senators??? Do me a favor buddy. Send me over a bottle of what you’re drinking. It’s not fair only you get to be that drunk & happy today so please share… Lmao
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Ha!
I know it’s far-fetched.
I am just trying everything to avoid thinking about the nomination going to Salas, including deluding myself.
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I’m already thinking about how bad the backfill die Salas or Julian Neals is gonna be. Maybe there is some retired attorney living in a nursing home that they can roll out in a wheelchair for their SJC hearing. Wouldn’t it be ironic if we got an A+ nominee for the 3rd after all we have seen… Haaaaaa
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True, that would be ironic.
For example, even though California’s nominees aren’t NJ bad, they are mostly bland. But Holly A. Thomas temporarily broke that streak.
If a broken clock is right twice, maybe we should only ever expect just two A nominees from NJ. If so, they might as well start with this vacancy.
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I actually like Gabriel Sanchez. I gave him an A-. Same for for de Alba. There were better possibilities in both cases but still good choices. Lucy Koh was the only bad one from California out of the four in my book albeit I understand Biden wanting to right the wrongs of some of the Obama nominees that got screwed over. Had Koh not been an Obama screwed nominee I would have rated her lower than the C I gave her.
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Sounds good to me Gavi. I would love to see that.
I do suspect it’ll be Neals or Salas though.
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Both Delaney & Wamble have officially been withdrawn.
(https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2023/05/30/nominations-and-withdrawals-sent-to-the-senate-11/)
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Ohhh, FINALLY they’ve nominated a 5th FCC member, just 2 1/2 years after winning the white house.
Anyway, happy to see Darrel James Papillion confirmed with 59 votes, credit for Kennedy for working with Biden on a solid nominee, especially for a red state.
Can you imagine how many more great candidates we could’ve had in Texas and Florida if Cruz and Rubio would work with Biden or vice versa(?). Was those 3 nominees with Rubio a rumor that didn’t pane out?
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Yea Darrel Papillion is definitely a solid red state nominee. His SJC questionnaire said Kennedy recommended him for the 5th circuit. To be honest I wouldn’t have been upset if he was picked over Dana Douglas even at 7 years older but either way, I’m happy to see him ascend to the bench now. I know the first time he was applying for a judgeship he had to withdraw because his wife got Cancer. She eventually died. I see he has since remarried & now a federal judge so I’m very happy for him.
As for the other Republican senators, I don’t trust a number of them to work in good faith. That is why I wish Durbin would amend his blue slips stance, so it gives senators that aren’t working in good faith a consequence. As of now there are none.
I believe the Florida 3 mentioned district court nominees will be announced in the next month or so. They are probably being vetted. I’m sorry we didn’t see any cloture motions sent to the desk today. That means Papillion will be the only judge we see this week. But if we can get the debt ceiling vote completed by this weekend, we should be able to go back to judges next week.
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I’m also fine with it. Hopefully they can get this deal wrapped up by Saturday.
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Democrats will be down two members of congress for the vote.
(https://rollcall.com/2023/05/30/two-democrats-sidelined-ahead-of-anticipated-debt-ceiling-vote-on-wednesday/)
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2 votes in the House in the minority is not going to matter.
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Probably not but I don’t think this vote will be as easy as many people think. I mean I do think it will end up passing, but I wouldn’t take two Democrats missing the votes for granted. It will take a good number of Democrat votes to pass so hopefully these will be the only two.
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Pretty annoyed they didn’t submit any nominees for cloture vote, I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and say it’s due to the debt bill but it feels like they won’t work on that till Friday.
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The senate executive calendar doesn’t have even one pending business on it. That’s pretty unbelievable for this time of year. I get the debt ceiling is coming up but I’m not exactly sure what they are going to do tomorrow or Thursday. Pretty frustrating knowing they could have knocked out 4-5 district court judges in that time frame.
(https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/executive_calendar/xcalv.pdf)
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@Dequan: Don’t know what you’re worried about. We are continually assured that there’s plenty of time to fill judicial vacancies between now and November 2024–in fact, between now and December 2023.
What’s a wasted week (or more) among friends?
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Haaaaaaaa… Oh yea that’s right. I almost forgot about all of the plenty of time we have. So I guess the 2 day work weeks, 3 missed SJC hearings , Feinstein’s health, 5 week Summer recess & number of swing state Democrats that will be running for reelection next year increasing the number of votes they missed isn’t anything to worry about. Thanks for the reminder… Lol
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Looks like today is just being spent on this Republican CRA vote to cancel student debt relief. They probably could have squeezed another judge in today if they’d planned ahead, but I guess that’s too much to ask. And if the House passes the debt bill tonight, the senate can pick it up tomorrow, so that’s the week. Hopefully new nominees soon…
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Michael Bennet and Mark Warner have missed all the votes this week so far. Given there’s been 1 vote per day, Feinstein hasn’t missed any yet. Since her return, Feinstein has never been present more than 2 votes in a single day, that appears to be her max.
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Feinstein is a part time senator for the rest of her term. They will probably wheel her out only for votes where she is needed or other Democrats are missing.
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Sadly that is probably the case. I think the debt ceiling votes may be an exception to her usual 1-2 votes a day. Feinstein also seems to think that voting on the congressional disapproval motions are really important (even though they have no practical effect since Biden isn’t gonna sign something condemning his own actions)
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If Feinstein is out of the Senate don’t expect a replacement on SJC.
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At this point if Feinstein can be rolled into the SJC for every executive meeting & on the senate floor for the heavy hitters & important legislation, she mine as well stay. At least they can use the footage for the sequel to Weekend at Bernie’s… Lol
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Why are you so mean? I saw Feinstein walking on the Senate floor today? Making fun of her makes you happy?
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If your more offended by a Weekend at Bernie’s joke then you are at one of two senators from a state with over 40 million constituents saying her missing 10 weeks of work didn’t effect anything, I would suggest you review your outrage meter. She’s one of 100 people in the US senate in a country of over 340 million people. Criticism comes with the job. But I hope she remains in good health.
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There have been a lot of Senators who have been sick over the years. Even the Republicans didn’t get that ugly when McCain and Thurmond were sick.
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Again, I am a Democrat. I want Republicans to miss votes. If Tim Scott misses weeks & months of votes campaigning for president, I’m not gonna call on governor McMasters to name his replacement… Lol
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I am well aware of this as I know how Republican logic works. Although I have attacked Feinstein for her senility and her excessive absences, I have never outright called for her resignation. I hope she powers through and works as hard as she can for the next 19 months. I have already expressed numerous times that my frustration is less so with Feinstein herself (I think society in general is overly hostile to people with illness or disability) and more so with the Senate’s arbitrary rules.
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If she quit like Ro Khanna is asking her to do we would be cooked!
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Well like I said earlier, she is back part time now. As long as she can make the SJC meetings & votes for heavy hitters & important legislation, she mine as well stay.
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It’s not about the age of our leaders, it’s about the age of their ideas. I would absolutely vote for an 100 year old liberal lion in a wheelchair if they show and have proven that they can get things done, fight like hell, and are willing to listen to the concerns of the younger generations.
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Dequan, Feinstein has to stay no matter what, since the Democrats can’t replace her on the SJC even if she resigns.
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Graham specifically said in one of the SJC hearings or executive meetings that he would follow precedent & vote for a replacement for Feinstein if she left the senate. He said he voted no this time because it was a temporary replacement. I assume numerous other senators would agree if Feinstein resigned.
And keep in mind the 60 votes could be changed to a simple majority if all Democrats are on board. I would imagine both Manchin & Sinema would be on board if Feinstein resigned & Republicans refused to allow a replacement. But as I said Feinstein is back so she mine as well stay at this point.
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I don’t think Chuck is willfully incompetent, he has confirmed 130 judges in 29 months, it’s just frustrating to see what seems to be wasted hours and days each week that would’ve been used to confirmed more judges.
But I’m not a parliamentarian so I have no idea if it’s just an issue with rules and timing or bad luck with health issues or just laziness.
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As I’ve said before Biden, Durbin & Schumer are doing good when it comes to the judiciary. I would even venture to say great. The problem is great isn’t enough. It’s like being down 3 games to one & having a great game 4. That all good but not nearly enough to win it all.
This is a wasted week pre debt ceiling voting. But the real waste is confining nominees like Jeremy Daniels when you have all 51 senators in town. That time should be reserved for confirming Dale Ho type nominees. Leave the easy nominees for when you have senators out. Schumer keeps confirming the easy ones first.
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Schumer isn’t my concern. He will get everyone through that has the votes and is out of committee.
Right now the WH is my biggest source of frustration. We desperately need some more nominees.
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I’m assuming we will get a repeat of last July. We were getting drips & drips of new nominees & then in a span of a week we got about a dozen & a half new nominees. I guess the FBI checks for multiple nominees cleared close together.
As bad as I think this new WHC is, there’s simply too many circuit court, blue states district court & red state district court vacancies that we have had rumors about nominees coming. I’m thinking by mid next month we will have an influx of new nominees to set up the post Summer recess for SJC hearings.
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@Joe
“He will get everyone through that has the votes and is out of committee.”
When? Like he did before the end of 2021 or 2022? Perhaps in 2024?
Every single week we send hopes to the heavens for a new batch and almost every week those hopes sink like a lead balloon.
I don’t think the WH is in any hurry to get on your timeline. Today, there are more important things to do, like issuing 5 different proclamations for various identity politics stuff. A sixth “presidential action” announcing a new batch of judicial nominees would just be too much for the day, if not this week. Those nominations can wait until the Proclamation Establishing June as Americans with August Birthdays Month.
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@Gavi
Can you imagine if we took a stroll to the WHC office to get an update on new nominees & they tell us they busy right now because it’s A Proclamation on National Ocean Month. Then we see some guy rolled in via wheelchair in his 80’s & we ask who is this & they tell us you see, we’re hard at work. That’s your new nominee for the 3rd circuit.
The only thing that would top that trip off would be to have @Frank come out eating a doughnut & tell us don’t worry guys, there’s plenty of time… Haaaaaaaa
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Doughnut is probably too sugary for Frank, but yeah, that’s exactly what he’d say, while rejoicing over the choice for the 3rd circuit.
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Haaaaaa… Good point. Maybe a Brand Muffin… Lol
And then @Shawnee68 will come in the office with a card carrying Republican. When we ask who is this, she responds the new nominee for the 10th circuit because it’s the only person the senators would return blue slips for… Lol
I swear we’re so screwed with this new WHC…smh
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“We’re so screwed with this new WHC…”
… and with their unofficial senior advisors on here. Sad.
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Oh & how could I forget the best part of our trip. Just as we’re about to walk out to leave in disgust we hear a voice in the background saying don’t go. We turn around & it’s @Angie saying wait guys, before you leave let me introduce you to George Hanks… Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
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Remember her? She must be so disappointed in the Ramerez nomination. We’d be in agreement.
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Sadly, Ramirez might be one of the few Texans Obama did or could have nominated that was as bad or even worst then Hanks… Lol
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As disappointing as Ramirez’s nomination is, I wish her a speedy confirmation. I would be very happy if Ramirez was replacing any of the 8 Texas Republicans on the 5th circuit. I’d be very happy if a new seat on the 5th circuit was created and Ramirez got the seat (in this scenario assume Costa stays). Given how many nutjobs are on the 5th circuit, I’d even accept a deal that creates a new seat and then fills the new seat & Costa’s seat with Hanks & Ramirez.
But replacing Costa with Hanks or Ramirez is a downgrade and makes the 5th circuit more conservative overall. It’s equivalent to replacing KBJ with J. Michelle Childs if KBJ were to step down from SCOTUS in the next 10 years.
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Not sure how anything you listed there has any relation to judicial nominations, even as I agree with the overall premise that the proclamations mean practically nothing. The process that the current WHC is using would still be the same.
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While I wish that Schumer could move faster on judges, I think he’ll eventually get everyone thru, though he should have taken lessons from Sen McConnel on how to confirm judges (stay late and keep the senate in Sept and Oct of a presidential election year just to confirm district court nominees)…
Most of my angst in at the WH from moving so damn slow on nominees in 2023….And the couple of the circuit court nominees that we did get were rather awful…
All I ask is that we don’t get a centrist right leaning jurist whose a Civil War veteran as the next circuit court nominee.
Can we at least have a nominee who wasn’t around when The Ed Sullivan Show was the hit show on TV
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@Rick
At this point we may have to hope we don’t get nominees that was born during The Honeymooners… Lol
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That sounds really cute. If you think so much of McConnell why don’t send him some flowers and a love letter?
Biden has had more judges confirmed so far than Trump has at the same point in their administrations.
What difference does it make how old nominees are? Were your parents fifteen when they had you.
Lots of childish insults and coded bias from people who are in the process of adulting but not yet there.
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@Shawnee68
The difference is we are talking about lifetime appointments to the federal judiciary. The older the nominee is when confirmed, the likelihood that lifetime appointment will be shorter than a much younger nominee. Of course there are exceptions to the rule but on the average, younger means longer.
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Not all of the time. Age is the issue for folks on here. You can complain all you want it won’t make a difference.
You might want to focus on voting in elections and then it make less of a difference. The people who are involved in nominations from the Senate and White House are not 20 year olds still bunking with mom and dad.
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Luckily we are able to walk & chew gum so we can worry about both… Lol
We have a nominations hearing set for next Wednesday.
(https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/05/31/2023/nominations)
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You take yourself far too seriously Mr Smug, I mean shawn
Fine if you think older nominees is better great…Don’t be surprised when he or she takes senior status or outright retires and gets replaced by the GOP president…
Biden may be ahead on district court nominees from the last admin, but not circuit nominees….I realize there hasn’t been many new vacancies in 2023, but there are still numerous open seats without a nominee for well over a year (4th, 7th, and 10th circuits)
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Yep. Sadly agism is seen as not only acceptable by many youth but encouraged.
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Since we’re likely only going to have one hearing during this four week session, I wish they’d at least get all 5 remaining nominees on the docket. They had a few groups that large last year.
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If we had enough nominees, 5 per hearing would be the norm. Durbin scheduled some hearings with 6 nominees in the heyday when we had an influx of nominees pending. Of course those good ole days are long gone with this new WHC.
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A couple days ago the 9th circuit denied en banc in an immigration case. Judge Berzon wrote a statement regarding a denial (that’s effectively a dissent except that senior judges can’t vote) that was joined by 4 of the 7 Biden judges – Koh, Sung, Mendoza, Desai. The other 3 (Sanchez, H. Thomas, Johnstone) didn’t join.
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I expect de Alba to be a solid liberal on immigration cases. She will be a welcome addition to the 9th.
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@Gavi
You’re always my go to guy when it comes to senate rules. Tonight there are 11 amendment votes before the final debt ceiling vote. The first 8 have a 60 vote threshold but the last 3 are a simple majority vote. Do you know why the last 3 only need a majority vote?
(https://twitter.com/SenatePress/status/1664415039699275779)
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@Dequan
Lots to catch up on. Was so busy yesterday that I didn’t even know the Senate passed the bill.
Anyway, vote thresholds are usually negotiated and agreed upon before the votes. The more controversial the amendment, the more likely that the threshold will be set at 60.
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Welcome back @Gavi. Ok thanks, that explains it. I thought there was some senate rule that said if a bill had a certain number of vowels in it, it needs 60 votes but I see this time it’s as simple as more controversial vs. less controversial… Lol
Oh wait until you scroll down. Late last night in his wrap up, Schumer said two words I didn’t think was in his vocabulary when sending a cloture motion to set up s vote for next Wednesday. I’m still celebrating he knows how to say Dale Ho… Lol
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Some recommended candidates in Oregon. Sounds like a good set to choose from.
https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2023/06/names-of-6-finalists-forwarded-to-white-house-for-upcoming-federal-court-vacancy-in-oregon.html
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@Ben
Thank you so much for the article. A couple of the names are on @Ethan’s list. Here is what I found on each;
Mustafa Kasubhai (c. 1970) – He represented workers and unions in workers compensation cases and plaintiffs in civil cases… Indian American… I would give him an A, only taking off because of his age.
Kevin Díaz (c. 1971) – The article states he works to improve care for people charting the end of their lives & served as legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon… Hispanic… I would give him an A. It hurts not to give him an A+ but I have to take a little off for his age otherwise he is solid.
Amy Baggio (c. 1973) – Former long time federal defender & defended prisoners at Guantanamo Bay Prison… White… Same grade & reasoning as Kevin Díaz.
Monica Goracke (c. 1975) – The article states she heads the Oregon Law Center, a nonprofit that provides free legal help to low-income people… White… I would give her an A.
Katherine von Ter Stegge (c. 1976) – She was a trial attorney at the Oregon Department of Justice and as a prosecutor… White… She would get a D in my book. She shouldn’t even be on this list.
Nadia Dahab (c. 1982) – She specializes in representing immigrants and refugees, also civil rights & consumer protection…Arab American… A+. Let me say that again. She would be an A+.
By election day next year, there will be two more judges on the court eligible to retire. Hopefully this will not be Biden’s only pick because there are definitely some good picks here. Since I think there is a good possibility this isn’t going to be the only pick Biden gets, I would probably go with Kevin Díaz. The court would be without any Hispanic representation otherwise & he really is as close to an A+ as it gets even with his age. Nadia Dahab should already be getting vetted so in the event one of the other two judges that can retire decides to leave before the end of next year, she can be nominated quickly. Katherine von Ter Stegge shouldn’t even be considered, but otherwise any of the other picks would be good to great picks.
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I found a little bit about Judge von Ter Stegge. She was a member of the Portland Police Review Board, the Oregon Bar Association Unlawful Practice of Law Committee, and the Oregon Women Lawyers Foundation, where she is Director. She also did pro-bono legal work for the Oregon Crime Victim Law Center, focusing on victims of domestic violence.
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@Mitch
Thanks for the added info. I couldn’t understand why Katherine von Ter Stegge was on an otherwise great list so that helps a lot. I would change my grade for her from a D to a B- but she still is the worst choice out of the six.
In addition, @Ethan pointed out to me that Monica Goracke appears to have a disability. I can’t find anything in writing but just looking at her pictures, she may possibly have some dwarf disability. That may move her up on the list since we know the lack of judges with a disclose disability on the courts & so far Biden has only nominated Jamal Whitehead & Rita Lin. I still would go with Kevin Díaz & Nadia Dahab however.
Ok now back to cloture filed for Dale Ho… Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes
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Wow what a great set of recommended candidates – other selection panels (especially Illinois) should take note. Given that Wyden/Merkley were also responsible for Jennifer Sung, they may be my favorite Dem senator team with regards to nominations – though Ossoff/Warnock have also been great, and Warren/Markey have been decent too. Worst are Shaheen/Hassan by a mile with the Delaney fiasco.
Given who this WHC has been nominating, however, I would be surprised if it isn’t von Ter Stegge. Maybe Kasubhai would have a shot since magistrate judges are usually front runners for district court seats and are less controversial (with some exceptions like Kato).
And yes thank the heavens on Dale Ho – I’m assuming Schumer wouldn’t do this unless he knew he had the votes, so hopefully we will finally have a good Judge Ho to balance the Fifth Circuit Judge Ho (though anyone who thinks James Ho is a judge rather than a Fed Soc puppet is deluding themselves).
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@Hank
I didn’t even think about that but yes, finally a judge Ho I can respect… Lol
Dale Ho should be able to get his cloture & confirmation votes both on Wednesday. Darrel J. Papillion was the latest judge to get his commission the day after confirmation so hopefully Ho is ready to start Thursday morning after waiting over a year & a half.
I can’t argue with anybody that has Wyden & Merkley as their favorite Democrat duo of senator when it comes to the judiciary. Mine is still Ossoff & Warnock though. I wish they were able to get more pick but after Trump got six (2CC & 4 DC), it’s unlikely they will get another pick anytime soon sadly.
I have to slightly disagree with you on the worst duo though. Shaheen & Hassan only had one horrible pick & he withdrew so they have a chance to make up for that. Their only other pick was an A in my book. I think Menedez & Booker are the worst duo by FAR.
Ok time to go back to celebrating Dale Ho… Yes yes yes yes yes… Lol
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I found an interview that Kevin Diaz did with a group called Think Out Loud. Here is the link:
https://www.opb.org/article/2022/03/30/oregon-settles-lawsuit-challenging-residency-requirement-for-states-death-with-dignity-law/
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Agree that Ter Stegge is definitely the frontrunner here. She is also the only candidate I see of the bunch who would have a chance at picking up Republican support beyond the usual three of Graham, Collins, and Murkowski.
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@Frank
I would rather any of the other recommendations over Ter Stegge. Even if it takes more weeks or months to confirm any of the others, it will be worth it. I know it’s easy to forget but the Democrats increased their majority last November so I’m fine with confirming nominees without Republican support.
I do think most of the others would get at least a couple Republican votes. Kevin Díaz is solid & would be my pick despite him being in his low 50’s. Nadia Dahab is a solid A+ & it’s sad Trump got to fill one of the states two circuit court seats. We could have had Jennifer Sung & Dahab on the 9th.
@Mike
I usually am upset too when we get non judicial nominees too. I will say I was expecting the debt ceiling to take up a full week of senate floor time. It took up only one day. They didn’t even have to go into their weekend to pass it. That’s absolutely terrific news. So I’m fine with a 2 for 1 confirmation as long as the 1 is an A+ nominee like Dale Ho.
I believe we are at around 25 nominees that aren’t judicial, military or nominees that normally get voice votes like US attorneys or US marshals. It’s getting close to the point where we may see judges confirmed every week up until the budget votes begin after the Summer recess. Right now we just need a new batch of nominees next week or the week after & hopefully a double digit batch.
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Agree with the other nominees being able to get a couple of Republican votes, but as for a wider range of support, no chance.
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Wahooooo!!!!!
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Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes… Schumer is doing his wrap up. We finally got cloture motions for Dale Ho & two other non-judicial nominees. I’m about to do a back flip. I’m almost in tears. My favorite Biden judge finally treed up..
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Kind of outraged he only put up one judicial nomination for cloture.
Coming around to what other people have said, you can pass those people next year or when Republicans take the senate, right now they should confirm the most progressive nominees.
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I disagree, David Crane is the nominee for the case, that the votes are not available, and Dilwar Syed is blocked from the GOP Senators for since June 2021, as they have not showed up several times in the executive meeting of the Small Business Committee and denied a quorum. Senator Cardin has complained about that on the floor last year. He finally made it in the new Congress, that is a heavy hitter and alone due to the unfair treatment and long waiting there are almost nobody else, who deserved it more to be confirmed, although it’s no judicial nominee.
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Puts me in a better mood after the debt ceiling garbage as well as reading another article (though paywalled now) about the Jabari Wamble nomination.
I get wanting to be loyal to the people who stuck by you like Emanuel Cleaver did with Biden but this wasn’t a J.Michelle Childs type of case where the gripe was age and was being appointed to a certain court because of political connections.
Wamble and others in his office were accused of serious 5th and 6th amendment violations and as good as Klain was on nominees, how he or others thought that wouldn’t be an issue boggles my mind and is one of the failures Biden/Klain can be called out on.
His nomation should been withdrawn well before it was with Jacy Hurst or someone else being nominated.
Instead, we have a seat that will have been vacant for over two years now and it shouldn’t be.
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@Zack Jones
Here is the article not paywalled.
(https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article275716501.html)
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It’s interesting that Jerry Moran and Roger Marshall were not the reasons that Jabari Wamble withdrew. They were open to supporting him provided a third party signed off on him.
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No one is perfect on background stuff. That’s why nominations take time to make. Only a handful of people had to be withdrawn.
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Or at least, that is why they should take time to make them. Some recent administrations have been a bit more reckless to try and get through more nominees.
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Glad the debt bill is behind us and also glad to see Ho set up for confirmation. I was always confident that Schumer would find a way but it’s good to see the wheels in motion finally. I wonder if Bloomekatz or Rikelman might be up next with a cloture vote next Thursday?
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I think between the two, Bloomekatz would go first since she was nominated earlier and is slightly less controversial. That is dependent on them actually having the votes though.
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I’m wondering if Chuck Schumer made some kind of deal with Joe Manchin about the Dale Ho nomination? I’m assuming that Kamala Harris will be in town.
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I think it’s more likely Schumer made sure all other 50 Democrats are on board with him. Whip Durbin probably got the ok from the other 50. VP Harris should be in town just in case Wednesday. Also keep in mind Tim Scott is releasing his schedule in advance. If he is scheduled to be in Iowa, New Hampshire or somewhere else campaigning, that’s a perfect time to take advantage of only 48 Republicans in DC.
That’s another advantage of Biden running in the primary unopposed. Only Republicans will have senators missing votes campaigning for president. I wish senator Rubio or a couple others would jump in the race too… Lol
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DALE HO!!!
WHAT?!
OMG. I’m sure this means nothing, but I restarted my weekly calls to Schumer’s office last Friday and was fully expecting to make another call this morning.
What?!
Dale Ho is teed up?! Could not be more happy about this.
What do we think? It’ll be a 50-xx vote? I’d be shocked if Manchin voted for him. But I don’t care. One, a single vote more than half is all he needs.
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Haaaaaaaa
I couldn’t wait for you to scroll down & see the great news @Gavi. And you’re right, I don’t care how many votes he gets as long as the yes votes is one more then the no’s. Clarence Thomas was confirmed 52-48 in 1991 & his vote is justas equal to this day as other justices confirmed without opposition. I’m perfectly fine with any vote tally that gets him confirmed.
Oh don’t stop scrolling @Gavi, you missed more yesterday. The Oregon senators released the names of the six attorneys they recommended for the upcoming district court vacancy. 5 of the 6 I gave an A or higher grade to & the sixth I even gave a B-. Now that Dale Ho is finally teed up for a vote, I think you need to start changing your calls to book Wyden & Merkley to take a field trip to New Jersey & show them how to pick judges… Lol
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Hahaha! I feel like things go down when I am too busy to pay attention.
Awesome news about Oregon. That state’s elected officials generally know how to pick judges. I hope Gov. Kotek continues the trend. June 5th will be 2 months since that supreme court vacancy was officially declared. I don’t know if it should take that long.
And the calls to senators are kinda very involved. You have to tell them where in the state you’re from and the zip.
Last year when there was a long delay in getting new Massachusetts nominees, I considered calling those senators’ offices to ask what’s the hold up. But I’d have to give them a zip code and I didn’t feel like looking one up.
As a proud pessimist, I really hope that Schumer immediately moves to the nomination at the expiration of all the cloture and post-cloture time. He’s been known to let nominations just sit on the calendar after all the allotted time. And Durbin better get out his best bullwhip or cat o’ nine tails for this nomination. No unforeseen absences!
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Sounds like @Gavi needs to get busy more often then… Lol
I think it was very smart to set Dale Ho up for a Wednesday. Unlike a Monday (Or in next weeks case Tuesday), you can vote for cloture & confirmation both in the same day on a Wednesday. That should be the model for the remaining tough district court votes.
I still think Tim Scott is a factor. He can’t allow DeSantis to get a jump on him campaigning in Iowa & New Hampshire. With the anticipated announcements from Pence & Christie, I expect Scott to miss significant more floor votes.
On a side note I will repeat my Republican primary prediction. Chris Christie is the only candidate that can take Trump down. Even if he doesn’t take him down to get the nomination himself, I see Christie as the only one to take it right to Trump enough to knock him out for the count. I still anticipate Trump to be the nominee, but I’m happy to see Christie is likely to enter. I think Christie is part of the reason we got Trump as the 2016 nominee in the first place because of the way he took Rubio out for Trump. I’m going to get my popcorn ready.
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As you mentioned earlier, I am also disappointed more Republican senators aren’t running. Would really make things easier confirming judges.
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The good news is Tim Scott now has the sixth richest man on the planet bank rolling him. That should keep him in the race possibly through early to mid next year. And if he is picked as the eventual nominees VP (That would be a smart move), we could be talking about him missing significant amount of floor votes throughout the election.
I think the Oregon pick will go a long way to tell how this new WHC will approach nominees the rest of this term. We have 5 clearly better choices than the 6th. Seeing both Jenkins, Hunt & Daniels picked over Karen Shelley & even Nicholas Gowen in Illinois gauge me some hesitation to say which direction this WHC will go. But they still have time to change course.
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Professor Collins thinks Ramirez will be confirmed by 6/13.
Roopali Desai had a very quick confirmation last year
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I sure as Hell hope Ramirez is given the same treatment as Roopali Desai. No cloture vote should be needed & the time should be deemed expired & ready for an immediate vote. Otherwise we mine as well had gotten Rochelle Garza or another great pick.
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Hmmm, I am dubious about this happening. Of course, the timeline is possible with UC, but would Schumer even seek one for this nomination? That UC request would circumvent multiple senate rules.
That said, as is known, I dislike this nomination, but would love for it to take up no time on the floor. We’ll know in a week if the optimist wins or the pessimist.
What’s the senate’s schedule for the next couple weeks? Is this their 5-week stretch?
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They are in next 3 weeks, only one is a Mon-Thur, then off for 2 weeks for 4th of July break….Then 3 weeks before the summer recess.
The only good thing is when they come back from the summer recess after Labor Day, it’s mostly Mon-Thur weeks, only a few Tues-Thur weeks which have been frequent in 2023
https://www.pressphotographers.senate.gov/
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@Gavi
Here’s the remaining schedule starting on Monday throughout the Summer recess:
June 5 – Monday off
June 12 – Full week
June 19 – Monday off
June 26 – Recess week
July 3 – Recess week
July 10 – Full week
July 17 – Monday off
July 24 – Monday off
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Appellate nominees should always be given highest priority, behind only SCOTUS or Cabinet picks. Even if the senate won’t agree to fast track them Schumer should use regular order to push for votes on both of them.
Ideally Bloomekatz, Rikelman, de Alba, and Ramirez will all be confirmed by the July 4th recess and certainly before the August recess.
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