First assistant U.S. Attorney Jerry Edwards is vying to be the first Democratic appointee named to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana since Judge Elizabeth Erny Foote was confirmed in 2010.
Background
Jerry Edwards Jr. received a Bachelor of Arts from Georgia State University in 2002 and a J.D. from Vermont Law and Graduate School in 2005.
After graduation, Edwards clerked for Judges Jeanette G. Garrett and Scott J. Crichton on the Caddo Parish District Court (Crichton currently serves on the Louisiana Supreme Court). After completing his clerkships, Edwards joined Blanchard, Walker, O’Quin & Roberts A.P.L.C. in Shreveport. In 2019, Edwards left the firm to join the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Louisiana, where he has served as Chief of the Civil Division, and, under U.S. Attorney Brandon Brown, has served as first assistant (the office’s number two).
History of the Seat
Edwards has been nominated for a vacancy on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana. This seat was opened by the move to senior status of Judge Michael Juneau on February 1, 2022. Edwards has received support for his nomination from Republican Senator Bill Cassidy, although the House Black caucus has asked the White House to withdraw his nomination due to a lack of consultation with Rep. Troy Carter.
Legal Experience
Edwards started his legal career with the Shreveport office of Blanchard, Walker, O’Quin & Roberts A.P.L.C., working both as an associate and a shareholder with the firm. At the firm, Edwards represented plaintiffs in a number of civil cases, including claims of tort and contract damages. Compare Bartley v. Fondren, No. 43,779-CA (La. App. 2d Cir.) to BARCAT, LLC v. Nail, No. 44,416-CA, 15 So.3d 1246 (La. App. 2d Cir. 2009). Edwards also sued the City of Shreveport after his clients were denied a permit to build a Sonic, Drive-in on their property. See D’Argent Properties v. City of Shreveport, 15 So.3d 334 (La. App. 2d Cir. 2009).
Edwards also, on occasion, represented defendants in civil cases, representing Wal-Mart in a slip-and-fall case where the trial court granted summary judgment in his client’s favor. See Primrose v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 127 So.3d 13 (La. App. 2d Cir. 2013).
Since 2019, Edwards has worked for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Louisiana, working on the civil side. Notably, in this role, Edwards was part of the legal team defending the Covid-19 contractor mandate against suits brought by the State of Louisiana. See Louisiana v. Biden, 575 F. Supp. 3d 680 (W.D. La. 2021).
Political Experience
Edwards has a number of political donations to his name, almost exclusively to Democrats, including Hillary Clinton, although he did donate to local prosecutor Cloyce Clark during his run for State Senate in Louisiana as a Republican. Edwards also gave to Georgia Supreme Court Justice Nels Petersen, who, albeit running in a nonpartisan election, is considered a conservative.
Overall Assessment
With a fairly conventional record in the Shreveport legal community and the support of his home state senators, Edwards is expected to sail to confirmation. Despite the objections of the House Black caucus, the fact that house members have made clear that they have no individual issues with Edwards himself should allow him to retain the Democratic support he needs to be confirmed.
The Vetting Room 
It’s nice to see a new write up from Harsh. Sadly with the alternating months of 4 & then 2 new nominees every month this year, we don’t get the opportunity as often to get a new post anymore.
As for Edwards, I’m happy to see Kennedy approve of yet another Black man to the federal bench. He has been surprisingly good in that respect. This one seems to be your run in the mill nominee which is why the 11 Black congress members signed the letter of withdrawal.
He’s donated to a couple Republicans which I guess is understandable in Louisiana but mostly Democrats. He seems acceptable for a red state but had blue slips been ditched like I advocated for he would have been a bad pick then. But in a blue slip world, let’s get him confirmed.
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Nice to see a nominee who has represented both sides of the aisle in his career. Another solid pick from LA.
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Also a minor correction in regards to the article. The seat technically became vacant when Michael Juneau took senior status on February 1, 2022, not passing away (although he indeed passed away in 2023).
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It’s good to see our first Trump flip. My condolences to the family of Michael Juneau.
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Technically Susan Declerq filling Stephanie Davis’ seat would be a Trump flip as well. Even though she was considered a liberal.
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@Dequan:
Dawkins is still federal judge, on the appeals court now, but still in service, while Juneau has left the bench and will be replaced, so I wouldn’t count Dawkins as a flip.
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Hello Harsh,
small correction: He went senior at 1 February 2022 and died 13 May 2023. Although his term ended with his dead, the seat became vacant earlier.
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@Thomas
That’s not how a flip is counted.
It isn’t counted only in the case of death. It’s counted merely when the new occupant of the seat is appointed by the president of a different party than the previous occupant, even if that previous occupant vacated the seat upon elevation.
Upon DeClercq’s confirmation and appointment, the Eastern District of Michigan will have one more Dem appointee than before.
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Technically you can say Stephanie Davis is a flip but in reality, we all know she was a Democrat that was part of a package deal. I only count flips if they aren’t explicitly replacing somebody who is of the opposite party but was nominated in a package deal.
For instance, Sonia Sotomayor was nominated to her district court seat by GHW Bush as part of a 3 for 1 deal because at the time Schumer & a Republican were the two US senators. When Sotomayor was elevated, I wouldn’t count that as a flip because she was a known liberal Democrat despite being initially nominated by a Republican.
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Schumer wasn’t a senator yet. Sotomayor was recommended by Pat Moynihan, a Dem senator in NY from 1976 to 2000.
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Oh yea you’re correct. Still a package deal but Schumer’s predecessor.
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Already noted that a few posts above, but well observed.
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Corrected. Thank you.
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He was on my list. Still one more vacancy on this court in Shreveport. Stephanie Finley is based in Lafayette so I doubt it will go to her. A few names I have on my radar for Shreveport:
-Curtis D. Joseph Jr. (attorney at the firm Blanchard Walker O’Quin & Roberts).
-Carranza Pryor (Chief Counsel at LSU Health Sciences Center Shreveport and former clerk to 5th circuit Judge Carl Stewart).
-Karelia Stewart (a state judge in Louisiana (Louisiana First Judicial District) and the daughter of the aforementioned Judge Carl Stewart).
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actually, I typed too soon. Edwards is based in Shreveport but he is replacing Juneau (who was based in Lafayette).
The other vacancy will likely go to Alexandria, Monroe, or Lafayette. No current active judges on the court from Alexandria and only one from Monroe but two from Lafayette.
On my radar
For Alexandria:
-State judge Monique Freeman Rauls.
-State judge David M. Williams.
For Monroe:
-Magistrate Judge Kayla McClusky.
-State judge Alvin Sharp.
For Lafayette:
-Finley.
-AUSA Karen J. King.
-AUSA Jamilla Bynog.
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Edwards seems like a great pick to me, as are Long and Papillion.
Kennedy and Cassidy have really been very reasonable with all of their nominees thus far. I wish every red state duo took the same approach.
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I would love to know who the third nominee was that Kennedy said Biden reneged on. I wonder was it a Republican or was it a Democrat that they felt wasn’t good enough.
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Happy Julie Rikelman Confirmation Day to all who celebrate (so anyone who believes women have rights) – one of Biden’s best nominees yet, and a major upgrade from the Republican-lite Sandra Lynch. Somebody correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe Rikelman is the first judge with a background in women’s rights since RBG herself.
I know that Delery and Zients are incompetent idiots, but the fact that Manchin/Collins/Murkowski are OK with Rikelman shows that reproductive justice attorneys are confirmable – especially since Dems have seen how abortion is an electorally winning issue and not something they need to run from. I would love to see more nominees from the Center for Reproductive Rights or the ACLU’s Women’s Rights/Reproductive Freedom projects.
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@Hank
I’m definitely celebrating right along with you. According to Rikelman’s SJC questionnaire, she initially applied for one of the three district court vacancies. Great decision to pick her for the circuit court instead similar to Freeman in Pennsylvania. What a major upgrade to who I thought was the front runner, Denise Casper.
Yea I believe Rikelman is the first openly woman rights advocates since RBG. I can’t think of any since. Biden definitely needs to nominate more.
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@Dequan
This flip is the numerical appointment of one president vis-a-vis the numerical appointment of another.
What you are describing is ideology, which isn’t always easily discernable like X number in one column and X number in the other column. This is literally quantifiable.
Ideology, on the other hand, isn’t so black and white:
On SCOTUS is KBJ a flip? Is Kavanaugh a flip? Is Sotomayor a flip? These would be legitimate questions on ideological continuity.
Meanwhile, no one will ask if Barrett is a flip. The question answers itself.
Things get really fun when you try to decide where a judge belongs when she was nominated by one president but appointed by another haha. (For the record, it’s always the appointment, that is, the signing of the commission, that actually counts.)
On duty stations
I keep reminding us that they aren’t as important as some make it out to be. There are a few *judicial divisions* established by law, which makes the point about how important those stations are. If duty stations within a court were set in stone (besides those set forth in statutes), there would be no geographical variance ever between judgeships. Judge A from station A will always be replaced by Judge B from station A, leaving all the other divisions without a resident judge in chambers.
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@Gavi
You’re giving me two different answers. Today you’re saying if a Democrat president replaces a judge who was appointed by a Republican president, that TECHNICALLY is a flip regardless of if it was a package deal or not. But a couple months ago when I said Freeman was TECHNICALLY the first Biden judge to get a Democrat no vote since Schumer changed his vote to no when three Democrats were unexpectedly out & he needed to bring her up for reconsideration, you said that doesn’t count. Now I’m that case, not only is it part of the historical senate record but there’s video of Schumer voting no yet you said it didn’t count.
It sounds like you’re flip flopping on your position. I think we need to bring our cases in front of a judge & let them decide who’s right. Is Dale Ho commissioned yet? Perhaps we can be his first case… Haaaaaaaa
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KBJ is definitely not a flip as her predecessor was a liberal Democrat. Ditto Gorsuch as his successor was a conservative Republican “textualist”. Barrett & Thomas are clear flips because they are conservative Republicans replacing liberal Democrats.
Kavanaugh & Sotomayor being flips is a question up to interpretation. Sotomayor & Kagan were party flips but not ideological flips, while Alito & Kavanaugh were ideological half-flips but not party flips. I would also throw Roberts in as a potential flip because he is significantly more moderate than Rehnquist, his predecessor.
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In the case of Jerry Edwards replacing Michael Juneau, that is a party flip. A Biden judge replacing a Trump judge. Now if I had to guess, I think it will end up being an ideological flip as well but with Juneau having only a few years in the bench combined with Edwards seeming to be left of center but not having an extensively liberal background, it may take time to get a more accurate answer to that.
In the SCOTUS justices cases brought up above, there are decades long judicial records for the justices that left & some years record from the justices that replaced them. So those are easier to decide if it’s an ideology flip.
Sotomayor is slightly to the left of Souter so that’s a party flip but not as much of an ideological flip. Kagan might be as progressive as Stevens. Gorsuch & Kavanaugh may be equals in both party & ideology to Scalia & Kennedy. If you would have asked me a year ago I would have said Kavanaugh is much more to the right of Kennedy but now I would say slightly to the right. ACB is a home run for conservatives. She is a major flip both in party & ideology. The only parallel in the past half century I can think of was when Thomas replaced Marshal. Sucks Democrats don’t have the same type of luck to have a hard line conservative leave the bench while there is a Democrat president & senate.
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Kavanaugh has been surprising, particularly his vote in Allen v. Milligan (the Voting Rights Act case).
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Is it too much to ask for cloture and confirmation votes on Kenly Kato on Thursday?
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It’s possible. I think there will be 2-3 votes on Thursday. Hopefully one of them is for an appellate nominee.
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Jerry Edwards is a conventional nominee who’s well-qualified and generates no objections so far. If he fares will before the Judiciary Committee, he’ll be confirmed by a wide margin.
If the Louisiana nominees are part of a package deal, don’t the state’s U.S. Senators get to pick the nominee for the final vacancy?
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@Mitch
That was my question earlier today. Kennedy said Biden pulled the 4th nominee. Papillion & Edwards are Democrat picks. I don’t know if Brandon Scott Long was a Democrat or Kennedy/Cassidy pick. I can’t find much on him in either direction. So it’s hard to say if the fourth pick is a Biden, Republican or conscience pick.
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Also noteworthy that several Congressional Black Caucus members, including Louisiana’s Troy Carter, oppose this deal. Probably won’t result in any lost Dem support since Booker & Warnock aren’t swayed by the CBC’s demand to end blue slips.
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@Ryan Joshi
The letter from the Black Caucus members stated that they have no objection to the nominees themselves. They just have some process complaints, claim that Troy Carter wasn’t adequately consulted.
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The letter from the Black Caucus members will have little (More likely no) affect in the two pending Louisiana nominees. It’s more a proxy complaint as there are a slew of judicial vacancies in red states. It’s a warning shot for future red state vacancies. It’s not a coincidence the first signature was Jim Clyburn, & no the 9 signatures are n it in alphabetical order.
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I have this very complicated scheme to keep track of who’s voted on the Rikelman nomination. I have 3 270towin blank Senate maps in 3 different tabs. Then I will fill in a blue for a yes and a red for no (for example, if Schumer votes in favor, I fill New York blue on the 2022 interactive map).
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While we are all celebrating Happy Julie Rikelman Day & waiting to celebrate Happy International Dale Ho Commission Day, there is another very important result of all these A+ nominees getting confirmed besides their actual confirmation. After today, I think there’s only one or may two pending nominees left that should garner at least one GOP Yes vote. That is important because we don’t want any more senate floor time wasted like the Freeman vote or cloture motions withdrawn like Merle & Ho because of future “Attendance issues””.
I also think getting the A+ nominees out of the way should relive Tim Scott to miss more future votes which is good. Now of course I hope with 5 circuit court & dozens of district court vacancies still vacant without a nominee, at least a handful of them will be A+ nominees. But getting the most liberal pending nominees out of the way now is a big relief should Feinstein or any other Democrat senator have any future health issues that keep them out for an extended amount of time. Now we just need more nominees from The White House.
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At this rate the message to liberal judges considering retirement is “Don’t retire because we might not fill your seat”
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Uuuggghhh…. That’s my fear liberal judges are thinking too. Hopefully they will look at the speed of nominees such as de Alba more than the vacancies for the 1st & 10th to help persuade them. With Rikelman’s confirmation today there will be no circuit that has more than one vacancy pending. Perhaps that could help persuade some on the fence too if they think the senators will be able to focus on finding a nominee quicker now versus when a circuit has multiple vacancies all at once.
I also think the speed of some district court nominee’s confirmation should also persuade some. Whitehead, Grey, Papillon & Silfen were all fast tracked & each have a judge in their respective circuit that is eligible for retirement right now.
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Based on how the current WHC operates, I wouldn’t expect any new nominees until mid-July at the earliest.
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@Dequan: Did you mean “there’s only one or may two pending nominees left that *shouldn’t* garner at least one GOP Yes vote”? Meaning, most of the rest will get at least one R vote and can be confirmed even with 1 D absence.
On another note, we can really fill a lot of the current vacancies even if we just stay with the “blue states first” strategy. There are 3 CCA vacancies in blue states (NH, NJ, & MD) and 9 district vacancies (CT; NYS; NYW; PAE; PAM; MIE; CAN, all w/1 apiece; IT, 2 ). I can’t understand what’s going on with these, since most of these states have had other nominees confirmed already and must have a list the WH can consult.
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@Rayspace
Exactly. If we can get at least one GOP vote on a nominee, at least that covers a Democrat or two senators being out. The main thing is Manchin getting most of his no votes out of the way so even with another Dem out, we shouldn’t have any more Freeman repeats.
Yea that’s a good point on the blue state vacancies. For the circuit courts, I don’t even want to think about the 4th. I get angry when I think about Cardin playing Russian Roulette with that seat since last year. I suspect the 1st will be another few months’ process. The third is the simplest out of the three. They either have to get a yes from Esther Salas, Julien Neals or go to a New Jersey nursing home, find a retired attorney in their 80’s & roll them to the SJC hearing in a wheelchair if we can expect anything like the previous Biden New Jersey nominees…smh
Rikelman has been CONFIRMED 51-43.
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Senate just recessed with no cloture motions sent. Merle’s cloture & confirmation vote set up for tomorrow so she should be the 100th district court confirmation under Biden. That looks like the last confirmation for the next three weeks. At least we got most of the heavy hitters confirmed.
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They have set up several pro-abortion right votes in the Senate to push Republicans in a tough spot on the overturn of Roe anniversary. I think that’s what they will spend a couple of days or week on.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/20/politics/senate-votes-abortion/index.html
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Oh nevermind, this is different than what I read earlier. These are just going to be pretty straightforward bills that won’t go to a vote once a republican objects a unanimous consent request.
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Looks like it Dequan. Thursday will probably only be the Chile treaty vote.
Overall it’s been a very productive few weeks. Hopefully we get another round of nominees by next Wednesday so that SJC can squeeze in two more hearings before the August recess.
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Does anybody know how many more of these treats crap type Bills are left? I know nothing about them but they seem to take up at least a day of senate floor time so I was curious how many more are left.
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As far as I can tell this is the only treaty currently pending. The rest are all nominees, mostly military and DOD nominees.
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Well that’s good news at least. The last thing we need is an entire day of senate floor time spent on treaties.
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Starting to realize the best parts of this year has been watching the confirmation of judges nominated from Ron Klains time at the WH.
I get it, if the GOP wins the senate and Biden wins reelection why burn senate hours now on compromise red state candidates they can do that in 25′-27′. But not ONE district nominee for Florida or Texas in 6 months even after the Irma Carrillo Ramirez compromise?
Ok, fine, I’ll give you that too, where are the blue states nominees?! It really feels like there’s been a big loss in momentum on judges when winning 51 seats should’ve reinvigorated the WH and Senate Dems.
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I wholeheartedly agree. You would have thought that having an extra seat would embolden blue-state senators to recommend liberal nominees to every vacancy. But here we are many months later with no nominees in blue states and the Maryland senators playing with fire and not having an ounce of urgency to fill their circuit court seat. McConnell would never allow a red-state circuit court seat to remain vacant for this long.
I’m encouraged by the fact that the 4th circuit was once considered to be the most conservative circuit court in the country, and over the years it has become a moderate to liberal-leaning court. The 5th circuit is years (decades really) away from following suit, but it would be nice to start somewhere. There are a bunch of Reagan and H.W Bush appointees still on active status, would be really cool to put a stop to the hackery going on down there. But with the nomination of I. Ramirez, I have no optimism that Biden would replace those circuit judges with anything besides more 60 year old moderate judges.
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I’ve said in the past barring any additional retirements, I think the 5th circuit will be more conservative on January 20, 2024 then it was on January 20, 2021. Both Douglas & Ramirez are to the right of the judges they replaced. With the ages of many judges on the court, we had a real shot at making it reasonable by the end of a second Biden term. Now it would likely take three straight Democrat terms to make that happen because not only have we not stopped digging, but we are still digging the hole deeper.
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The thing is that not all blue state senators are liberal. States such as Delaware, New Jersey, Maryland, and New Hampshire each have 2 Democratic senators yet they are all relatively middle of the road when compared to the rest of their caucus.
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And in the case of New Jersey, we literally have numerous district court judges to the right of some Louisiana judges. That’s including one outright Republican & with blue slips in play…smh
I will enjoy seeing Natasha Merle confirmed today. This will likely be the last judge confirmed for about three weeks unless there is some kind of UA agreement for Ramirez.
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Schumer had better have a good headcount for this. Graham, Murkowski, and Collins have already voted No on cloture for Merle.
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Yesterday Barrasso, Fetterman, Murphy, Risch, Rubio and Tim Scott didn’t vote. I would assume at the very least Scott will still be out today. So even if both Fetterman & Murphy are still out, as long as Manchin is a yes then she should be confirmed today.
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I hope Schumer has paged the VP as Manchin voted no.
Sinema was an AYE. Fetterman & Murphy, both out yesterday were an AYE as well
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This is what I don’t understand. They have the 15-minute clock put up once the vote starts. These votes usually go on for about a hour. Why not once the 15-minute clock is up, as soon as the Democrats are ahead & no other senator is on the senate floor, just stop the vote at that time. Like for instance if it’s 22 minutes after the vote started & the vote is 22 Democrats & 21 Republicans, why not just stop then? Especially if there are attendance issues or tough votes.
That would solve two problems. One, the nominee would get confirmed. Two, it would encourage senators to make it to the floor within the 15 minutes.
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Before the Merle vote, they had a veto vote, so everyone should have already been in the chamber or nearby
https://www.senate.gov/legislative/votes_new.htm
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VP Harris will have to break the tie unless a Republican misses a vote for some reason. Manchin just voted no & every senator seems to be in town today, kinda wish they switched Merle and Rikelman now
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WOW… Manchin voted no on Merle. I didn’t see that coming. Hopefully Tim Scott is still out.
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VP Harris just sat down
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Thank you John Fetterman (and Mark Kelly, CCM, Warnock and others)
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Its crazy to think just one fewer democratic senator and no judge ho, abudu, choudhury and merle too.
Thank you senator sinema , for all her bs and attitude she has come through big time in judiciary nominations..
btw dequan its going to be july soon, still confident we are going to get a nominee to the 7th circuit this year ? or have you accepted what i said that the gop senators will string biden along and run out the clock in hopes a desantis can fill the seat. The strategy is so obvious and clear, the best case scenario here is another right of center nearly 60 year old moderate judge that bush could have nominated in his presidency, biden cowardice and the lack of courage in general is astounding. The bad faith gop senators string biden and the whitehouse along and they cant figure it out to be a charade and grift.
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Even if what you propose comes to pass, such a judge would be quite to the left of the hyper-conservative Kanne. I still bet we will see a nominee there sometime in the fall.
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@aangren:
I definitely must admit me calling you crazy about 7 months ago doesn’t look so crazy anymore. I can’t believe we still don’t have a nominee for both, let alone either 7th or 10th vacancy. I still am holding out hope your timeline is off but just admit it’s much much more possible now then when you first said it. Hell we don’t even have a nominee for the 4th because some senators seemingly enjoy playing Russian Roulette with circuit court seats.
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Hey folks, I am looking forward to Merle part II.
Very happy about Rikelman yesterday. Like Dale Ho, she won’t get many cases concerning with the area of law for which they are most famous (few, if any voting rights cases from SDNY for Ho, who’ll be stuck presiding over a securities-heavy caseload; and no major abortion cases on the docket in liberal New England for Rikelman). That doesn’t take away from my joy for their confirmations!
@aagren
Uh-oh you will trigger one of Frank’s Pavlovian responses he’s repeated ad nauseam, that one year is too short a time to find a replacement, which has never been done in the history of the world and we’ll get a nobody who isn’t worth the wait later this fall and we should shut up about it, already!
Anyway, I hope I can catch the Merle vote live.
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The Merle confirmation vote is currently 49-49. Fetterman is in the chair looking like I feel. Like can we just get the one missing Democrat in here & end the vote before the one missing Republican returns… Lol
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49-49. Who are we waiting for (besides VP)?
Senators, whatever you’re doing, stop doing it and vote!
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Who is whipping this vote???? We need one more vote, or 1 vote and the VP. Get it done! Senators are checking with the desk to make sure their vote has been recorded already. Geez…
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Well I guess we know why before Dale Ho two weeks ago, Natasha Merle was the only Biden nominee to have their cloture motion withdrawn. Last year I couldn’t figure out why but I guess Manchin told Schumer & Durbin he was a no vote so they withdrew her in hopes of winning an additional seat in the midterm. Thank God they did. It’s worth the wait. She’s 43 so the extra year won’t hurt things overall.
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If they’re stuck at 49/49 can’t they call it the tie and just have Harris break in support?
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Yup. The VP can break a tie regardless of if it’s 50-50, 49-49 or 18-18. This goes back to my earlier question. Why hold votes open once the 15 minute threshold is finished if you have the numbers to confirm. This could have been over 20 minutes ago.
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Bernie Sanders voted & then they immediately closed the vote. Good job. Congrats to Natasha Merle, Biden’s 100th district court judge.
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51 senators are needed for a quorum (and the VP doesn’t count towards a quorum), so the lowest possible tie vote would be 26-26.
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Ah good point. Yea maybe not 18-18… Lol
Well besides the off chance of a fast tracked Ramirez vote tomorrow, looks like no more judicial confirmations until July.
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Isn’t Merle just 40??
Also, put an asterisk beside that 100.
She’s definitely the 100th to be confirmed. Getting a judicial commission is another thing. Biden has more than a couple of those to sign and now Merle’s will be added. I don’t know if the WH signs the commissions in order of confirmation but Merle’s should definitely be signed before Choudhury who’s about 7 years older, to maximize chances of the younger one becoming the chief.
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Shouldn’t we want Choudhury commission to be signed before or the same day as Merle to maximize chief justices? Merle is the younger of the two do you want the older judge to be signed first so both have a chance to be chief.
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Hmmm, is that how they do it? I’ll have to look into it.
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Yes, Choudhury is older so hers should be signed first.
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However, Trump judge Rachel Kovner is set to become chief judge in 2035 and go until 2042, meaning Choudhury will be too old to become chief either way unless there is some unexpected change.
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Yea I know it’s unlikely for some judges to become chief but I still would rather the commissions he signed in order of age. Anything can happen so an unexpected retirement, death or (God forbid) elevation & confirming judges in order maximize me your chances of having more chief judges in the future.
I will note there are notable exceptions to that rule. The last two New Jersey judges were confirmed close together & the younger judges commission was signed first. But that was a good thing in that case since the older judge is an out Republican.
As for the number of lifetime appointed judges confirmed this month only being 6, yes I usually would complain but not in this case. By my count, five of the six I personally have an A+ to & the sixth, Vera is only an A & not a A+ in my book because of his age. Almost as important as the judges themselves is that we have almost cleared the deck of nominees Manchin will likely vote no on so we won’t have to swear as much in the future every time a Democrat senator coughs.
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Gavi and others, the commissions will be signed based on whomever is ready first to take on the duties, not because of their ages.
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3/5 tough confirmations this month but 5 judges in a month is pathetic.
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There have actually been 6 judges confirmed this month (7 if you count Silfen for the Court of Federal Claims), but point taken.
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I’d be satisfied if they confirm 5 judges EVERY month (August included).
That would make 240 judges over 4 years, narrowly breaking Trump’s record of 234 in 4 years.
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I’d be happy if they cleared the current 17 nominees who are out of SJC before the August recess.
On another note, anyone want to make a prediction as to how many CCA confirmations Biden will have by the end of this term? My guess is 43–35 already confirmed + 3 currently on the floor + 3/5 vacancies w/o nominees + 2 who haven’t announced yet.
Not happy it’s not 54 or above, but guessing that it’ll be 43 or close to it.
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I’ll predict a little higher. I’ll guess 48 circuit court judges before 2025. Looking at the ages of the judges on the Federal circuit, I feel we will get two more vacancies there. Those are much easier to fill as there are no home state senators to consult with. I still feel we could get another two 9th circuit vacancies.
Those four, combined with the 35, 3 pending & 5 vacancies without a nominee would get us to 47. I think out of the remaining 11 circuits, we will get at least one other vacancy & any additional can make up for if the 9th or Federal circuits have less then 4 more vacancies.
Now of course getting to 48 will depend a lot on WHEN vacancies start to occur. I will stick to my prediction that any red state circuit court vacancy announced after January 2024 is unlikely to get filled knowing this new WHC office. I know @Gavi had an even earlier date (I believe by the end of October of this year). So for me, as long as we can get 5 more announced vacancies before February of next year, I think 48 by the end of Biden’s term is very possible.
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June was still a good month in my book. Rikelman, Ho, Vera, Pitts, Choudhury, and Merle are all great nominees.
With 3 working weeks (and only one full week) my hope is to see several more confirmations prior to the August Recess. I think if they take two of those weeks just to do judges they should be able to knock out Bloomekatz plus the 9 district nominees still pending from 2021/22.
And it bears repeating, but the WH really needs to make more nominations by this time next week to avoid another missed SJC slot. Preferably for two of the circuit court vacancies.
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I just noticed with Merle’s confirmation, the EDNY will now have 4 Black women as active judges on it. That has to be a record for any Article 3 federal court. There probably isn’t another court that has had 4 women total, active or inactive on it, let alone all at the same time. I have to give Schumer some credit in that department when it comes to diversity.
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I recall at the start of Biden’s presidency, there were only 4 Black women on all circuit courts combined. Biden appointed 12 Black women to the circuit courts (KBJ excluded), more than tripling the total number of Black women on the circuit courts.
Way too many district court judges for me to keep track of how many are a specific race or gender.
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There were 8 Black woman judges on the circuit courts in history before Biden took office. He has added 13 since taking office. A tremendous feat to go along with other diversity groups & backgrounds as well.
This is definitely a great week & a half span…
(https://twitter.com/civilrightsorg/status/1671606805112266753)
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There are 5 active black women judges in NDIL – Coleman, Ellis, Wood, Jenkins, and Hunt. 3 Obama appointees, 2 Biden.
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Yea, as @Ethan said it will probably take a generation to flip the 8th. A second Biden term could at least put a dent in the disparity & certainly add some woman to the court.
Oh wow, FIVE Black woman on the NDIL. That’s incredible. One vacancy left. Both remaining recommendations would be good but I’m hoping for Karen Shelley. I expect the nominee for vacancy to be in the next batch (Whenever that is…) sigh
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Unrelated but tomorrow is Senator Feinstein’s 90th birthday. The last senator to still be in office at age 90 was Robert Byrd.
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Despite how I have felt about her since October 2020, I do wish Senator Feinstein a happy birthday & happy & healthy many more.
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@Dequan: Bold prediction. You have all 5 current vacancies w/o nominees being filled by Jan. 2025. I’m a little wary, but I like your optimism. And 48 is a great number.
Here’s hoping some Reagan or Bush 41 judges (or even Bush 43) decide it’s time to spend time with the grandkids or playing canasta. I’m sure Klobuchar is chomping at the bit to have a say on replacing Loken in the 8th.
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I know the debacle of a vacancy for the 10th as well as the Indiana senators probably stalling to fill a GOP seat after working in good faith to fill a Democrat seat. But I just see no way the seats go the rest of this year, let alone next without a nominee. Now Your question wasn’t will they be GOOD nominees because I might have a different answer for you… Haaaa
If Biden could get to 48, I truly hope one of the vacancies is on the 8th. I really want Jane Kelly to get some back up as she is the only Democrat appointee & woman on the court. If Biden gets re-elected, I think the 8th could look a bit more like the 3rd by the end of 2028. About half the court would be eligible for senior status by then & I think each of Biden’s appointments would be woman (Albeit that could change on the 3rd depending on if Julien Neals or another man gets the current vacancy).
Here would be my top 5 wish list if Biden could get to 48;
1. Henderson on the DC circuit leaves.
2. At least one vacancy on the 8th.
3. At least one Illinois judges leaves the bench on the 7th.
4. ANY of the eligible 5th circuit judges leaves the bench.
5. Charles Wilson leaves the bench. Then Nancy Abudu changes her duty station to Florida so Biden can fill Wilson’s seat with Ossoff & Warnock instead of Rubio & Scott. As a resident of Miami, I may have to make a personal point of privilege & actually move this up higher on the list now that I think about it… Haaaaa
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Chances of this WHC moving a COA seat from one state to another, as you’re suggesting with the Abudu/Wilson fantasy, are less than zero. In the two cases when a judge has moved states recently (Trott and McKeown), the senators of their original states only got to recommend a vacancy once that judge went senior.
Regardless of where the judge moves, the seat is seen as “belonging” to the state – and if you think Joe Biden is going to break with precedent, I have a bridge to sell you.
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Haaaaaaa… Abudu moving her duty station to Florida is definitely a fantasy of mine I must admit. But one can dream can’t he… Lol
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The DC circuit is already solidly liberal, but another seat would be fantastic.
I’d love for Biden to get at least 2 or 3 vacancies on the 8th if he wins reelection and has a friendly senate. The judges McConnell would allow him to have versus the judges he could appoint with an evenly split senate would be MILES apart. If he and Durbin grew a pair and just nominated circuit judges in red states without approval from the GOP senators would be amazing, but we all know the judges he would nominate after half a year of negotiating and bargaining.
Just took a look at the 7th circuit and Biden could get 5 appointees to that court by the time his second term is up. Of course, it starts with filling Kanne’s untimely vacancy and waiting out the lone remaining H.W appointee, then hope to get lucky with Sykes taking senior status giving Biden a chance to name a new circuit judge in Wisconsin. It’s unlikely, but getting a minimum of 4 appointees to the 7th circuit is huge.
Looking at the confirmation years for the 3 most senior circuit judges on the 5th circuit makes it likely that at least 1-2 take senior status and at least give Biden the option to replace them with a moderate to left-leaning judge(s). If Biden can get 3 appointees to that court, I would feel a lot better. It would never mitigate my feelings towards Leahy and Obama for kowtowing to the Texas senators and not filling the vacancies at the time. It was more Leahy than Obama, but it’s unlikely that they will get the opportunity to fill 2 vacancies on the 5th circuit with a friendly senate.
And to end my response, just get more judges on the 11th! Abudu needs some help on that court, and any appointees would have the power to overrule Judge Cannon. I’m not sure about the feasibility of changing duty stations once confirmed, but it would be awesome to bypass Rubio and Voldemort altogether while giving Ossoff and Warnock another chance to pick a young lawyer from the SPLC or LDF.
Overall, if Biden can at least two judges on every circuit court in the country, I’ll consider his presidency to be a success. (Still gonna dream about replacing Thomas with Holly Thomas/Alison Nathan, idc)
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Voldemort… Haaaaaa
At least 2 Biden appointees on every circuit court by the end of 2028 would be good. I can see that happening & besides the 8th I could actually see at least 3 on the other 12 circuits.
The senate map looks good for 2026 so if the Dems can walk out of next year with a Biden re-elect & 50/50 senate, I think the odds are good for 3 Biden circuit court judges on all but the 8th & maybe even there.
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I think the 8th circuit flies under the radar as one of the more conservative circuit courts in the U.S., but it truly is as lopsided as the 5th circuit without the virtue signaling by some of the judges who are auditioning for Clarence Thomas’s seat when he eventually retires under the next GOP president *sighs*. Knowing that Trump got to fill the circuit seat based in Minnesota still bothers me years later. Stras isn’t as far-right as other Trump circuit picks, but he’s too far-right to be a sitting circuit court judge based in Minnesota. I would be very pleased if Biden could shift the balance of some of the more conservative circuit courts similar to what Trump did to the 2nd/3rd/and 9th.
The dream would be having a vacancy on the 5th circuit in Mississippi and having the opportunity for Biden to nominate Colom to that seat while professionally telling Hyde-Smith to put her blue slip somewhere else. But I don’t think Biden has the cojones to stick it to a GOP senator like that. He’ll probably end up elevating one of the two Obama nominees to appease the home state senators. A guy can dream tho!
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@dawsont825
I’ve long said (and @Dequan agrees) that the 8th circuit is more conservative than the 5th circuit. You are statistically more likely to get a liberal or moderate judge on the 5th circuit than the 8th circuit. I think the 5th circuit just seems more conservative because they have more firebrand conservatives (Edith Jones, James Ho, Cory Wilson) and they also get a lot of appeals from the single judge divisions in the Texas district courts where “judge shopping” happens a lot. There are three Republican appointed judges on the 5th circuit that are relatively moderate. They are Catharina Haynes, Leslie Southwick, and Chief Judge Priscilla Richman. Southwick (of Mississippi) is the only one eligible for senior status and it would be great if Biden got to appoint Colom for that seat. Richman is still Chief and I doubt she’ll retire under a Democrat. Haynes might but she’s not eligible for senior status for quite some time.
The 8th circuit will likely take a generation to change. Jane Kelly is the only judge appointed by Democrat (and the only woman) currently serving on that court. However, there are a few others on that court that are relatively reasonable. While Ralph Erickson was elevated by Trump, he was appointed to the district court by George W. Bush when North Dakota had two Democratic Senators (hard to believe now) and blue slips were in play. Loken also seems somewhat reasonable and he may be wanting to die on the bench given that he is 83 years old and has been on the court since 1990 (appointed by George H.W. Bush). Lavenski Smith’s term as Chief on the 8th circuit ends next year and I’d also say there’s a non-zero chance he retires under Biden. Duane Benton also seems pretty moderate but I also doubt that he’ll retire any time soon.
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James Graves will just miss eligibility for senior status, but if Biden wins a second term he could be a candidate as well.
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Thurs mtg is cancelled. The 4 district court nominees would have been held over, would have taken 2 minutes. Now they have to wait 2 more weeks to be held over
https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/executive-business-meeting
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Slightly disappointing but too many wins over the past two weeks for me to be let down. Hopefully we get a SJC hearing the first Wednesday after the two week recess & by then a new batch, preferably a double digit number of nominees batch.
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I was expecting more vacancies on the 4th Circuit and also the Federal Circuit at this point. Also just wanted to clarify that Judge Graves is already eligible to assume senior status.
We desperately need more nominees at this point. There should be no reason to skip a hearing date. Why they haven’t nominated judges for the Court of International Trade at this point is beyond me.
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They should be using the Court of International Trade as bait. There are two vacancies & one has to be a Republican by rule of that court. I suggested offer the Republican seat to help negotiate in one of the red states that has multiple vacancies.
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This is probably the best article on the Miguel Estrada SJC hearing I’ve read yet. I have to give senator Schumer a ton of credit. He did a masterful job making something out of nothing.
And I never knew they had multiple sessions for circuit court hearings before. I paused & made sure I was reading right when I saw Estrada came back from the break & Schumer asked the second round of questions.
It was good to read senator Feinstein portrayed in a positive light asking tough questions. I wasn’t surprised to read “Committee chairman Patrick Leahy went relatively easy on Estrada.”. My God am I happy he retired…smh
I may go back & watch the Estrada hearing. I’ve never gone back to watch older hearings but this one seems to be the standard bearer for non SCOTUS hearings.
(https://web.archive.org/web/20120118153756/http://old.nationalreview.com/york/york092702.asp)
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This was a great and amazing week for the judicary even if the number of judges confirmed aren’t alot the quality in this june batch is top tier literally everyone from vera to choudhury is an excellent nominee.
As an aside i was looking up holly teeter district judge in kansas appointed by trump who was rated NQ by the ABA because of lack of 12 years experience, this site the vettingroom is quoted in her pedia which was a fun fact.
”Judicial website The Vetting Room wrote that the ABA’s rating was unlikely to impact Teeter’s chance at being confirmed, as she has “stellar academic credentials” and has clerked only for judges nominated by Democratic presidents.”
Also dequan if you happen to have that clip where ted cruz is speaking right before ho vote please send it, been trying to look for it on cspan and youtube but cant find it
Truly one of the amazing things is seeing cruz whine and not be able to change a single fact about it lol
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Agree aangren. A great week. At this point I feel very confident that every remaining nominee who has had a SJC hearing will be confirmed prior to the end of the year.
The biggest issue at present is getting quality nominees for the remaining 5 circuit vacancies plus all of the blue state district vacancies.
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Regarding the conservative lean on the 8th circuit, I’m surprised that the neighboring 10th circuit is significantly more liberal than the 8th. See what happens when you appoint moderate/left-leaning circuit judges and don’t let FedSoc fill every vacancy? (Looking hard at you Leahy -_-) As long as the 5th and 8th circuits don’t remain rubber stamps at the appellate level for the lower courts hackery, I’ll be fine. But it would take a concerted effort from Biden in a hypothetical second term and future Dem presidents to fill every vacancy. Which means having a friendly senate and a president focused on legislating while keeping a steady supply of nominees heading to the SJC.
On a closely related note, I would love to see a full senate session with Sen. Whitehouse as the chairman instead of milquetoast Durbin. I’m sure Whitehouse would be hard-pressed to allow Hyde-Smith to block a nominee like Colom for illegitimate partisan reasons. Durbin allowed Trump to fill at least 7 district court vacancies with complete hacks in Illinois. He’s perfectly content to allow his state to be filled with right-wing appointees but will sit idly by as red states tell Biden to f*ck off with their district court vacancies. Ineffective and weak. Need someone with a set of iron balls to chair that committee. Leahy and Durbin are the main reasons that red states don’t have any or a single appointee by a Dem. Needs to be better. Every vacancy should be filled, even if its with an older moderate to left-leaning judge. It can’t just be a FedSoc conveyor belt.
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It looks like Kimberly Evanson and Tiffany Cartwright have been set up for votes after the recess. They would be confirmations number 137 and 138.
Would leave Schumer with 3 appellate and 12 district nominees to confirm. And only 1 appellate and 7 district judges outstanding from 2021/2022.
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It will be quite remarkable that in three weeks, all six WDWA judges will be Biden appointees. And three of the six can easily be good enough for consideration for elevation whenever judge Gould retires. Very good job
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Looks like we’re back to judges after the recess. Schumer just filed cloture on 2 non judicial nominees & then Kymberly Evanson & Tiffany Cartwright. I’m especially happy for her since some idiot used Wikipedia rules to prove a point & get her page pulled down & we have to wait for her to get confirmed in order to get it back up.
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Actually Schumer filed cloture on Edelman, not Evanson.
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Forget that…
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That thought occurred to me too. The Wiki will be a lot cleaner looking come mid July.
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I’m assuming it was somebody that knew her personally & used Wikipedia lingo to get it pulled down until she is confirmed. She’s literally the ONLY judicial nominee that had her page pulled down & she had a lot more info on her page than many others. I love Wikipedia but they have a lot of bs rules that can be exploited.
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@ aangren
OMG buddy I wish I recorded all of Ted Cruz’s greatest hits. It’s my guilty pleasure in life. Watching him tell the SJC Democrats is there any Biden nominee, even a ham sandwich they wouldn’t rubber stamp, only to be proceeded by then all voting to pass Dale Ho onto the floor is something I could watch on replay over & over… Lol
@ dawsont825
Very good point. Biden filling red state vacancies even with older consensus moderates is better than them remaining vacant for the next Republican to fill.
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U.S. Attorney for Western Washington, Nick Brown, Returns to Pacifica Law Group
Looks like US Attorney Nick Brown is leaving office.
https://www.pacificalawgroup.com/former-u-s-attorney-for-western-washington-nick-brown-returns-to-pacifica-law-group/
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Nicholas Brown is running for AG, that’s why he’s stepping down. He was on the tv show Survivor before. Should be an interesting race.
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Anyone tracking the Biden circuit nominees on how they’ve been ruling? Mendoza (9th Circuit) is more liberal than I thought he would be and surprisingly Freeman (3rd Circuit) is not as liberal as I thought she would be
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I haven’t followed all of the cases but have seen a few themes. Toby Heytens & Eunice Lee have seem to totally exceed any expectations & are both progressive & write great opinions. Some judges I’ve heard people say have fallen below expectations are Gustavo Gelpi & Jennifer Sung. I haven’t heard anybody say anything bad about Freeman as of yet. But it’s still early, it usually takes a good 5 years or more to really get a taste of how a judge will turn out.
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Not only will WA-W soon have all 7 of their seats held by Biden judges, but the court was 2R, 0D, 5V on 1/20/2021. Biden, Murray, and Cantwell quickly filled the 5 vacancies, then the Republican appointees went senior. While this is certainly an ideological flip, the flip is even more significant given Biden’s emphasis on diversity in terms of race, gender, and occupation. Kudos all around.
But I’ve gotta say…the cloture motions before long recesses are ultra-frustrating. Trying to find something to make the time go quicker…
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WDWA, EDWA, and NDCA have all Dem appointees. Don’t quote me, but I think the DNV has all Dem appointees as well. If you file a case against a future GOP president in one of those districts, you’re guaranteed to get a sympathetic judge at least. If only Trump didn’t get 10 judges on the 9th circuit *sighs* either way, it’s likely that the ACLU and left leaning litigants can consistently thwart whatever nonsense a future Pres. DeFascist/Pencil-Neck/Voldemort/etc., based on the liberal lean of the circuit. Unless you get an en banc panel of majority Trump appointees… yikes.
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@ Dequan
Upon further consideration, I think I’d be okay with moderate/left-leaning judges on circuit courts in red states, and even in some district court vacancies. If the new nominee is replacing a solid liberal judge (*coughs Ramirez coughs*) then I will forever complain when their dissent does nothing but professionally say that the majority opinion is wrong. We need more judges like Toby Heytens who are adept enough to push back in their opinions openly challenging the FedSoc hacks on SCOTUS or even on their own circuit court. Given Ramirez’s age and jurisprudence, I doubt she will do anything besides politely dissent and beg to differ.
If Biden has the ability to appoint an older moderate judge to deep red states like Alabama, Missouri, Kansas, etc., I’ll do backflips (Still hurt that Kallon retired early, that’s the kind of judge that sits on a deep south court and brings some sanity to trials and lawsuits filed in that state) My only gripe with the Biden admin currently is the speed of their nominations has slowed down precipitously. Give GOP senators per state with vacancies a list of 15 names and tell them to pick one and go from there. The longer the negotiations drag on, the more likely it is that one of them gets bold and pulls a Ron Johnson. Spot a vacancy, give a list of names (or receive them) and nominate within months after an extensive background check and vetting process. Shouldn’t take a year+ to at least narrow down the potential candidates. If Biden is going to come in the ballpark of Trump’s overall judicial amount, the nominations need to start flying (and Clinton judges need to get to steppin’. It’s all fun and games till DeFascist nominates a 33-year-old FedSoc lawyer to your seat and EVERYTHING you did in your judicial tenure gets reversed piece by piece)
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@dawsont825
I almost completely agree with you. The only thing I would change is the moderate/left-leaning judges on circuit courts in red states needs to be a part of a package deal that is very Democrat favorable for the district court nominees. For instance, if we had gotten Ramirez along with all 8 district court nominees & the ratio was something like 7-1 D-R, I would be fine with that.
But getting her with the usual 3-1 (Meaning 6-2) ratio isn’t worth it. Now obviously we got her & 0-8 which is why I believe she is the worst circuit court nominee in the past two decades maybe with the exception of Julie Carnes. And in all cases of red state circuit court vacancies, the administration should be starting with the most liberal names & working their way to the right. The first names for the 5th, 7th & 10th should have been Rochelle Garza/Lee Merrit, Jessica Eaglin & Lauren Bonds respectively. Then it would have been easier to work towards Amparo Monique Guerra, Mario Garcia & Jacy Hurst/Carl Folsom/Mark A. Dupree Sr..
But I completely agree with everything else you said totally. And let’s hope we get a new batch before Wednesday, or we will miss a fourth SJC hearing this year. That would be inexcusable.
Oh & I’m still laughing at your Voldomort nickname… Haaaaa
Does anybody really think he will run for president? I don’t. Trump is the reason he is in the senate & was able to defeat Ben Nelson. But if he decides to run for president instead of senate, I’m hoping the Democrats can field somebody competent & finally start to bring sanity back to my state.
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You’re 100% correct, I was just focused on getting young progressive-ish judges on those circuit court seats, when the district court seats in red states are just as important. Even if the circuit court seat went to an older moderate “meh” nominee, I would still be happy if it was a part of a package deal to get good young liberals on the district court seats. Those district court judges would be in line to be elevated in the next Dem administration. It just sucks to get an older moderate for the 5th and probably some unexciting district court judges in Texas. At least get some homerun district court judges and go from there. Almost makes me scared to find out who is going to get the 10th seat.
If Durbin is going to be hell-bent on keeping the blue slips in place, at least reform it so that both are needed to block a nominee. Even if one future Dem senator in a blue state caves to pressure from McConnell when there is a GOP President, I’m okay with getting nominees in red states over the objections of charlatans like Ron Johnson, Hyde-Smith, and Bob Marshall. That may mean partisan judges in Minnesota or Michigan, etc., but the president should have the ability to appoint judges to vacancies. All it means is that people should be willing to vote every election cycle.
Every time I see Sen. Voldemort speak on the senate floor, I’m taken back to election night 2018 when I was so certain we would get a Gov.-elect Gillum and a re-elected Sen. Bill* Nelson (Ben Nelson was the blue dog senator from Nebraska who preceded Sen. Fischer, and who infamously voted against Justice Kagan’s nomination.) Even though Dems took back the house, Florida managed to crush my spirits heavy that night. I could’ve gotten over Gillum losing if it meant I still had a reasonable Senator, but now I have a fascist governor and an elitist, socially awkward fictional-character-lookalike as my senator. *Heavy sigh*. I can’t even foresee any Dem getting elected statewide here. Maybe Rep. Frost after a decade in the house or something, but the bench down here is extremely light. Thought Alan Grayson was going to be something more than just a congressman, but alas, no. It’ll be a while before a Dem is a senator here, just have to hope another Florida-based circuit seat opens up to give Biden or a future Dem president the leverage to get B+ district court judges here. It would really suck to have Florida be a pipeline for young FedSoc hacks to be elevated and wreak havoc on the south for generations.
Regarding your point on Voldemort running against Trump, I think he knows that he has no chance against Trump directly, so he’s just biding his time for 2028 to take his chance. Since he was CEO of that infamous company and then Governor for 8 years, I doubt he’s thrilled about being one out of 100 senators with little power besides choosing judges for the state and renaming post offices (Lol). So, I think he’s going to run in 2028 due to him being bored as a senator (non-executive job) and the fact that he hates DeFascist. Plus, I think he really wants to be President. Sadly, if and when he vacates his seat to run for senate, Ronny Boy can appoint someone young and right-wing as hell to the seat. No one in Florida has a snowball’s chance in hell of winning a special election to that seat unless you get a 2017 Roy Moore-type ordeal.
I’m patiently waiting for the list of nominees from Florida especially (Texas too) since the SDFL is a judicial emergency. Just want to get a few good picks to make the eventual Rubio personal nominee easier to deal with. Hoping for the best, but bracing for the worst per usual 😬
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I too think Maxwell Frost has a bright future in Florida politics. And yea sadly it’s unlikely any Democrat WILL win a U.S. senate seat here for quite sometime. I use the word WILL because I don’t agree no Democrat CAN win. I just think the ones I can think of with a chance to win won’t run such as Dwyane Johnson, Dwyane Wade or Grant Hill. I think it would take a popular celebrity turned politician to pull it out in the near turn which Florida has no shortage of. I just don’t see any of them running next year sadly.
I totally agree Rick Scott won’t run for president next year either. I think he would rather lock up his senate seat for 6 years then either decide to run for president in 2028 when he won’t have to risk losing his senate seat if he loses.
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I openly fantasize about a likeable celebrity like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson running for President in 2028 and keeping the white house under Dem control for 8 years trapping Justice Thomas, Alito, and Roberts from retiring under a GOP President for the foreseeable future.
Can’t imagine a Sen. Dwayne Wade one day, but we currently have a Sen. Football Coach and at one time had a Sen. Franken, so it isn’t far-fetched. If Dwayne Wade could win and hold his seat for 2 terms, he can have ALL my ActBlue money lolll.
Rick Scott can seriously eff all the way off. The fact that he isn’t in jail for fraud and illegal business practices is evidence of a true two-tiered justice system.
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I always love to look at the guest list for White House state dinners. I always take a look at if any federal judges attended & if any of my picks or wish list for future nominees attend. It looks like for the India state dinner tonight there was just one federal judge attending. Interesting Stephen K. Benjamin attended but his wife didn’t or that would have been two federal judges. They have his plus one listed as Seema Shrivastava-Patel instead.
(https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/06/22/white-house-releases-state-dinner-guest-list-2/)
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Back to judicial stuff, still no commission for Dale Ho or any of the other confirmed heavy hitters. I’d think that they’d be ready to assume office since they’ve been waiting for so long. Sigh.
Still be on the look out.
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The “heavy hitters” all have jobs which have responsibilities with which they have to wrap up on before they receive their commission. They only knew quite recently if they would even get confirmed, so it isn’t shocking they need some more time to get everything in order.
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I agree Dequan, more nominees by next Wednesday is imperative. Even if it’s just the four FL nominees that have been rumored. We need to use up these SJC hearing slots.
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Dear hopeful Joe. Haven’t you seen the announcement schedule by now? There’s been a clear pattern for 2023 with only a few (not the crazy double digits of our dream) nominees about once a month.
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@Gavi
Anticipation is building for International Dale Ho Commission Day. I see Vera was ready 48 hours after being confirmed to get started. I always wondered why some nominees who have waited over a year aren’t ready to get started almost immediately once confirmed.
@Joe
I would think we have enough nominees vetted & ready to be announced before Wednesday so a fourth SJC slot isn’t missed. Cardin’s nearly year long game of Russian Roulette has to be finished by now for the 4th. Claire Connors is a sitting US Attorney so her vetting shouldn’t take too long for the first Hawaii vacancy. Nicholas Gowen or Karen Shelley almost certainly will be in the next batch for the NDIL. I can’t imagine at least one of the two California vacancies isn’t ready to announce since in both districts we have seen multiple nominees already so they should have some left over that was considered in the past.
That should be at least 4 nominees. At least 1 of the 2 EDMI nominees are likely ready along with the other Connecticut vacancy. And Minnesota has had their vacancy for a while too. I would imagine at least one red state nominee is ready. My guess would be either the South Carolina or 1 of the 2 if not both North Dakota’s.
There should be some nominees close to finish with the vetting process & if not ready for the next batch, likely will be ready for the batch after next. The 3 SDFL, the 7th & 2 Indiana district courts hopefully will be ready within the next 2 batches. And can we please get the 2 International Court of Trade nominees since both have been vacant since the start of the administration & require no blue slips…smh
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@Dequan:
Isn’t that too much you expect from somebody, who has partly to put his life on hold for senate nomination, surely, but on the other side have obligations with the actual job and have no idea, when the majority leader determins, when it’s your turn?
I also believe a state judge like Vera can transfer his docket relatively easy, while the others are working on civil rights organisations have not necessarily already successors hired, you have just two days between filing cloture and confirmation, if everything runs without interferences, Merle was withdrawn and confirmed months later, Freeman has also to wait some extra time.
And with UC agreement, it’s even faster. Starting at the next day or the next week, is a bold performance in my opinion.
And I believe you mean South Dakota, not North Dakota in the third paragraph?
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Ah yes, South Dakota. The S & D are right next to each other on the keyboard… Lol
Rikelman wasn’t a sitting judge & got her commission 2 days later. But hey, as long as they got confirmed that’s what matters most. Their start date isn’t as important except in the case of the two EDNY because I would like them to be commissioned in order if she to maximize the change if both being chief judge in the future versus only Merle if she’s commissioned first.
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I fear you are correct, Gavi. It would be a damn shame though.
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