President Biden has nominated fellow Scranton native Karoline Mehalchick, a federal magistrate judge, to a vacancy on the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.
Background
Born in 1976 in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Karoline Mehalchick received a B.Sc. from Pennsylvania State University in 1998 and a J.D. from Tulane Law School in 2001.
After graduating, Mehalchick clerked for Judge Trish Corbett with the Lackawanna County Court of Common Pleas and then joined Oliver, Price & Rhodes as an Associate, becoming Partner in 2008. In 2013, Mehalchick was appointed to be a federal magistrate judge, where she currently serves.
History of the Seat
The seat Mehalchick has been nominated for opened on August 1, 2021 with the move to senior status of Judge John Jones.
Legal Experience
Between 2002 and 2013, Mehalchick worked at the firm of Oliver, Price & Rhodes in Lackawanna County, frequently representing municipalities in defending against various suits. See, e.g., Smith v. Borough of Dunmore, 633 F.3d 176 (3d Cir. 2011). Among her notable cases, Mehalchick represented the Diocese of Scranton in defending against suits brought by individuals alleging sexual abuse from ordained clergy in the diocese. See Doe v. Liberatore, 478 F. Supp. 2d 742 (M.D. Pa. 2007). Mehalchick has also represented private parties, including in an unfair competition suit brought in federal court. See Bobrick Corp. v. Santana Prods. Inc., 698 F.Supp.2d 479 (M.D. Pa. 2010).
On the plaintiff’s side, Mehalchick represented plaintiffs in a suit denying them a permit to place an outdoor sign on Interstate 81. See Joyce Outdoor v. Dep’t of Transp., 49 A.3d 518 (Comm. Ct. Pa. 2012).
Mehalchick also argued cases before the Third Circuit, including a defense of the Borough of Dunmore against a 1983 suit brought by a full-time firefighter. See Dee v. Borough of Dunmore, 549 F.3d 225 (3d Cir. 2008).
Judicial Experience
Since 2013, Mehalchick has served as a federal magistrate judge on the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. In this role, Mehalchick handles bond and release decisions, administrative law cases, discovery disputes, settlement, as well as reports and recommendations on substantive motions. See, e.g., Luciano-Jimenez v. Doll, 547 F. Supp. 3d 462 (M.D. Pa. 2021) (Mannion, J.) (accepting Judge Mehalchick’s recommendation ordering a prisoner released with conditions).
A number of Mehalchick’s rulings and opinions have been appealed to the Third Circuit, which has largely affirmed the rulings. See, e.g., Talley v. Wetzel, 15 F.4th 275 (3d Cir. 2021) (affirming district court order allowing prisoner to proceed in forma pauperis). In one notable opinion, Mehalchick ruled, on an issue of first impression, that incentive bonuses by third parties need to be included by employers when calculating the overtime rate. See Secretary United States Department of Labor v. Bristol Excavating Co., 935 F.3d 122 (3d Cir. 2019). The Third Circuit affirmed in part and reversed in part, finding that all incentive bonuses do not necessarily need to be considered when calculating overtime and that the record did not support the conclusion that the overtime bonuses in this case should be considered. See id. at 128.
Among other cases where Mehalchick’s opinion has been reversed, two Third Circuit panel reversed her grant of summary judgment against prisoner suits for lack of exhaustion. See Downey v. Pennsylvania Dep’t of Corr., 968 F.3d 299 (3d Cir. 2020); Hardy v. Shaikh, 959 F.3d 578 (3d Cir. 2020).
Political Activity
Mehalchick’s sole donation of record is to former Scranton mayor Christopher Doherty, a Democrat.
Overall Assessment
With experience in private practice and a decade as a magistrate judge, Mehalchick has racked up a significant legal record for her relatively young age. Given her relatively mainstream record, Mehalchick should see a comfortable confirmation.
The Vetting Room 
I’m willing to bet she knows Bob Casey or other members of the Casey family. Chances are that John Fetterman does not play a major role in judicial nominations.
Like the article says, look for a comfortable confirmation if nothing new about her comes up.
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I agree with this. Fetterman doesn’t strike as someone who cares about the judiciary.
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Agree too. I have also not expected, that they put all previously vetted and considered candidates into the trash bin, just because Toomey is gone and Fetterman is there, although some folks here have surely at least dreamed about that.
As it is Casey’s turf and he’s the senior senator, I’m not surprised that Fetterman is not deeply involved.
As there are two more judges eligible for senior status in this relatively small district, it’s the right decision to go forward and fill the two who are already open.
And maybe the ED is also more the location for younger and more progressive judges, many of these remaining are relatively old and at least partly eligible for senior status, you clearly see the result of a purple state here.
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Excellent news today, we’re finally getting nominees for the 7th and 10th.
Kolar – Pretty conventional background. Former AUSA and current magistrate judge. I love the military background, which indicates a commitment to public service. Estimating that he’s mid 40s. Sounds like he has home state support too, which indicates there is likely to be future district court nominees too. This nomination also moves the circuit significantly to the left given who he will be replacing. I give him a B until we learn a bit more.
Federico – I like this one a great deal. Former Federal Public Defender and former JAG defense attorney. Military background as well. Also mid 40s. I think I am giving this one an A barring any further negative information.
Great job by the WH in giving us two nominees. Hope to see both confirmed prior to the end of the year.
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Honestly, I’m just glad we’re filling circuit vacancies – my expectations are so low for Zients/Delery that I wouldn’t have been surprised if they left both these seats open.
Kolar’s not particularly exciting since he’s another prosecutor, and the military background makes me wonder if he’s actually a conservative. Ideally the WHC will have done its vetting to make sure he’s at least center-left, and given how far-right Kanne was, this should at least be an upgrade from that. I also recognize that some former prosecutors have turned out to be great judges, so I’m hoping the same is true here. I’m a little surprised that the admin didn’t try to get the first Latino on CA7 with this seat, but maybe I should be given (1) how little influence Latino groups have with this administration, and (2) it’s Northern Indiana.
Federico’s a great pick – I’m honestly shocked the KS senators are OK with a public defender (so I won’t be surprised if one/both of them refuse to return blue slips after all). Unlike Wamble, he’s not another career prosecutor with ethical issues or a nepotism nomination (or at least doesn’t seem like one), so maybe the CA10 fiasco has a good ending after all.
District court nominees are boring but fine.
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I knew that both Munley and Mehalchick would have a strong case to be nominated, but given that they are both from Scranton and one of the vacancies is in Harrisburg, I was surprised that both of them got picked. There is still one vacancy in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and I hope it goes to someone more progressive now that PA has two Democrat Senators. There are no AAPI judges on that court so it wouldn’t surprise me if the nominee is AAPI.
As for today’s nominees, I was only familiar with Bryan but Kolar’s name vaguely rings a bell. I thought that seat would go to David Hollar, but it went to someone with a rhyming last name. Completely unfamiliar with Federico, but no complaints after the whole debacle with that seat.
There are definitely more progressive options than Eumi Lee in California but given how long it took people like Dale Ho, Natasha Merle, P. Casey Pitts, Hernan Vera to get confirmed, I don’t think the White House Counsel’s Office is willing to risk someone with no crossover appeal given the closing window.
Still hoping we get a nominee for the 4th circuit before the recess is over.
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WOW, I wake up & get a new batch from Biden & new post from Harsh. Both pleasant surprises. I’m actually impressed with the nominee from the 10th. I was totally expecting a bland disappointing nominee but I’m happy from his bio. Both circuit court nominees have military backgrounds. If you remember I said we will see an increase of that background over Biden’s last two years of his term so that’s right on track with my prediction.
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The GOP state nominees with military backgrounds is not surprising given the GOP has to at least pretend that they care about our country’s veterans.
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I agree Ethan. The 3rd and 4th need to be up next.
One of the ancillary benefits of nominating and confirming judges for the 7th/10th is that it puts just that much more of a spotlight on the WH to get moving on the remaining 3 seats. Hopefully groups like Demand Justice or ACS will ratchet up the pressure to get those done.
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@Ethan
I think I know a reason that David Hollar wasn’t chosen. In 2017, Hollar helped prosecute Lake County Sheriff John Buncich on six corruption charges. In 2019, Buncich’s appeal reached the 7th. Circuit Court. Judge Ilona Rovner hit the ceiling when she expressed the view to Hollar that prosecutors used speculation rather than evidence before the jury and vacated three of the charges Buncich was convicted of, leaving Hollar flustered. She upheld the other three and a panel of the court upheld the sentence of 16 years.
Having Hollar and Rovner serve together could have been awkward.
H
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Praying we get nominees for the 4th circuit and 3rd circuit soon they are so divided. The 1st circuit nominee would be so good because if we were to fill that it would be all democratic appointees. I just hate that Karen Nelson Moore and Eric Clay aren’t taking senior status…like why?
Red States:
1. Need Florida Nominees
2. Hopefully Kansas and North Carolina nominees come down soon
3. Maybe we can get South Dakota nominee + Some Texas ones.
I want Sotomayor to retire so she can be replaced by another younger Latina judge…maybe Judge Ana C. Reyes (DC) or Myrna Perez (2nd Circuit) before the 2024 election.
Also side Note: Can Karen L Henderson retire on the DC circuit? She’s weirdly right wing and born in…1944.
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Looks like senator Vance is following through on his threat to block voice votes on all nominees for US Attorney’s. Below is from today…
11:11 a.m. Senator Padilla asked unanimous consent for the Senate to confirm the nomination of Tara K. McGrath to be United States Attorney for the Southern District of California for the term of four years. Senator Vance objected. Senator Padilla then spoke on the nominee.
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List of GOP Senator blockades on Biden nominees:
Cruz blockade on ambassadors – ended when he got a vote on something regarding the Nord Stream pipeline (the resolution failed because of the filibuster)
Tuberville blockade on military nominees
Reason: because he’s mad at the military abortion policy (which only pays for abortions in cases of rape, incest, or life of the mother)
Impact: this is the most damaging of the blockades because those positions need to be filled for national security
Vance blockade on US Attorneys
Reason: he’s mad at the DOJ for holding Trump accountable
Impact: low because there can be Acting US Attorneys
Blackburn blockade on NY judicial nominees
Reason: she’s mad that the Senate pushed through confirming Andre Mathis
Impact: none
Did I miss any?
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Blackburn‘s hold is the most hilarious to me. She announced her hood & Schumer proceeded to confirm 3 out of the 4 pending nominees within the next month. I’m actually mad he didn’t confirm Ramon Reyes along with the other 4 just to stick it to her.
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You’re wrong about Blackburn’s holds.
Blackburn:
“I will be blocking all judicial nominees from the State of New York until Chuck Schumer speaks out and urges the Biden administration to stop placing illegal immigrants in school gyms and evicting homeless veterans.”
Unsurprisingly, she got her facts wrong. It’s a NYC policy (from Eric Adams). Even Hochul doesn’t do that.
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I recall one of you… I think it was Dequan… hoping that Klain would return. If Klain is willing to, Biden could have him back in an unofficial role where Biden seeks Klain’s advice on judges. Zients can handle the rest of his job… I don’t think Zients would mind since he isn’t a judiciary guy and Klain is.
Trump did this with Kellianne Conway, who resigned but later came back in an unofficial role.
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Not only is Zients not a judiciary guy. He’s not even an attorney. I didn’t know that until last week.
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I wasn’t expecting a flaming liberal for the 7th Circuit vacancy .
Kolar doesn’t make you jump out of your chair with joy but he will still be world’s better then Kanne was.
Federico is the one that surprises me, as he is a far better nominee then Wamble was IMO and not someone you would expect coming out of KS as a public defender.
He will be an outstanding jurist if he’s confirmed.
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@Zack Jones
I totally agree. Kolar’s military experience, being an existing magistrate judge & AUSA experience should be enough to get numerous Republican votes. Him being in his mid 40’s, having a brief stint with the federal defenders office in Chicago & him replacing a Republican appointees should be enough to make progressives happy.
I am head over heels for Federico. This is the first time under this new WHC office that I have been pleasantly surprised. They totally surpassed my expectations & I agree despite us it getting our second Black male circuit court judge since 2014, he is a better pick than Wamble would have been.
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Have either of the Senators from Kansas made any statements about Federico’s nomination?
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Senator Moran released a statement. He basically said it was a pleasure meeting with Federico, he thanked him for his military service & said he looks forward to his hearing. He didn’t mention blue slips or if he will vote for him.
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KS senators seem supportive – Marshall weirdly seems more supportive than Moran, which is unexpected:
https://www.cjonline.com/story/news/politics/courts/2023/07/27/joe-biden-taps-kansas-public-defender-rich-federico-for-appeals-court-judgeship/70476166007/
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I’m digging into Federico’s record even more. It looks like in 2013 he wrote a Berkeley Journal of Criminal Law publication. It was titled “The Unusual Punishment: A Call for Congress to Abolish the Death Penalty for Uniquely Military, Non-Homicide Offenses”. Look for him to get some questions about that at his SJC hearing in September.
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Cloture filed on de Alba for September, among many others. Fed Reserve vice chair is only one scheduled for the day back. Vance lifted hold on a dozen or so ambassadors who got voice votes, but no movement on the military promotions unfortunately. September is supposed to be packed with legislation and attempting to keep the govt open, so don’t know how much judicial confirming will happen.
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I’m not seeing anything on de Alba aside from one tweet. The only cloture filings I’ve seen from the other usual sources are:
Jefferson (Fed Vice Chair)
Wilcox (NLRB)
Cook (Fed)
Kugler (Fed)
Gomez (FCC)
Not judges but all fairly important positions and nominees that will need mostly full attendance. I imagine these will take up most of that first week after the break.
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Oh you’re right. My bad. The Dem Senate Twitter account must have jumped the gun. She’s not listed on the senate executive calendar file.
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No worries. It is interesting that that tweet was posted last. Perhaps that gives us an indication as to who would be up next after the other five are confirmed.
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OK.
What with being busy and the loong non-judicial posts in here, it’s been hard to read/keep up with this blog. (What was it that Shawn used to say? That this blog was turning into DailyKos?)
I’ll address a few things here:
If I may suggest a change to Harsh (added to all the others we’ve put forth): The “History of the Seat” isn’t a history of the seat. Rather, it’s a history of the vacancy. Maybe just say “History of the Vacancy”?
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Mehalchick’s hearing shows how much of a failure the current WH strategy is. Picking bland nominees to get quick/easy confirmation only for those bland nominees to get just as much Republican rage as a much better nominee.
Also, I’ve read some on here saying that Fetterman doesn’t have much to do with nominees. Wrong. We should stop assuming things that can easily be checked. So far, all PA nominees since Fetterman’s swearing-in have met/interviewed with him. He clearly has a role. Even if Casey has a preference, it doesn’t look like Fetterman will be a rubberstamp; why bother taking the time to do interviews?
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Movement on COA nominees! I’ve lost the taste of excitement for Biden’s judicial nomination announcements, and this latest batch only has a morsel to gnaw on. I’ll wait for the nominees’ write ups to grade them, but I, too, am intrigued by the Rich Federico nomination.
I see that our perpetually suffering optimist thinks this is part of a deal to get the district courts vacancies filled. Have you forgotten about Irma Ramirez already?
Even if this is part of a deal, of which only one side has strangely been announced, what does that say about the quality of the potential district court nominees? Will they basically be Republican-types, since Federico is such a decent nominee for a red state? I’m suspicious.
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I think Fetterman does the interviews because it is his job.I don’t know if it’s rubber stamp. He may just want to know who the nominee is.
I don’t know what you mean by “quality” of the nominees. Are you suggesting that they aren’t qualified? For me that’s only basis of approving a nominee not the “wow” factor or whatever irrelevant factor you are focused on.
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https://www.coloradopolitics.com/courts/charlotte-sweeney-talks-about-transformation-of-colorados-district-court/article_acc5daba-28d5-11ee-b763-fff583dd432d.html
Very interesting article from District judge charlotte sweeney. it seems the biden colorado district judges are making it a habit to go out in the community and speak at events.
She also had a pact which she had signed with other biden appointed judges as well to enact uniform procedures in court proceedings.Interesting interview
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@aangren
Thanks for the article. Very good read. It’s interesting how Sweeney inherited such a back log but has since reduced it substantially. I think she highlights the importance of diversity on the bench with her approach to putting cases where real people are getting hurt right now ahead of corporate civil cases. Great article
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Thank you for sharing.
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Pretty disappointed they went on recess with 17 nominees pending and kind of shocked that by the start of September, they’ll have only confirmed 53 judges (45 district and 8 circuit court) when they had dozens lined up from last year.
Again, they’re not stupid, there has to be a reason for this, I just don’t know it. Maybe they think it doesn’t matter if a lifetime judge is confirmed today or December 2024, it’s effect on the courts will be the same.
With those 2 new appeals court nominees…honestly, I’d take a 1 for 1 backgrounds as defenders and prosecutors anytime for judges, that’s a massive shift from before.
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Generally I would say this number is a quite impressive one, and that they won’t eventually pile up the same number like in the last fall, when the WH was under pressure from various liberal groups and the election was looming.
I think that’s also the reason, why they have slowed down a bit with hearings and new nominations to clear the backlog, though many here disapprove it, and there is other business at the senate, too.
The absence of Feinstein and Fetterman was already mentioned.
Another reason is, that the total number of vacancies have dropped significantly and the announced ones, too, so in the senate they might see no need to accellerate, as the remaining time is sufficient to nominate and confirm all open seats until the end of 2024 under the current conditions – I know, in this blog most will call ‘dissent’ at this point – but from their perspective it is reasonable.
That there is no visible movement at Red State district vacancies is the most concerning issue for me at the moment, and I believe thinking about the Blue Slip is necessary if there is no significant movement within shore time after the recess. But I think Schumer, Durbin and the WH are aware of that, too.
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They don’t care about what “liberal” groups think about what they are doing. They get comments like that all of the time. There’s never a policy issue that someone is barking at them. It’s not new.
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I agree Thomas. Red State vacancies and the WHs ability to get deals done is my biggest concern currently. I really hope we start seeing a lot more of those the next few batches.
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Mike, I think the main issue was that Feinstein and Fetterman were out until essentially May. After that, they were quite productive.
Most of the backlog has been worked through now. I expect the rest of the 2022 nominees and the ones from this spring/summer to be confirmed prior to the end of the year.
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I share @Mike’s frustration, as I know many here do. What most worries me about the lack of action this week is that we don’t know what Feinstein’s attendance will be when they return, which matters now that Manchin is piling up the “no” votes for his re-election. I had really hoped that Schumer would get Kato confirmed before they left, but it seems like it will be a while when they get back, what with the Fed/FCC clotures & confirmations going first, then de Alba.
Although it may be that, as @Dequan points out, we could have fairly smooth sailing on the floor if Tim Scott is regularly out of town. McConnell may also need some time away (not gloating or celebrating, just pointing out fact). Really hope we get at least one more batch of nominees during the recess.
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I would think we would get at least one batch next month, that way we’d have nominees for the 9/20 hearing slot (the drop dead deadline to get nominees lined up for that possible hearing would be by 8/25, no?). I am hoping for another round of nominees before the 8/9, since I’m sure we could fit in another district court nominee on the 9/6 hearing when the Senate gets back (which I’m sure everybody nominated yesterday will have their hearing on that date).
When the Senate gets back, the first business meeting on the 7th should be a holdover week for everybody that had hearings in July, so we should have a lengthy list of nominees ready to report out on the business meeting on the 14th!
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Considering we just saw 6 nominees at the last hearing, I could see that as a possibility. There are still a few blue state seats open, so I’d look to see more nominees there in the next batch, whenever it comes.
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I agree, more nominees are needed. I think we’ll see the WH follow more of a “slow trickle” strategy though, so I would suspect another batch sometime around August 16-23.
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I learned something more about Margaret Garnett. In 2012, she helped clear 5 men who were wrongly convicted of murdering a cab driver in 1995. Her work on the case brought her to the attention of the NYC legal community in a big way.
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