The Kansas-based vacancy on the Tenth Circuit vacated by Judge Mary Briscoe in March 2021 is the oldest pending appellate vacancy on the federal judiciary. After the withdrawal of initial nominee Jabari Wamble, the White House is hoping for better luck with federal public defender Rich Federico.
Background
Richard E.N. Federico got a B.A.J. from Indiana University in 1999 and a J.D. from the University of Kansas School of Law in 2002. After graduating, Federico joined the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate Corps as a naval prosecutor, and shifted to being a defense counsel in 2008. In 2015, Federico became appellate defense counsel, while also serving as an Assistant Federal Public Counsel for the District of Oregon.
Since 2017, Federico has served at the Federal Public Defender’s Office for the District of Kansas, serving as Senior Litigator since 2020.
History of the Seat
Federico was tapped for a Kansas seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. The seat was vacated by Judge Mary Briscoe’s move to senior status on March 15, 2021. The White House previously nominated federal prosecutor Jabari Wamble to fill the vacancy, and it preliminarily seemed that Wamble had a smooth path to confirmation. However, Wamble’s nomination was subsequently shifted to the U.S. District Court and then, in anticipation of a bad A.B.A. review, Wamble withdrew his nomination entirely.
Legal Career
Federico started his legal career as a naval prosecutor in the J.A.G. Corps, before switching to become a naval defense counsel in 2008. In the latter role, Federico served as defense counsel in the Office of Military Commissions, representing Guantanamo Bay detainees in trials before military tribunals for war crimes. See Lieutenant Commander Rich Federico, The Unusual Punishment: A Call For Congress to Abolish the Death Penalty Under the Uniform Code of Military Justice for Unique Military, Non-Homicide Offenses, 18 Berkeley J. Crim. L. 1 (2013).
Since 2017, Federico has served as a federal public defender for the U.S. Public Defender’s Office for the District of Kansas. Notably, Federico represented Tyler Bariss, a Kansas man sentenced to 20 years in prison for a “swatting” attack that led to the death of Andrew Finch. See Steve Almasy and Melissa Alonzo, His ‘Swatting’ Call Led to the Death of a Man. Now He is Going to Prison for 20 Years, CNN.com, Mar. 30, 2019, https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/29/us/swatting-suspect-20-year-sentence/index.html. Bariss plead guilty with both parties arguing sentence, with prosecutors requesting 25 years, while Federico requested 20. See id. Judge Eric Melgren went with the defense request, which was still well above the sentencing guidelines, which recommended 10 years. See California Man Behind ‘Swatting’ Call That Led to Fatal Shooting Gets 20 Years, CBS.com, Mar. 30, 2019, https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/california-man-swatting-call-fatal-shooting-gets-20-years/.
Political Activity
Federico has only two political donations to his name, one in 2020 to Democratic Presidential candidate Amy Klobachar, and one in 2022 to Republican Attorney General candidate Tony Mattivi.
Statements and Writings
In 2013, Federico authored a notable paper urging for the limited abolition of the death penalty under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, arguing to limit the penalty to homicide crimes. See Lieutenant Commander Rich Federico, The Unusual Punishment: A Call For Congress to Abolish the Death Penalty Under the Uniform Code of Military Justice for Unique Military, Non-Homicide Offenses, 18 Berkeley J. Crim. L. 1 (2013). Federico’s paper outlines the history of executions in military justice, and has been cited by the D.C. Circuit. See Jackson v. Modly, 949 F.3d 763, 771 n.6 (D.C. Cir. 2020).
In 2015, Federico testified as a witness before the Judicial Proceedings Subcommittee of the U.S. Department of Defense Judicial Proceedings Panel. Among the issues the panel was focused on was the rewriting of sexual assault statutes in order to make them more workable. In his testimony, Federico urged the definition of the term “incapable of consenting” in the statute as it relates to impairment from substances such as alcohol. Testimony starts at P. 253 line 15 (https://texasdefenselawyers.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Transcript-2-1.pdf).
Overall Assessment
After the failure of the Wamble nomination, Federico has at least received a warm reception from his home state senators. Despite having served in court-appointed defense for the past fifteen years, Federico’s military background as well as his support of Mattivi should insulate him from claims that he is strongly left-wing.
The Vetting Room 
Federico has an unconventional background for a judge yet it looks like he’ll be confirmed. In another surprise, it appears that the Senators from Kansas were working in good faith with the White House after all.
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Indeed, it is a surprise, but it is still to be seen whether both senators turn in their blue slip (not that it really matters).
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Let’s hope this works as @Dequan said his post is not going through once again.
No complaints whatsoever even though he was not on my radar (but others from the Kansas Federal Defender’s office such as Daniel Hansmeier and Carl Folsom were).
Now I just wonder if there will be any other 10th circuit vacancies that Biden will get to fill. Scott Matheson from Utah is eligible for senior status. And G.W. Bush appointee Harris Hartz from New Mexico is pretty moderate but he seems like he wants to die on the bench.
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From @Dequan since his comment isn’t going through:
“Richard E.N. Federico is a solid nominee. A long time public defender that has represented Guantanamo Bay prisoners & called for the abolishment of the death penalty (Despite me personally being a strong proponent of the punishment). Yet he still should get some Republican support including his two home state senators with his military service.
As much as I want to see more than one Black man confirmed to the circuit courts since January 2014, this is an upgrade from Jabari Wamble. And he’s in his mid 40’s. I give his nomination a high A, borderline A+.”
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I’d recommend Dequan try the reader to post (after logging out and back in). It usually is how I reply to specific posts since you can specify which post you want to reply to.
As for Federco, his background of representing both sides of the aisle make him a great nominee in my eyes. Reading the article, he has had some interesting and somewhat unusual cases as well in his career (such as representing a “swatter”), which will only make him a better judge in my mind. After all of the waiting and watching the original nepotism pick fail, I’m glad to see such an outstanding nominee here.
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Testing testing
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It seems like my first comments on new post aren’t going through. I’m not sure what Harsh does to correct the glitch but perhaps he can look more into it prior to his next write up. Albeit if we do not get any new nominees in the next three days, we will miss another SJC hearing so there will be a lot of time to wait for the next write up.
Thanks @Ethan for posting my initial comments on this nominee. He’s SOLID
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Dequan, did you try my suggestion above?
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I did but I tried it this morning when I tried to post a second & third time & it didn’t work then. I think Harsh has to do something to make it work so usually when he sees somebody post there is a problem, he dies whatever it is he dies to fix it. I should be good until the next new post I guess.
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*History of the Seat:
Created by 75 Stat. 80 in 1961
History of the Vacancy:
(See “History of the Seat” section of the post)
I was willing to accept this nomination as a decent one, but I cannot overlook the nominee’s donation to a Republican AG candidate. How does one interpret this? Could it be a strategic donation to boost a more mainstream Republican candidate over the deranged Kris Kobach? Or could it be a donation to a friend? I know donations do not necessarily identify party affiliation, but they all mean something. No one gives away their money with no thought behind it. At least with Wamble, I was all but certain about his judicial ideology. (Apropos, not to brag, but I don’t mind saying that I was the only one to cite a possible bad ABA rating as the reason for the hold up; sorry to see that I was right.) Anyway, I don’t want to rate this nominee yet. Let’s see how his SJC hearing goes.
Also, earlier this week Joe assured us that there was a 50/50 chance we get new nominees on Wednesday. To no one’s surprise, his optimistic even odds didn’t quite pan out. Let’s rinse and repeat these predictions next week, when, in reality, we’re on track to miss another hearing, while pretending that it’s not a big deal.
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@Gavi
I’ve given six political donations since Biden has taken office. 2 of the 6 have been to Republicans (Liz Cheney & Evan McMullin). His one political donation to a Republican doesn’t give me any pause whatsoever as long as it’s not a Republican like Tommy Tuberville, Josh Hawley or Ted Cruz.
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Yeah, but we know why you donated to those people, you’ve said so many times on here. Do you know Kansas politics? How do you know that Tony Mattivi isn’t a Tommy Tuberville, Josh Hawley or Ted Cruz? My point isn’t to say that he is. I just think the donation raises a good question. Also note, the AG election was extremely competitive with a very viable Dem running for the seat alongside an incumbent Dem governor. So there were options, if you wanted to support someone other than a Republican (Kobach won by ~1%).
Re: Julia Smith Gibbons
Sigh. I no longer get excited when Biden has a new COA vacancy to fill.
Biden has nominated worse than Camille McMullen so if indeed this is a vacancy, I’d hope that the selection is announced very quickly. That all depends on when Gibbons is taking senior status, of course. Let’s see how long the WH will allow the TN senators to play them. It wouldn’t shock me if the TN senators were being disingenuous all along and would want someone less “liberal” than McMullen.
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@Ethan
Oh ok, you was just posing the question. I thought you were saying you actually had a problem with the Republican he donated to.
And as for Blackburn being disingenuous & not backing McMullin this time around, come come now. Are you suggesting that Blackburn would say one thing then flip flop when presented the opportunity to go through with it? Haaaaaaaaa
My God what I wouldn’t give to get the entire WHC office pissy drunk when deciding who to recommend to Biden for this seat. Tennessee has to have a liberal LGBT, Muslim or reproductive rights attorney in their 40’s or even late 30’s they could shove down Blackburn’s throat. I’d carry them to their SJC hearing… Lol
Hey Gavi, how’s that hold on all NY judicial nominees going? Do you think we could send Blackburn a cake with the message “Please release your hold” written out in icing on it? Lmao
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This is amazing news. Another chance for biden to flip republican seat on an appellate court. Ignore charlatan masha blackburn as he did with andre mathis and nominate a solid liberal.
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Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes!!! This is absolutely spectacular & amazing news. Even though I fully expect the White House to nominate Camille McMullen instead of ramming another Andre Mathis down Blackburn’s throat, even a broom stick would be an improvement so I’d be happy with it. This is simply the best news of the week.
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Gibbons was 32 years old when Reagan first put her on the district court.
I do agree that Camille McMullen is the most likely nominee but here’s a few other names to keep an eye on:
-former US Attorney Edward L. Stanton III (born 1972). He might be more likely for the district court vacancy in the Western District of Tennessee.
-Assistant Federal Public Defender U. Peter Oh (born 1974). He is Korean-American.
-Magistrate Judge Annie Christoff (born 1978). Her one federal political donation was $500 to a Democratic Senate candidate in 2017.
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Edward L. Stanton III had strong backing from Fed Ex senior leadership when Obama nominated him for the district court. I am surprised he hasn’t been nominated for the same court that has had a vacancy for almost all of Biden’s term yet.
Of course that’s sssuming Blackburn and/or Haggerty are working in good faith which after Mathis & the US attorney withdrawal, I doubt they are. Now if this new WHC office is smart, they could negotiate a hard line young liberal for the 6th & work their way towards McMullin to fill the district court seat with Stanton or somebody else. But McMullin shouldn’t be the starting point for negotiations. She should be the end along with a package deal.
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How conservative is judge julia gibbons? I see from her record she upheld biden covid vaccine for federal employees. Is she as conservative as late judge kanne on the 7th?
Would a mcmullen replacement be a drastic change and departure like it would be for kolar replacing kanne on the 7th?
Mcmullen is 53 years old so not that bad, but man i rather all circuit nominees if i had my way be in their 40s when they get nominated, mcmullen is a decade older than andre mathis
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Kanne is more conservative then Gibbons but Kolar doesn’t move the 7th are far to the left as a good pick here coukd move the 6th to the left. If McMullin is the nominee, she’s the floor for what we should expect. But if we got another Andre Mathis type, a young, diverse nominee with a progressive background like him working for The Innocence Project, then this would be the best Biden circuit court flip to date for a Republican appointees leaving.
I don’t expect that to happen with this new WHC office & the congressman that recommended Mathis gone, but even McMullin would still be top two flips for Biden. Today is a good day.
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Gibbons is one of the more moderate GW Bush appointees. Not as liberal as Helene White but not as conservative as any other remaining GOP appointee on the 6th circuit.
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Judge Gibbons is moderate, but still votes conservatively on criminal cases. This is great news to get a reliable liberal vote on the 6th Circuit
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Wow didn’t think Gibbons would actually go senior under a Dem – though I have heard of health issues with her, so I’m not sure how voluntary it is.
Agree that this WHC will probably go with McMullen – I just hope they move faster than they did with the Kane vacancy on CA7 and fill the seat before 2024. Leaving this seat for after the 2024 election would be a disaster.
I have a suspicion Blackburn and Hagerty will refuse to back McMullen after all if the administration calls their bluff and actually agrees to nominate her. Can’t trust those two further than we can throw them.
The younger/federal defender options Ethan proposed are unlikely, but I’d love to be proven wrong.
A more realistic possibility besides McMullen is Magistrate Judge Tu Pham out of WDTN. Former big law lawyer/AUSA and current magistrate judge, so he matches the profile of other red state nominees. First Asian judge on CA6 would appeal to the Biden administration, but Blackburn hates Asians so it’s hard to say if his identity helps or hurts.
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@Hank
I Made the same points earlier.
Also, in the news this week is a 6th Circuit panel with Obama/Biden appointees. It isn’t always immediate, but I am happy to see Biden judges making an impact on the law. Biden’s replacement of Gibbons should continue this move.
https://lawandcrime.com/lawsuit/lone-dissent-rips-appeals-court-for-refusing-to-revive-nick-sandmanns-libel-case-against-media-he-did-nothing-more-than-stand-still-and-smile/
Bonus: Jane B. Stranch, wonderful though she is, should be the next to take senior status, already. In fact, she should just make the announcement next week!
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@Gavi
1000%. Jane B. Stranch should follow the lead of the other two Tennessee 6th circuit court judges & next week wouldn’t be soon enough. Seeing Biden replace all three Tennessee judges while Blackburn is a senator may be the only thing to eclipse my joy of a SCOTUS vacancy or finally seeing Dale Ho confirmed.
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Haha dequan i wont go that far. Few things in life would give me more pleasure than watching ted cruz and gop senators lose it as biden nominates an alison nathan or myrna perez to replace alito or thomas. The thought alone is so beautiful lol
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Haaaaaaa… I’ve said it many times before on this blog but in a Christian & I know I’m not suppose to take pleasure in other people’s grief. I’ll just have to ask the good Lord to forgive me on judgement day because seeing Cruz, Hawley, Blackburn & Lee throw a bitch fit at a SJC hearing is my guilty pleasure.
On another note happy birthday to former First Lady Rosalynn Carter. She turns 96 today & I’m so happy she’s able to celebrate another birthday with her husband firmer president Carter.
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Excellent news out of Tennessee. Moves like this are why the 2022 elections where so important.
McMullin seems like a fine pick. If thats the floor then I think we’re in good shape. I’d probably give her a B, just like with Kolar replacing Kanne.
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Here’s a little more on Gibbons’ move. Sounds like it will be upon confirmation of a successor. So they should have no excuse not to move fast.
https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/biden-gains-6th-circuit-vacancy-fill-gibbons-takes-senior-status-2023-08-18/
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I was hoping Gibbons would give a firm date & it would be this year. That way you could wait until she actually stepped down then ram a young liberal down Blackburn’s throat. But with her going upon the confirmation of her successor, that makes it almost a 95% chance it will be MuMullin or somebody both blue slips are turned in for.
Still it will be a good flip. I would start off recommending somebody like Stephen Ross Johnson & then working my way to a left of center nominee. No matter how you cut it, this is a good day for the judiciary.
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Wowza, didn’t expect to see Gibbons take senior status under a Democrat.
While she is not as conservative as others on the 6th Circuit, she is no moderate either so being able to replace her and chip away at the Republican majority is a big deal.
From the looks of it, she won’t take senior status until a successor is named so I don’t expect a uber liberal nominee here.
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If Blackburn & Haggerty pushes back on McMullin, making two of the three Tennessee seats on the 6th held by an African American, I could see them pushing the current US Attorney. Kevin Ritz was born 1975 so he’s still in his 40’s. He also clerked for Gibbons & he was confirmed by this senate via voice vote. I’d probably give him a C+ or B- at best if he was the nominee.
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@Dequan
I can see Kevin Ritz being appointed as a District Judge.
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The only reason I doubt Kevin Ritz would get the district court vacancy is because it was vacant when he was nominated for US attorney. Biden could have just accepted filling the seat with him back then. But for a circuit court vacancy, I can see Blackburn & Haggerty pushing hard for him if not McMullin. Especially replacing a Republican appointee who isn’t leaving until her successor is confirmed. I just don’t see Blackburn pushing somebody that would make 2 out of the 3 state’s circuit court seats being filled by a Black person.
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It doesn’t take away some of the leverage from the WH. I think the WH should simply propose McMillen from the bat and be done with it. That way she could at least have her hearing this year.
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That’s the strategy I would use if this was Indiana or Louisiana. But this is Blackburn & Haggerty we are talking about. I think they should give them three names. I would give them Stephen Ross Johnson, Maha Ayesh or any combination of A+ nominees then add in McMullin & Edward Stanton.
I would stress that one of those four are going to be the nominees & let them reply back with McMullin. If you start with McMullin, as @Gavi said earlier they would just be disingenuous & now she would be unacceptable.
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I added the Law 360 article published prior to taking office titled “65 Names To Watch When Biden Picks Circuit Judges” to my chart on the last tab. I know not everybody has a Law 360 subscription so I took the pay wall off so anybody can read it.
Can anybody else think of any prominent list I should add that isn’t already listed? I really want to see the American Constitution Society list, but I do not believe they made it public.
(https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1WTD3XQ_beYUtrpuvwmS7F47Ql8L5-M_knlwCx5lCTPs/edit#gid=348611589)
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If Jane Branstetter Stranch also decides to take Senior Status (which I can easily see), than I expect to see Travis McDonough get the nod. He’s well-qualified, is well-regarded in the legal community, and no one has any problems with him. After the Andre Mathis near-defeat, I think the White House would like an easy win.
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Travis McDonough certainly could be a consensus nominee even for this seat. While I expect the recommendation to either be McMullin or Kevin Ritz, Blackburn & Haggerty may go that route instead. It would open up a district court vacancy on a court that has all other Republican judges on it. Surely they would block any nominee until after the election to backfill his seat so it would be a best-case scenario for them. Hopefully if that is the choice, the administration wouldn’t agree unless it came with a nominee to backfill him in a package deal.
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Whoa thanks Dequan for sharing that spreadsheet… lots of good stuff in there, look forwarding to reviewing more!
I am thinking the nominee is McMullin, and that they could reach a package deal for the district court seat. Exciting news with Judge Gibbons going senior! Crazy she was confirmed to the bench at age 32. I am hopeful we get some more announcements of judges going senior in the coming weeks and more nominees on Wednesday.
I would also like to see a comprehensive bill for new judges hashed out at some point, which is desperately needed. It seems a sticking point is splitting the 9th Circuit, which many Dems are against. I have no issues with creating a new 12th Circ., which considering the size of the 9th is long overdue. I would retain CA, WA, OR, HI, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands in the 9th, and the other states would be a part of the newly created 12th Circ.
On a final note, Judge Buckley (D.C. Circ.) died today, he was 100. He went senior in 1996 and I believe was inactive for some time. He was the brother of conservative activist William F. Buckley.
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You’re very welcome Mike S. I got tired of Wikipedia’s bs with some nominees having a page & some not so I just took the time to make my own & include everything judicial related I can think of. If you see anything that can improve it feel free to let me know anytime.
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The only issue for me is worrying that Gibbons will pull a Robert King and rescind her senior status if the nominee is deemed too liberal for her liking or she doesn’t like it.
Let’s hope that doesn’t happen.
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This wouldn’t surprise me – if the WHC were more competent, I would imagine there were behind-the-scenes promises to Gibbons that the administration would work with the TN senators/nominate a centrist. However, since this WHC can’t even seem to get the Clinton liberals to go senior, I think Gibbons went senior on her own.
Nominating one of Gibbons’ former law clerks would certainly reduce the likelihood of her changing her mind – if the WHC office were smart, they’d pick a clearly progressive former Gibbons clerk and watch Blackburn/Hagerty piss off Gibbons when they inevitably disparage that person the way they did Mathis.
Realistically, however, other posters are probably right to bring up current WDTN US Attorney Kevin Ritz. Given that this administration has already confirmed a US attorney to a circuit court with Chung on CA3, I’m sure he’s being considered.
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Kevin Ritz checks just about all of the boxes for a consensus nominee. A White male, former Gibbons clerk, nominee in his mid 40’s that has been confirmed by this senate unanimously that isn’t overtly progressive. He is in the mold of Joshua Kolar. Blackburn is going to push back on 2 of the 3 Tennessee seats on the 6th being held by Black judges so McMullin will have a more difficult path this time versus for the seat that went to Mathis.
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Speaking of US attorney’s, I added a list of Biden US attorneys to my chart on the last tab.
(https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1WTD3XQ_beYUtrpuvwmS7F47Ql8L5-M_knlwCx5lCTPs/edit#gid=348611589)
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Gibbons is a little bit to the right of Cabranes and way to the right of Robert King, so I guess there’s some concern that could happen. Someone on this blog pointed out that Gibbons has health issues (idk if that’s true or not); if she’s going senior because of health issues she won’t rescind.
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That was pure speculation.
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Did anyone catch that yesterday was Dale Ho commission day?
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I missed that. Amazing. I hope yesterday won’t be the last International Dale Ho commission day. Great news
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Yeah, I was just randomly scrolling through Wikipedia pages, happened to be on SDNY’s page and noticed that Dale Ho’s term said 2023-present (rather than beg. 2023).
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If Kevin Ritz gets the nod, perhaps Camille McMullen would get nominated for District Court in the Western District. She seems to have made a favorable impression on Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty.
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I know we spoke about Camille McMullin & the US attorney Kevin Ritz as possible consensus nominees for the 6th. Perhaps the other US attorney Henry C. Leventis might also get a look at. He is 49 & worked in the Department of Justice. Of course I am hoping for a more progressive choice but if the WH works in good faith as I fully expect them to, he is another name I would throw in the mix.
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Who would be an A nominee from TN?
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I logged on to Wikipedia for the first time in a bit just for curiosity. I immediately remembered why I stopped going on. Now the Let’s Run idiot has started putting in deletion request for US Attorney nominees. My God that guy must have a miserable life. First he dedicated his life to taking down pages for judicial nominees, next he tagged & wrote to me 9 straight days after I dared to explain just how stupid what he was trying to do was, then he came on this blog to spy on us then go back & post what we wrote on Wikipedia & now THIS. I should make a Wikipedia page for “Losers” & put his username as the only thing in the article… Haaaaaa
(https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=April_Perry&action=history)
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It is insane to me that Wikipedia would take those pages down. Especially for the ones that have had a committee hearing and been voted to the floor. Clearly they are noteworthy public figures.
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Some folks had mentioned EDTN chief judge McDonough as a possibility, and after thinking about it, I believe there’s a good chance it will be him. There hasn’t been an active CA6 judge from East Tennessee since the 90s, but the state has historically been split into three “Grand Divisions” (which align with the three federal district courts). With two current CA6 judges in Memphis and one Nashville, I could see Blackburn/Hagerty using the “East Tennessee should have a circuit judge” as another reason to slow things down.
McDonough seems like the type of centrist that the administration is going for these days, but if he is selected, I hope the administration doesn’t delay nominating him to CA6 until they negotiate a replacement for his district court seat. I’d rather see that seat (rather than the CA6 seat) stay vacant.
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@Joe
Yup. And to be fair to the Let’s Run miserable idiot, he was just the user that initiated getting the pages deleted. There were a handful or so other users that ran with it & backed him afterwards. Unfortunately, Wikipedia doesn’t have a central person or board to make decisions, it goes by consensus. So when a handful of users get together & agree, that’s usually the outcome. So as much as I can’t stand the a-hole’s that have nothing better to do then get pages taken down, it’s really Wikipedia’s policies that allow them to do it.
@Hank
Yea I completely agree with you. Travis McDonough should only be selected if a deal is brokered to also nominate his replacement. If not, move on to another consensus nominee. If Blackburn & Haggerty refused to work in good faith, then see if Andre Mathis has a younger sibling with a law degree… Lol
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I think a Black person should be prioritzed in this case for the district court vacancy at the WDTN, as there is no more representation after Fowlkes went senior.
As the EDTN has no appellate judge for many years, a White person from there for the 6th Circuit would be OK in this case. And yes, if it is McDonough, his seat has to be backfilled at any case.
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One can’t help but to look at how the Republicans prioritize judicial confirmations in awe.
Pamela L. Reeves, the Chief Judge of EDTN, died on September 10, 2020. Judge McDonough succeeded her as chief. Then only 6 days later, Trump nominated the 36 year old Katherine Crytzer to fill the Reeves vacancy. Crytzer had her hearing, committee vote, and full senator confirmation vote all after Trump lost.
That’s so unlikely today by a Dem president and a Dem senator in a Dem majority senate. No, Dems need to take their time, make announcements and form committees to try to find the oldest and most conventional candidate still sentient.
A Dem WH playing hardball with Republicans should insist that the same method of judicial recommendation that those senators had under a Republican president should be the same for recommending judges now. You just wait, it’ll happen before you leave the nursing home.
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Just because Republicans quickly pick and push through unqualified FedSoc candidates doesn’t mean the Democrats have to do the same. I want to see qualified candidates, not political hacks.
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@Frank
I completely disagree with you on this one. Republicans doing it is EXACTLY why Democrats should do it. When there is a Democrat president we are told you can’t confirm a Supreme Court Justice in an election year. When a Republican is president they confirm justices after the first votes have already been cast.
When a Democrat is president we are told there’s a Thurmond rule which means you can’t confirm any judges the last six months of the president’s term. When a Republican is president they happily confirm judges even after the president has lost re-election.
No more two sets of rules. That’s how we got 54 Trump circuit court judges in 4 years while Obama got 55 in 8 years. That’s how we got a 6-3 conservative Supreme Court. I don’t care about being nice any more. I don’t care about precedent anymore. I don’t care about being cordial anymore. I did care once & that lead to the courts ripping rights away from us almost on a weekly basis.
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Thurmond Rule only applies when the Senate is controlled by the opposing party. The GOP Senators admitted this as their justification for ramming through Amy Coney Barrett.
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Thurmond Rule will not apply in 2024 because the President and Senate are controlled by the same party.
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Right on time with your usual response, Frank!
I, on the other hand, am not content with your one-sided approach to the world. There are two major political parties. So when one runs roughshod over the other, two should be able to play that game. Republicans don’t care how much you scream your idealism from your porch, so Dems shouldn’t, either.
You can keep this unilateral world of yours alive in your reminiscence of days gone by. The rest of us will fight for parity!
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If the Senators from Kansas wind up supporting Rich Federico, than there will likely be a concession for the District Court vacancy. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Terrance Campbell, an uncontroversial commercial litigator who was nominated in 2016.
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I think both parties should be able to do whatever they want to do within the rules. If the GOP wants to formalize these rules around blue slips, appropriate waiting times, etc. then let’s have a conversation, but we all know that won’t happen.
If a late vacancy arises in fall 2024 I hope the WH/Senate does everything possible to fill it within the existing rules. The plate should be pretty bare by that point (like in 2020) so there won’t be much excuse if it doesn’t happen.
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I’ve been a fairly big defender of Chuck and Biden and their process (though less so this year) but if a vacancy opens up 10/1/24, maybe even 9/1/24, it’s not getting filled.
Now in fairness the GOP can and would fill that seat because FedSoc probably has a list of nominees ready for every possible vacancy for Mitch at all times.
I’m sure Bidens team and various Dem senators are happy to read emails and have meetings with folks from ACS, AFJ and Demand Justice but it’s not nearly the same streamlined drag and drop operation that conservatives have created.
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Given the slow pace of nominations right now, there is a 0% chance that this administration would be capable of nominating and confirming someone after the 2024 election if Biden loses. This is partly because ACS/Demand Justice/etc. lack the influence on the left that Fed Soc has on the right, and partly because Dems don’t have the political will to do it.
If Biden loses, that almost certainly means Manchin/Tester/Brown lost as well, and I don’t see Dems confirming judges when they’ve lost the Senate. I personally think they have the Senate until January 2025 and should use the time, but Senate Dems are all about norms. Some of the defeated senators probably wouldn’t vote for confirmation anyways – certainly not Manchin, and likely not Sinema either.
And to be fair, the Republicans did leave two appellate seats vacant at the end of Trump’s term that I thought they would fill, and those seats (on CA1 and CA7) are far more important than random district court seats in a ruby red state like Tennessee.
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I’ve long argued that the threshold for confirmation expires much much earlier than near/after the 2024 election, so of course I agree that Dems, while still holding all the cards, would not be able to confirm judges/justices.
I, however, dispute that Republicans can do this mainly because of Fed Soc and Dems can’t because they don’t have a comparable organization.
Diane Feinstein did more in 2017 to make Amy Coney Barrett the nominee to replace RBG than Fed Soc. I am missing something. In a pinch, why would Biden (or better yet, a competent WH) need vetting support from outside organizations to simply come up with a few names? Say we’re in a time crunch, you want to start out with a very small pool, so you limit your search to a small selection of circuit court judges. Are you telling me that Biden can’t sit down with his senior advisors in the course of a few days to name a half-decent SCOTUS nominee from that list? He needs a Fed Soc-type organization to come up with a list of his own circuit appointees? Goodness, what a terribly low bar.
In less than 5 seconds I can think of 10 Biden COA judges he can fling onto SCOTUS and NONE of them are heavy hitters or Grade A nominees: from Irma Rameriz to Florence Pan to John Lee. Do you really need an organizational to do that? (Obviously, I would rather eat my head than advocating Biden nominating those folks).
Also, the Republicans didn’t leave those two appellate vacancies out of kindness. They simply ran out of time. McConnell had been saying for months before then that Republicans intended to “clean the plate” on judges. If the two Geogia seats had been decided in November, they would have had the time and enough of their senators in attendance to do it.
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I’ve been trying for a while to get my list in the right hands so the White House would have a nominee at the ready for any vacancy that could arise anywhere in the country. Last January, I met a White House staffer (Erika Moritsugu, the Deputy Assistant to the President and Asian American and Pacific Islander Senior Liaison) and she gave me her e-mail for me to send my list to her for her to forward to the right people but I doubt the WHC took more than a glance at it.
Too bad they always defer to Senators. Not saying they shouldn’t be consulted, but they should already have a shortlist.
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@Gavi of course you’re missing something – you can’t seriously be so naive as to think it’s as simple as looking at the resumes of a few candidates and picking the most progressive one. There’s plenty of time politicking and behind-the-scenes maneuvering that goes into picking a nominee, and important people will be pushing to get their favorites picked. This is especially true with the Dems, who have different ideological/racial coalition demands to try and satisfy whereas the GOP is homogenous and pretty much uniformly conservative.
SCOTUS is arguably easier to pick because it’s become commonly accepted that it has to be an appellate judge. But even then, there are progressives who will want a public defender versus moderates who don’t want to be seen as tough in crime versus certain groups who want the first X on the court. The administration will often have an obligation to meet with these groups and hear them out behind closed doors even if they don’t go with the pick. And that’s not counting for making sure that nothing in the nominee’s past is going to come up that might scare off swing senators – Kavanaugh’s sexual assault history didn’t come up when he was confirmed onto CADC but did during his SCOTUS nomination, for example.
As for lower court vacancies, anyone who’s paid attention over the last few years can tell that lots of Dem senators still treat the appellate positions as rewards for their friends or supporters. Dem senators could easily just pick from a list from ACS or Demand Justice or Ethan even, but they consciously choose not to. As a result, any senator is going to want say over the process anytime a vacancy comes up, and then there will be people lobbying that senator to pick their favored candidate. Until we get Dem senators who will rubber stamp an ACS list, it’s just unfortunately going to take longer.
And you’re wrong on the CA1 nomination at least – Graham didn’t process Arias-Marxuach (the Trump nominee) out of the SJC even though he could have. If the Republicans had time to confirm Tennessee district judges, they also could have chose instead to push Pacold onto CA7 over Durbin’s protest, but thankfully did not. I highly doubt it was because they couldn’t coordinate the votes to have Loeffler and Perdue fly in for a few hours out of the two months before the runoff. I’d hate for Dems to do the same thing, but we all know they probably will if there are still vacancies by fall 2024.
Tl;dr: we need better Dem senators who aren’t 1000 years old and beholden to senate traditions from the Stone Age.
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@Hank
You would have to take my comment completely out of the premise I set up and create your own premise in order to write this response.
Let’s give it the categorical treatment.
“you can’t seriously be so naive as to think it’s as simple as looking at the resumes of a few candidates and picking the most progressive one.”
I specifically restricted my would-be list to NONE progressives to highlight that Biden wouldn’t need to bellyache over finding the most progressive nominee, thus shortening the selection process. Less progressive would also mean less controversial, since the main goal here is to get someone confirmed ASAP.
“There’s plenty of time politicking and behind-the-scenes maneuvering that goes into picking a nominee, and important people will be pushing to get their favorites picked.”
Again, the premise is the vacancy occurring right before/after the 2024 election. Not with an announcement January 2022 for a July 2022 vacancy. A non-weak Dem president isn’t doomed to be paralyzed by in-fighting when there isn’t the luxury of time.
“SCOTUS is arguably easier to pick because it’s become commonly accepted that it has to be an appellate judge”
See my original comment to you.
“But even then, there are progressives who will want a public defender versus moderates who don’t want to be seen as tough in crime versus certain groups who want the first X on the court.”
See point 2 above.
“The administration will often have an obligation to meet with these groups and hear them out behind closed doors even if they don’t go with the pick. And that’s not counting for making sure that nothing in the nominee’s past is going to come up that might scare off swing senators – Kavanaugh’s sexual assault history didn’t come up when he was confirmed onto CADC but did during his SCOTUS nomination, for example.”
No amount of vetting can bring up everything, no matter the timeframe. Kavanaugh’s pre-selection vetting STILL did not bring up those allegations. But for one letter sent to one senator by one person, after the vetting and hearing, no way to account for this.
“As for lower court vacancies, anyone who’s paid attention over the last few years can tell that lots of Dem senators still treat the appellate positions as rewards for their friends or supporters. Dem senators could easily just pick from a list from ACS or Demand Justice or Ethan even, but they consciously choose not to. As a result, any senator is going to want say over the process anytime a vacancy comes up, and then there will be people lobbying that senator to pick their favored candidate.”
I didn’t address this, but sure. I feel like I should restate the basic premise: right before/after the 2024 election.
Teddy Kennedy kept a CA1 seat vacant for years because he and Carter didn’t see eye to eye about who should be nominated. Then when Dems lost the WH and senate in 1980, they rushed through the Stephen Breyer nomination. This is what I am talking about. Not time for luxurious deliberation, but potentially power-shifting timeline.
I’ll give you partial credit for Arias-Marxuach, since McConnell can’t confirm anyone not on the executive calendar. It should be noted that Graham himself said he’s holding off on putting Arias-Marxuach up for a SJC vote because he believed that the nominee is someone the incoming Biden would re-nominate. So it would have the same effect.
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@Gavi your words were “I, however, dispute that Republicans can do this mainly because of Fed Soc and Dems can’t because they don’t have a comparable organization.” That’s the statement I was responding to because nobody was actually making that argument—we all know there are orgs trying to be the Fed Soc of the left, and why they’ve been unsuccessful is much more worthy of unpacking than the extremely unlikely “scotus hypo in November 24” hypo you dreamed up.
Sure, I agree that Biden/Dems might get things together and nominate someone if a SCOTUS vacancy opened up after the 2024 election, if only because of the media attention. But you really think Dems are competent enough to do that for appellate seats? Republicans can move quickly for any vacancy because they don’t care about proper vetting and most Republican senators just rubber stamp whatever Fed Soc says. Dem senators/the administration have too much of a God complex to do either, so it takes longer – it’s not rocket science.
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@Hank
Since the dawn of time, it’s always been easier for counsel to brand as farfetched hypotheticals they don’t like than to engage with it, so I will solidify it a bit for you.
We got onto this topic because earlier, we were discussing how Crytzer was confirmed during a lame duck. There’s no doubt about whether she’s someone Biden would renominate, so of course Republicans were going to take the much shorter time to confirm her to the district court seat than it would take to confirm a COA nominee that Graham and co. hoped Biden would renominate. Then, I literally said:
“That’s so unlikely today by a Dem president and a Dem senator in a Dem majority senate. No, Dems need to take their time, make announcements and form committees to try to find the oldest and most conventional candidate still sentient.”
Then others in the conversation went on to “dream” up other hypotheticals, including filling sudden vacancies to higher courts. So, far from being the “extremely unlikely” hypothetical, it’s more than appropriate for people to remember vacancies coming about close to elections.
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@Gavi come on, you know that your “scotus vacancy in November 2024” hypo (1) has more than a 0.0000000000000000000000000001% chance of happening, or (2) is representative of what the administration would do about lower court vacancies that are still open by next fall.
I don’t even disagree with you on what might happen in that scenario – it’s just so unlikely and not comparable to the actual topic at hand that there’s not much to discuss. Coming up with silly hypos is the territory of 1Ls trying to impress their Con Law professors.
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@Hank
You don’t need to like or stay within the confines of our hypothesis. But you don’t get to pretend it doesn’t exist or dismiss it as farfetched, *then* create a whole new one with which to ascribe to us. There’s a term for that fallacy.
We’ve had a justice die in February of an election year and another die in September of an election year after millions of votes were already cast. That’s 2 months out of 12. What’s so special about a death occurring in November? One doesn’t need to be a math genius to know that’s a little over 8%.
Besides, it’s death/unexpected vacancies we’re talking about. It’s usually very unplanned. So if you want hypotheses about involuntary vacancies to be more concrete, I’d suggest you consult a fortuneteller.
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Ah yes – because a SCOTUS justice died in an election year the last two cycles, there must be a 100% chance of that happening in 2024 (which is the only way you get to an 8% chance of that happening in November 2024). Ironclad logic you’ve got there.
Not sure why you’re so hung up on denying that a unplanned SCOTUS vacancy is unlikely and not particularly relevant to Dems’ lack of interest in filling late-breaking lower court vacancies.
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The pyromaniac continues on his march through the field of straw men he sowed.
Let’s ignore everything that’s said about unexpected vacancies, because how are we going to burn that down? I know: let’s say the opposite instead. Now burn it down. Never burns like hay.
The only person hung up on anything is you. As I said before, we were commenting on something quite distinct from what you’ve been saying we were. And for what reason? If you think Dems can’t fill lower court vacancies after certain point, what stops you from making that point? Why would you need to use this argument to recast the conversation that was ongoing before yours? And, by all means, join in. But why then reimagine what we’ve been discussing in plain English?
This is an open forum. Feel free to add your 2 cents. But don’t take my dime and tell me it’s only a penny.
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Can’t tell what the point of that unhinged comment even was since it’s completely unrelated to the substance of the discussion, but congrats on learning how to use a metaphor or two! I’m so impressed!
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You are too easily impressed; people use metaphors all the time. Speaking of metaphors, this last comment ironically is a metaphor for your entire contribution to this bit of back and forth, completely unrelated to what we were discussing before you invented a position and ascribed it to us.
But let’s go back to your reading comprehension issue. If you cannot figure out how my previous response is related to yours, I’m afraid I can’t help you with that. It’s already in plain English.
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And wait I just realized that you’re the one who thinks SFFA was correctly decided? All this time I thought I was talking to a serious person – my bad.
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I’ve been looking at the judges on the 10th. Circuit. Most of the Democratic appointees are from Republican states and most of the Republican appointees are from Democratic states. As a result, nearly all of the judges there are compromise candidates.
Does anyone know how progressive Veronica Rossman gets along with her fellow judges? I wonder how Rich Federico will fit in with them?
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I read an article months ago (Sorry don’t have the link) regarding the most progressive Biden circuit court judges so far. The article mentioned Enuice Lee, Tony Heytens & Veronica Rossman. Nancy Abudu hadn’t been confirmed yet.
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@Dequan
Do you remember what the article said? I can’t find the article either.
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It was a while back. I just remember Rossman was mentioned. Ironically they didn’t mention Freeman & a couple others I would have thought would be on the article. But again it wasn’t an in-depth look at all cases. It seems as though Rossman is shining bright on the 10th.
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That never occurred to me before but it’s so true.
If only Scott Matheson (Obama appointed 10th circuit judge from Utah) would go senior, as he is eligible. There is also a vacancy on the district court in Utah (vacated by now senior Judge David Nuffer).
I was talking to @Dequan about it and he thinks that after Nuffer ruled against the state of Utah in their challenge to Biden’s use of the Antiquities Act to restore Obama era protections to the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase national monuments, Senator Lee will be even less motivated than he already was to work in good faith with the White House.
That being said, there are several potential Utah nominees (most would be qualified for both the 10th circuit and the district court) that are relatively uncontroversial:
From the Utah Supreme Court:
-Justice Diana Hagen (born c. 1973). She is a former federal prosecutor (served as First Assistant US Attorney for the District of Utah) who was involved in prosecuting the man who kidnapped Elizabeth Smart. She also clerked for Judge Tena Campbell (Clinton appointed senior judge on the District of Utah).
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Didn’t mean to hit enter right there and then. Lots more coming…..
Also from the Utah Supreme Court:
-Justice Paige Petersen (born c. 1972), a graduate of Yale Law School. She is a former federal prosecutor as well (in both Utah and the Eastern District of New York) and also worked as a prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal. She clerked for Clinton appointed Judge Susan Dlott in the Northern District of Ohio. She is most likely a Democrat given that she interned in the Clinton White House (overlapping with Monica Lewinsky as a matter of fact)..
From the Utah Court of Appeals:
-Judge Amy Oliver (born c. 1973), a graduate of Harvard Law School. A former federal prosecutor as well who also worked as an attorney for the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission).
From Utah local courts:
-Judge Chelsea Koch (born c. 1975), a judge on Utah’s Third Judicial District who was previously an Assistant Federal Public Defender.
-Judge Cristina Ortega (born c. 1976), who is Hispanic and serves as a judge on Utah’s Second Judicial District. She is also a former federal prosecutor (Counsel to the US Attorney for the District of Utah). Her only political donation was $320 to Democrat congressional candidate J. Lee Castillo in 2018.
Current Magistrate Judges:
-Judge Daphne Oberg (born c. 1980). Like Koch, she is a former Assistant Federal Public Defender. She clerked for Carter appointed Judge Monroe McKay on the 10th circuit but also for former Judge Paul Cassell, an appointee of George W. Bush who is now an outspokenly conservative law professor at the University of Utah. Her age might be too young for Lee and her ties to Cassell could be a turn off to Democrats despite her public defender background.
-Judge Cecilia Romero (born c. 1977), who is also Hispanic. She was a firm lawyer (at Holland & Hart) prior to her appointment to the bench. But the fact that her husband Ross Romero is a former Democratic member of the Utah Senate could be a turn off to Republicans.
Others:
-Trina Higgins (born 1970), the current US Attorney appointed by Biden who Lee and Romney both supported.
-Andrea Martinez (born c. 1976), also Hispanic and serves as the First Assistant US Attorney for the District of Utah (and served as Acting US Attorney prior to Higgins’ appointment).
-Aaron Murphy (born c. 1973). He is a former clerk to Clinton appointed Judge Sidney Thomas of the 9th circuit as well as a former Assistant State Solicitor of Utah who currently serves as Legal Counsel to the Office of the Monitor for the cryptocurrency exchange platform Coinbase. All of his donations have been to Democrats ($500 to Obama with other donations to former California Congresswoman Jackie Speier and unsuccessful Utah congressional candidate Doug Owens).
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That’s a really interesting observation. Just looked at the 10th circuit’s Wikipedia page and that is very true. I wonder whether it will stay that way in the future.
New Mexico & Colorado both went to GW Bush in 2004, while the red states on the 10th circuit have been red a bit longer than that.
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The 10th is generally a moderate liberal circuit, but some of the conservatives are quite conservative – Tymkovich and Eid come to mind, and the very conservative Gorsuch was on CA10 before his elevation.
Lucero (the judge Rossman replaced) at least was pretty liberal, and I think Briscoe was a standard Dem judge. Haven’t looked into Rossman’s record recently, but I remember she dissented from an opinion by Obama appointee McHugh (joined by Clinton appointee Murphy) vacating a preliminary injunction against Denver’s homeless sweeps – it was more persuasive than the majority opinion IMO, especially the point about appellate courts not raising arguments that the parties themselves had not raised.
https://www.coloradopolitics.com/courts/10th-circuit-overturns-injunction-on-denvers-homeless-sweeps/article_b1255198-cbc1-11ec-916f-b723cf327b6d.html
In short, Rossman seems smart and likely to be a leading liberal voice on the 10th. Hopefully Federico will be similar.
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Once Federico is confirmed, it will be nice to have a circuit have two former federal defenders on it when I don’t believe they ever had one prior to Biden. It’s likely next vacancy on the court will come from a state with two Democrat senators so the future looks bright for the 10th.
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There is a new book about the Supreme Court that’s out. For now it’s just an audio book, by a Harvard Law professor. Progressives won’t consider it a feel-good book.
Here’s the link:
https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2021/03/in-audiobook-takeover-noah-feldman-lidia-jean-kott-explore-how-federalist-society-captured-supreme-court/
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There is also a book called “Nine Black Robes” on the same topic.
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https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7099474646474874880/
Here is a link to a 5 minute video of natasha merle being sworn in by chief judge margo brodie.
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@aangren
Keep them coming. Love these swearing in video, especially for an A+ judge like Merle. Let us know if you have one for Dale Ho.
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Regarding a potential SCOTUS opening in 2024, I think Roopali Desai would be a sleeper candidate and also a smart choice by Biden. Young, Election Law attorney, bipartisan support, and most importantly would have the support of Sinema and thus would hopefully ensure a smooth confirmation.
Of course we all know there would be other considerations, particularly if Thomas or Sotomayor are the Justice being replaced, but I think she’d be a great nominee for a “last minute” opening.
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No doubt a grade A judge, which is why I don’t see it happening. That’s how little faith I have in Biden and his WH.
Also, Arizona would be punching above its weight in home state of SCOTUS justices. Desai would be the third within as many decades, after O’Connor and Rehnquist.
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Let’s see how he turns out. He has worked in the WHC office for a number of years so hopefully the transition will be smooth. A new batch in the next 24 hours to avoid skipping another SJC hearing would be a great way to get things started.
(https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/08/22/president-joe-biden-names-ed-siskel-new-white-house-counsel/)
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What’s the odds of us getting a new batch within that time? I should ask @Joe for a rosy prediction like last week.
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I put the odds at 40%. Even if you just go by the normal timeline for batches, tomorrow is possible. Going by the rumored names we have spoken about, vetting should be completed for a handful or so nominees.
SDFL – 3 rumored names months ago. The biggest hiccup is if no Black womanly put the deal on hold.
Hawaii – Claire Connors should be a quick vetting.
NDIL – Either Nicholas Gowen or Karen Shelley should be ready by now.
California – At least one vacancy should have a nominee ready.
4th – Don’t get me started.
And I wouldn’t rule out any combination of South Carolina, Michigan, Connecticut, WDLA or any of the three New Jersey (2 district & 1 3rd) vacancies having nominees vetted.
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Any combination of which could have been announced months ago at this point.
I am usually more cautious about predicting that an obvious candidate will get the nod to a longstanding vacancy. If the candidacy of so and so is so widely expected, why isn’t it made official, already! We’ve seen this play out a few times before. It’s how I view the Samantha Elliott in NH hype.
(I don’t put the Illinois (and often NY and some others) vacancies in this category, as those are usually from a list of recommendations that Biden has more or less stuck to.)
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I can’t think of many (If any) credibly sourced recommended possible nominees that haven’t been nominated under Biden. Samantha Elliott was mentioned on this blog as a possible nominee for the 1st but I saw Dustin & Phelan names mentioned outside of the blog so I wouldn’t count her.
You’re absolutely correct about Illinois & New York being in a separate category. There’s no way Biden is gonna reject a Schumer or Durbin recommendation. I wish he would but even Obama probably wouldn’t have.
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Yes, a new batch by tomorrow is imperative. Even if it’s just another 4 district nominees. We can’t afford to miss a hearing
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Yeah, the senate is in pretty much most of Sept-Dec, they could easily have 6-7 hearings. They could have 2 hearings just for the open circuit court seats. There’s vacancies on 1st, 3rd, 4th, & 6th without nominees
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I wouldn’t be as upset if I thought the delay in nominees was because Durbin is going to eventually draw a line in the sand on blue slips. But there’s no change coming in the horizon until Republicans are back in charge & will have an actual backbone to make the change.
I’ll actually be happy when they do it. That way all the people worried about a Republican president appointing district court judges in California & New York can finally see what you do when you have power. Republicans know the answer to that is use it. Democrats will learn her again after it’s too late. We are 24 hours away from yet another kissed SJC hearing after no new batch tomorrow…smh
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Correct, Rick. Once the senate returns the calendar actually works out fantastically and there is the potential for as many as 9 hearings (only one of which already has nominees) the rest of this year.
Need more tomorrow.
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@Mike
Good question. If Biden didn’t care about working in good faith with Blackburn & Haggerty, here would be my list of A+ & A nominees for the 6th…
U. Peter Oh (born c. 1974) – A
Tricia Herzfeld (born c. 1975) – A+
Stephen Ross Johnson (born c. 1976) – A+
Maha Ayesh (born c. 1980) – A
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Imagine a world where Biden gives charlatans like Blackburn the middle finger and appoints a young liberal AF lawyer to a circuit court seat in Tennessee without ever talking to her or Hagerty. That alone would make up for ONE of several FedSoc hack circuit court nominees shoved down Dem senator’s throats during the Trump years. But *sigh* a guy can dream. I will never get over what they did to the 9th circuit.
Would be nice to get more really young lawyers on circuit court seats in conservative-leaning circuits similar to the 6th circuit judge that just announced senior status. Like imagine a Biden appointee writing the opinion slapping down some future conservative state’s law in the year 2060 or something. That kind of long-term focus is how the right has won the courts over time. Not even mentioning how Clarence Thomas was appointed years before Ginsburg and outlived her. Ideology and age are a perfect mix for judges. Use it and churn out lefty judges like a damn conveyor belt.
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It would be nice but that’s not happening and it wont, biden literally let a despicable charlatan like ted cruz, someone with no inkling of good faith, who voted to throw out the electoral votes of bidens own voters on no basis or proof, to dictate to him to pick a 59 year old irma ramirez and got nothing in return. We are still waiting with bated breaths on the ”so called deal” he got by agreeing to that terrible pick.
Biden values getting along and comity with bad faith republicans who despise his voters(black, lgbtq) and warn to actively harm them over tangible progress.
He would always go with option a if it means less republican outrage and push back than option b if it results in backlash but meaningful progress and needle moving.
I will keep repeating to folks on here cory booker said during trump tenure he never even got the courtesy of meeting or even being consulted on the nominees to the 3rd circuit, biden own vice president harris and feinstein vociferously opposed federalist society hacks like kenneth lee, did trump rescind the nomination and try to work in good faith to nominate a moderate nominee like ”irma ramirez” to suit the democratic senators? No! he shoved it down their throats and told them to pound sand and now the hack is on the ninth circuit for life actively making peoples lifes harder and ruling against any semblance of fairness and justice and immigrants.
Its an absolute disgrace what trump did to the ninth.
I fully expect the 6th circuit nominee to be who ever blackburn and haggerty gives the approval to biden to nominate, he wont ever dare to go against them again, but as soon as the next republican president is elected is back to no consultation on appellate nominees and telling democrats to pound sand, its one rules for the republicans and another for the democrats and biden
is totally fine with that.
Im sure a president desantis will care about what Democratic senators want for a nominee on a circuit court! lol! he would quickly nominate and ram down an anti woke zealot and hack down their throats before they can bat an eye.
Remember he picked garland because lindsey graham and chuck grassley charaltans in their own right would have thrown a hissy fit had their dared to choose doug jones or sally yates as AG.
Meanwhile trump chose goons like jeff sessions and henchman bill bar to run his AG office.
One side acts in good faith and the other tries to further their power with all they can
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Co-sign. Well said sir.
After reading an article recently on the Texas pipeline of right-wing lawyers working for the state AG and Governor going on to become district court and circuit judges, it just put things into perspective of how seriously the right takes the court system and how they’ve finally captured their white whale. Is there anything similar to that on the left? Is the California AG or Gov mentoring young liberal lawyers to become district and circuit court judges on the 9th circuit? If you look at NDCA, you might think so, but that is just the result of well-timed retirements and good usage of blue slips to keep GOP presidents out of that district, but there is still almost no urgency from federally elected Dems on the courts. I know it may not be the best comparison, but just look at the clamoring on the GOP side to get on the judiciary committee. You basically had Schmidt beg and plead to be put on that committee so he could shepherd more FedSoc hacks to the district court seats in his home state and across the U.S. I’m pretty sure Peter Welch was given only given a spot on the committee due to him being the senator elected to replace Leahy from the same state. Not many Dem senators have a burning passion to help vet and confirm similar ideological judges. Sen. Whitehouse for sure eats, sleeps, and breathes judicial nominations and records. But the rest of them? Booker? (Not with his recommendations under Obama and Biden), Klobuchar? Pretty good, even though she caved and let Stras on the 8th circuit at the smallest amount of pressure. Feinstein? Not now, but she was a force in her heyday. Coons? Padilla? etc. Point is, I just don’t see the same sense of urgency that is needed to push back on the right-wing hackery that’s going on.
As someone on here mentioned, Dem senators treat appellate court seats as rewards for loyalty and hard work to staffers and people with connections, etc. Bloomenkatz is an A+ nominee and I’m glad she’s going to be on the 6th circuit ruling on cases for hopefully 25+ years, but the fact is that she was Sen. Brown’s legal counsel in his 2012 senate race. He didn’t pick her because of her solid left-wing ideology or her commitment to push the legal Overton window left, he recommended her as a “job well done”. Some might argue that it doesn’t matter and that it’s going on equally on the GOP side with much more open corruption, but that’s just one example of taking FOREVER to confirm a judge and making the conscious choice to fill every vacancy to ensure a further erosion of rights.
I talked with my dad the other day in regard to a hypothetical liberal SCOTUS majority. I was under the impression that a 5-4 liberal majority would overturn Dobbs in the future and would hopefully take a crack at Citizens United and Bruen, etc. He basically told me that they wouldn’t use their power boldly and would instead find reasonable areas to keep things as they are currently. Not sure what others may say to that, but it really got me thinking.
I hope that future Dem presidents have a more court-focused approach to their judicial nominees. Nothing would make me happier than to see a Pres. Newson or a Pres. D. Johnson (The Rock. He’s been flirting with politics for a while, I think he’s gonna run) come into office with the economy and judges in mind. Look John Roberts and Alito in their faces on inauguration day and tell them that he can’t wait to replace them. (Just like what Trump did with Ginsburg)
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@dawsont825
Good conversation with your dad. I never actually thought about a future 5-4 liberal majority on the SCOTUS not reversing Dobbs & other decisions. I’m not sure I agree they wouldn’t, but one way I could see me agreeing is if the vacancy occurs in a second Biden term & the senate is 50/50. If one of those 50 senators is Manchin, I could certainly see him pushing for a more centrist justice such as Childs or Pan. Then I could certainly see your scenario playing out.
That’s why the election next year is so important. Democrats really need a surprise flip either in Texas, Florida or Tennessee to have a realistic shot at maintaining 51 senators. Cruz & Scott have strong challengers & I even think Blackburn has the best challenger we could have hoped for to get an upset. If Democrats somehow can hold on to 51 senators, the 2026 map looks positive. I think Biden would pick justices who I feel would be more willing to overturn some of these bs decisions we are getting.
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Haha thanks. He’s definitely among the more pessimistic liberals I’ve ever talked to. I guess having multiple Dem presidents promise change and a new way of governance and getting the “same old same old” dampens one’s optimism.
But regarding his stance on a hypothetical liberal majority on SCOTUS, I honestly disagree. Jackson and Sotomayor seem poised to be the Scalia and Thomas of the left and will more than likely be active in pushing the two other liberal members of SCOTUS in a bolder direction. (Similar to what Kavanaugh and Barrett did to CJ Roberts as he was trying to slowly take cases in a conservative direction). The fun part is guessing who the two liberal justices would be (my money is on Alison Nathan being one of them, Schumer is really fond of her. As for the other, I’ll just throw out a pick and say it’ll end up being an Asian appeals court judge. Not sure if Biden would nominate Prelogar if given the chance based on if Dems are in the majority when a vacancy would present itself. It’ll be a cold day in hell before Alito or Thomas willingly retire under a Dem president. Plus, I think Prelogar is in the running for an appellate courtship for the 4th, so she probably wouldn’t be around to take it if anything)
I say all that to say, I disagree that Sotomayor and Jackson would sit back and allow straight up bullsh*t decisions to stand without leaping at the chance to overturn precedent. (You know, what Roe used to be). So, if there ever is a liberal majority on SCOTUS, I hope liberal advocacy groups like Demand Justice and the ACS have briefs lined up to challenge decisions like Dobbs, Bruen, Hobby Lobby, Citizens United, etc. Precedent doesn’t mean shit anymore, so it’s all fair game.
Besides the wishful thinking, fill every vacancy and stop letting an old bat like Cardin dictate the vacancy on the 4th. Fill that, the 3rd, 1st, and the 6th. Get it done.
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To be fair Biden has already appointed two very young, very liberal circuit court judges to the Sixth already. Mathis and Bloomekatz are A or A+ Nominees. Neither of them got the support of both home state senators as well.
Don’t get me wrong, I’d love a third to continue moving that court to the left. Simply pointing out that Biden has shown he doesn’t mind doing it if he feels he has to.
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Four new vacancies have popped up on the US Courts site. Gibbons we knew of, and she’s listed as TBD date. Add Jane Magnus-Stinson in northern Indiana. And Douglas Reyes and James Soto in Arizona. All three scheduled for next summer. I’m sure Kelly and Sinema are glad to finally have a crack at the Arizona district court.
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Make that southern Indiana.
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With Jane Magnus-Stinson going Senior, I expect Magistrate Judge Mario Garcia to get the nod. Some here were hoping he’d be put on the Seventh Circuit.
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For Indiana, while I would LOVE for Mario Garcia to be the nominee, I worry that Indiana’s Senators would push for one of the other Magistrate Judges on that court:
-M. Kendra Klump (born c. 1982), a former federal prosecutor who clerked for Judge Judith Rogers on the DC Circuit.
-Kellie Barr (born c. 1981), a former clerk to Jane Magnus-Stinson.
But maybe they’d prefer Garcia since he’s older (born c. 1973) despite him being clearly more progressive.
In Arizona, I agree that Aguilera could easily get Soto’s Tucson based seat. Rayes’ seat is Phoenix based. But with Soto stepping down, there will be no Hispanic/ Latino men on that court, so I’d definitely keep an eye on the Phoenix seat going to a Hispanic/ Latino man. Surprisingly, the only Hispanic/ Latino man that I have on my list from Arizona is plaintiffs attorney Leonard Aragon (and I’m not even 100% sure he’s Hispanic/ Latino). I need to do some more digging for Arizona.
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There will be two vacancies on the District Court in Arizona. Look to the Magistrate judges first. I expect one of the nominees to be Maria Aguilera.
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Why would you make this assumption? What in the two Arizona senators’ background would lead you to believe that they want to be like the California senators?
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Sinema usually sucks but she’s been great on judges. Desai was a very outside the box nominee. I hope the district court vacancies are treated similarly.
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Looking at the federal website, it looks like all four vacancies were known well before today.
Soto,James Alan – 07/20/2023
Rayes,Douglas L. – 07/25/2023
Magnus-Stinson,Jane E. – 08/02/2023
Gibbons,Julia Smith – 08/07/2023
Hopefully the White House knows of additional vacancies & they haven’t been posted yet too.
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The federal courts website is usually a bit behind. It’s a different think with WH notification, which is official. Retiring judges usually address their letter to the WH and cc a few other people, including their chief judge.
The website’s updating is purely administrative.
So yeah, the WH isn’t just learning about them.
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Makes sense. Well they can wait six months to notify all of us as long as they are informing the home state senators right away & getting to work to fill the vacancies… Lol
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Minnesota will have a new Chief Justice. And she’ll be older than who she’s replacing, and only 4 years short of mandatory retirement. At least her replacement as associate justice (Karl Procaccini) appears to be younger, relative to this very old court.
Democrats go out of their way to nominee old people to courts:
https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/natalie-hudson-is-named-the-first-black-chief-justice-of-minnesota-supreme-court/
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Good to finally see Minnesota get a Justice that’s young & progressive. I believe this is the first time in my lifetime I’ve seen that happen (Can’t remember how old Whelamena Wright was when she was confirmed). Looks like he was born around 1983 & he was on @Ethan’s list for the district court so I suspect he would get a look or two for the 8th should Loken leave under Biden.
He ultimately probably wouldn’t be picked because the 8th only has Jane Kelly as the only woman’s so I fully expect Biden to treat the 8th like the 3rd & nominate all woman (Pending who he nominated for the New Jersey seat) but you never know. Either way any day Democrats actually use their power to build a bench is a good day.
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Well, its afternoon on the east coast and no announcements of new nominees, so I think this means there can be no 2nd hearing in Sept..
I’d like to think there is a good reason for this but there probably isn’t. Just apathy & carelessness
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@Rick
I’m so disappointed. Another SJC hearing will be missed in a month because we have only had one new batch in the past 55 days & that batch wasn’t even enough to fill a complete hearing. The post-election White House Counsel’s office has been a borderline disaster. I’m not sure the first year Obama WHC office wasn’t better & that’s with blue slips & the filibuster in place.
I don’t know much about the new WH Counsel but he can’t be any worse than what we have right now. I wouldn’t even be upset if the wait was because we have some A or A+ nominees coming up but I’m pretty such we don’t, even for blue state vacancies. Truly disappointing indeed
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I agree. Still hoping for a late batch of nominees, but otherwise very, very, disappointed that another SJC date will be missed due to lack of nominees.
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Below are the top ten current vacancies without a nominee. Only one is in a blue state. I think there’s a good chance Biden could fill all except the vacancies in Alabama & Arkansas. I don’t believe both senators in each of those states are going to work in good faith, nor do I believe Durbin will budge on blue slips.
07 – WI-E Griesbach,William C. 12/31/2019
11 – AL-M Brasher,Andrew Lynn 02/11/2020
11 – FL-S Moreno,Federico A. 07/17/2020
07 – IN-N Springmann,Theresa Lazar 01/23/2021
05 – TX-W Martinez,Philip R. 02/26/2021
11 – FL-S Ungaro,Ursula 05/02/2021
10 – OK-N Dowdell,John E. 06/21/2021
08 – SD Viken,Jeffrey L. 10/01/2021
08 – AR-W Holmes III,Paul Kinloch 11/10/2021
03 – PA-E Rufe,Cynthia M. 12/31/2021
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There were recommendations in June for the Wisconsin vacancy (the same one that Johnson had retracted his blue slip for the previous nominee William Pocan). I wonder what the delay is.
-Byron Conway (born c. 1976), a personal injury attorney in Green Bay.
-Marc Hammerer (born c. 1964), a Judge on the Brown County (Green Bay) Circuit Court. He was appointed by a Democratic Governor (Jim Doyle).
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If they were the same age I would go with Hammer. But the age gap is too great so I would go with Byron Conway. Either way the administration needs to live quickly so that gives time for any bs Johnson may pull with another excuse as to why he can’t turn in his blue slip,
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The vetting process takes time even once the Biden administration chooses one of the recommended candidates.
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California has a couple of possible vacancies. One name I had expected to see nominated who wasn’t was Claudia Alvarez, a judge on Orange County Superior Court. I wonder why?
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Did she apply for the position with Feinstein or Padilla?
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I don’t know. I think those lists are confidential.
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The last week of the senate 5 week recess begins. There is a lot of things they have to take care of before the end of September. I’m not sure how much time will be dedicated to judges.
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They have a bunch of nominees that they’ll probably vote on Tues and Wed when they return, but they’re all Executive nominees. I think there are 5 total.
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And Schumer filed cloture on de Alba, but she’ll probably get her votes next week.
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When did Schumer file cloture on de Alba? I remember them leaving for Summer recess with no judicial clotures filed & we even talked about it on one of the past post.
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Going by this tweet from the Majority Leader’s account on July 27:
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Read the first two comments in the Tweet you sent. I believe it was sent in error.
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I don’t believe cloture has been filed on de Alba yet, but I would t be surprised if Schumer does so next Tuesday.
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Wow, wish my vacations felt as long as these senate ones are. Feels like a whole summer has passed since the last time the senate confirmed a judge.
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If the comments after the tweet are correct, the account should have taken it down. Either way, as @Rick said, there are so many other executive nominations that were filed in July that they won’t get to de Alba for a while, unless they vitiate cloture somewhere.
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It’s definitely a mistake & wouldn’t be the first one. The official senate account mentions nothing about de Alba. Plus there’s no way any judge would get cloture filed & NOBODY on this blog blast it out with hours of it happening if not minutes… Haaaaa
We’ll just chalk it up to them rushing to get out of town for vacation & they forgot to take the tweet down.
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Re: de Alba We DID talk about this error when it was first shared. Cloture was definitely not filed on that nomination before they left town.
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The already packed senate calendar is bound to be even more so, with a potential Hawaii recovery package. And maybe one for California and Florida, and anywhere else that might be impacted by a natural disaster between now and when the senate returns. Or maybe all those potential disaster bills can be folded into an omnibus disaster/recover bill.
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@Gavi
You must be forgetting. @Frank & @Shawnee68 already assured us there is enough time. Never mind the 5-week recess, wall to wall agenda when they return next week (On Tuesday, not Monday by the way) & certainly don’t worry about only one batch in the past 60 days. There assurance should be all that we need. Now if they can just assure us that Blackburn will drop her hold on all New York judicial nominees, I would really feel good… Haaaaa
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Why would the Senate work on Labor Day?
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They shouldn’t work on Labor Day. They just should be coming off a four week vacation instead of a five week vacation… Lol
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I have a theory about the rumored southern Florida package. Ben Crump may have thrown a wrench into the machinery. In June, he called on the Biden Administration to include a black woman in any judicial package.
There are already three vacancies and an impending vacancy. The three in the package have already been leaked. As for the impending vacancy, I’m of the opinion that Marco Rubio got the White House to promise to name Markenzy Lapointe to that vacancy. But perhaps now the Biden Administration is backing away from it due to Crump’s public statement.
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@Mitch
I actually 100% agree with you here. I think I even mentioned this to @Ethan off this blog. I heard Rubio was very impressed with Markenzy Lapointe & was probably saving him for the 4th seat that isn’t vacant yet. I usually agree with Ben Crump but to me I don’t see the big seal if the fourth person is a Black woman or man as long as they are Black. The court is too big & Miami has too large of a Black population not to have any Black judges. I think Markenzy Lapointe would be the perfect compromise nominee to be honest.
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@Dequan
Also worth noting, there are other judges on that court who are eligible for Senior Status and at least one of them is likely to take it in the next two years. So why not appoint a black woman to that future vacancy?
If that happens (which I expect it will), look for Detra Shaw-Wilder to get the nod. She’s a business acquisitions lawyer from Miami who has experience in complex No one seems to have anything against her.
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I was just looking at my chart as we speak. There are 4 judges that can retire now & a 5th on October 30th. It is highly possible at least one would leave the bench over the next year & a half.
Btw I took some suggestions of things to add to my chart. On the last tab I added some more links such as the senate calendar for this year, list of US Attorney’s by Biden & several other links.
(https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1WTD3XQ_beYUtrpuvwmS7F47Ql8L5-M_knlwCx5lCTPs/edit#gid=55641944)
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Re comments above: how’s that sweet addictive identity politics working out in those Florida vacancies? Oh, well, you live by the quota, you die by the quota.
At any rate, I am not convinced that Crump or any other outside forces have anything to do with the delays. Remember the WH has Scott to negotiate with, and he won’t be in any hurry to see Biden name judges to his state.
Also, did you add a tab for missed SJC hearings?
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Haaaaa
To be honest identity politics & judicial politics all together would be just fine if they just scrapped blue slips. But we will just wait for Republicans to be back in charge for that to happen at this rate.
While I disagree with you on not considering race, I completely agree with you that Rick Scott is more of a problem then Rubio. Particularly with him up for re-election next year.
And a tab for missed SJC hearings… Lmao… At this point that will need its own sheet… Uuuggghhh
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#Dequan
The two elderly Clinton appointees on the southern Florida court have been busy.
Donald Middlebrooks dismissed a defamation case against Hillary Clinton by Donald Trump, which drew some national attention.
William Dimitrouleas recently presided over the trial of a former high Venezuelan official and her husband over laundering millions in foreign bribes in Miami. They got 15 years in the clink.
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Hopefully that means they are trying to go out on top with a bang & working hard nearing the end of their tenure… Lol
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