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 
I’m going to check the Middle District Court of Florida. There is one recent vacancy and two impending vacancies, all three for Obama appointees. Don’t be surprised if it takes a while to find nominees.
Roy Dalton has already taken Senior Status. He is a Republican nominated by the Obama Administration as a favor to Mel Martinez, who played nice on judges.
The impending vacancies won’t take place until December. They are for Brian Davis and Charlene Honeywell, both black Democrats. Davis in particular is progressive and it took two years to get him confirmed. Honeywell had an easier time of it, thanks in part to Martinez’s support.
I predict that Rick Scott will defer to Marco Rubio on the Southern District vacancies. That is Rubio’s home turf. But Middle Florida is Scott’s territory, so look for him to play a much bigger role in filling those vacancies. As Dequan stated, he may be more difficult to reach an agreement with.
To succeed Davis and Honeywell, the Biden Administration will have to look for nominees who are considered “safe” and are not ideological bomb throwers. It can be done.
I don’t know how is being interviewed and considered.
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@Mitch, there are plenty of Magistrate Judges in the Middle District of Florida that meet the criteria of being pretty uncontroversial. There is one vacancy each in Jacksonville, Orlando, and Tampa.
Magistrate Judges Philip Lammens (born c. 1977) and Patricia Barksdale (born c. 1971) are both based in Jacksonville and were unsuccessfully nominated by Obama.
Since there are so many Magistrate Judges in the Middle District of Florida on my list, I’m not going to regurgitate all of them but I definitely think Magistrate Judges Amanda Arnold Sansone (born c. 1976), a former clerk to Judge Charles Wilson on the 11th circuit and Julie Sneed (born c. 1969), a Black woman, would receive consideration for the Tampa seat.
And given the Biden administration’s track record of putting Magistrate Judges on circuit courts, I think they’d be contenders to succeed Wilson if he ever decides to go senior.
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Also with Florida having a Republican Governor for the past two decades plus (It makes me want to vomit just typing that), I’m sure there are some Republican appointee state court judges that are left of center sprinkled in the as well. Even some appointed by Rick Scott himself which would make it harder for him to reject. I fully expect at least one of the nominees to be a magistrate judge though too.
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@Ethan
Good find. Magistrate Judge Monte Richardson is a name I just found. He could be a successor to Brian Davis, and both of their Duty Stations are based in Jacksonville.
Richardson is mentioned favorably by an organization called Project New Hope, but he also has much experience in prosecuting white collar crime.
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@Mitch,
Richardson was born c. 1961. For me, that’s pushing it even with blue slips involved. But I guess I’d rather him fill it than the seat remain vacant.
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https://www.politico.com/news/2023/08/29/new-jersey-law-immigrant-detention-contracts-unconstitutional-00113398
Robert kirsch who as a republican until 2021, who bob menendez and cory booker recommended as a district judge and who eventually got nominated and confirmed by the senate just blocked a progressive law passed by NJ and signed into law by the gov phil murphy that prohibited private immigration detention centers which are often under sub standard conditions and have serious abuse issues.
‘’ With this ruling, immigrants detained at the EDC will continue to be at risk of the shameful conditions that have stained this facility and harmed our community members’’
What I found ironic was this quote above, from rep rob menendez who is the son of NJ senator bob menendez who father you can credibly argue is one of the reasons for this decision because if not for his Support of the former republican , kirsch would literally not be a US district judge in NJ and would never have been able To strike down the law. Its truly absurd how terrible the NJ district court judges are from biden. Kirsch, O. hearn are obviously the worst of the bunch and georgette castner the best.
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The White House should have our right refused to nominate 3 – 4 New Jersey nominees with Robert kirsch being at the front of the line. A near 60 year old former Republican the day Biden took office has no business being nominated in a blue state. I have little faith we will get a good nominee for the 3rd as well as the two district court vacancies. I swear if the senate wasn’t so important & close I would rather a Republican than Menedez. He’s that bad & I wish the dead would close in on him & force him out of the race next year. Unfortunately we’re so close to the election now it’s probably too late without risking losing the seat. He’s the worst Democrat senator, even worse than Manchin who at least has a reason to be a bad Democrat.
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What is legally incorrect about this ruling? I don’t love the decision either, but judges actually are at least supposed to follow the law.
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The Ninth Circuit recently ruled on this issue en banc as well, but the Obama appointees joined the conservatives (however Sung dissented which was great), so this issue isnt so cut and dry between partisan lines
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New nominees today: Western New York, Southern Texas, Hawaii, Mariana Islands.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/08/30/president-biden-names-thirty-seventh-round-of-judicial-nominees-and-announces-one-new-nominee-to-serve-as-u-s-marshal/
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Hilarious.
Exhibit 23456 as to why you can’t count on someone getting the nomination before they are in fact nominated. I’ve been beating this drum for a while now. No Claire Connors in Hawaii.
Will have to read up on this poor offerings…
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What a spectacular surprise just as I’m starting my vacation. Smith was @Ethan & my number one pick but had no idea he would actually get picked, especially over Claire Connors. Really good batch along with a red state nominee
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Looks like more bland and traditional nominees here at first glance, but look forward to reading more about them in due time.
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Yes yes yes… Texas finally has its first nominee. Hawaii having a nominee is good too.
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I initially read the release as a batch of 4 Texas nominees and got excited. Still, something is better than nothing. And at least we won’t miss a second SJC meeting.
Hopefully this is the first among many for Texas vacancies. There are a LOT of seats to fill and these are judicial emergencies in my opinion.
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Ok Dequan what are your grades for today’s nominees?
On a side note, we should have a nomination hearing next Wed
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I’ll have to get back to you on the NY & TX nominees because I literally was boarding my plane to start my vacation when I saw the new batch. Smith is an A+ easily. He was my number one choice & I was hoping he would get the second spot assuming Claire Connors would get the first. A progressive Black man born c. 1981 is a rare pleasant surprise from this post midterms WH.
Too bad Trump got to nominate the 9th circuit court judge for Hawaii. It’s unlikely there will be a vacancy anytime soon but judge Bennett would be eligible to retire after 10 years with his age so anything is possible while Smith is young enough to be considered for elevation. He is the best district court pick yet by Biden since the midterms. I’ve actually very happy with that one pick. The others seem to be blah but I’ll reserve judgment until I get back Saturday & can read up more on them.
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I wish we had more of a sense of urgency with this White House. Just four nominees and one is essentially a re-nomination for the Northern Mariana islands since her original 10 year term expired (2 years ago). We should be filling up to the max of 6 noms with each hearing date.
Although correct me if I am wrong, this means we will not miss a hearing date this September, right? These noms are 3 weeks out, and we have noms for a likely hearing next Wednesday. I just wish they were moving out nominees sooner rather than later, but I suppose this will do for now.
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We already missed a SJC hearing for September with no new nominees last week. They could have had one next Wednesday the 6th & another one in my birthday September 20th. Now the 20th is 2 days away & you need at least 28 days to have a hearing. This batch prevents another missed hearing now.
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You are correct, sorry. For some reason I was thinking it was 21 days rather than 28 days out.
One good piece of news, in looking at the Southern District of Texas, Judge Lynn Hughes (who went senior earlier this year) is now on inactive senior status, which means he no longer hears hears cases. He was one of the worst judges out there too…
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Well even though we only got 4 nominees (Really 3 & a half), we still have to be really excited for Smith. I didn’t think I would see another A+ nominee anytime soon. And Hawaii has another vacancy so there’s a chance at another good nominee to fill that seat in the future too.
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Colleen Holland appears to be late 30s, which is encouraging. Looks like most of her career is as a law clerk/private practice. Hard to tell much there, but could be a fine judge.
John Kazen appears to be late 50s and a magistrate judge. Seems pretty traditional to me. Any red state selection gets an automatic bump from me, but I’ll need to hear more.
Smith looks like a great nominee.
Really, my biggest complaint about this batch is that we didn’t get it a week ago.
We now have hearing dates presumably set for September 6 and September 27 for these two latest batches. The next available date would be October 18 and we would need additional nominees before September 20. Ideally, we would get nominees for the 1st and 3rd by then so that they can have hearings and be voted out of committee/possibly confirmed prior to the end of the year.
After that potential October 18 hearing there is the potential for 4 additional SJC dates the rest of the year. I hope we don’t miss any more.
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@Joe
She is 39 years old according to the article below. The most surprising thing to me was she was a Schumer recommendation. She seemed more like a Gillibrand recommendation to me. I’m sure she’s a Democrat & will probably end up being a fine judge like you said, despite not much of s progressive background.
And yea I agree with you on the Texas nominee. Nothing to write home about but with blue slips in place, anybody under 60 that isn’t a Republican is a decent pick at this point.
(https://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/2023/08/30/colleen-holland-nominated-federal-judgeship-rochester-ny/70716066007/)
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We officially have a nomination hearing next Wed.
https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/committee-activity/hearings/09/06/2023/nominations
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Deborah Robinson, Kolar, Federico, Bryan, and Lee should all be at the hearing next week.
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I’d love the Arianna Freeman fan club (aagren, Dequan, etc) to defend this decision. Doesn’t seem terribly progressive, from my perspective: https://www2.ca3.uscourts.gov/opinarch/221603p.pdf
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No judge is gonna decide cases 100% of the time I like it. Not even Dale Ho will. That doesn’t change the want of Biden nominating young judges with a progressive background. I would rather take my chances with a nominee who was a long time public defender than one who worked for the Federalist Society. No one or even a few opinions will change that.
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There really wasn’t much that could be done for him. Having moved the first wife into his home it further deepened his predicament.
He can re-apply at a later time. This may be an inconvenience but at least he gets another chance.
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I found out something about John Kazen- his father was a Federal judge from Texas.
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Deborah Robinson, Kolar, Federico, Bryan, and Lee should all appear at the Judiciary Committee hearing next Wednesday. There’s no reason to not confirm their nominations before the Thanksgiving recess.
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The GOP has introduced a new Bill to split the 9th Circuit.
https://www.sullivan.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/-senators-introduce-bill-to-create-new-twelfth-circuit-improve-access-to-justice
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Very good find , Shawnee.
Democrats and progressives were once firmly against this proposal, but now I think some are open to it.
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California & Hawaii will remain the 9th and the rest of the states will be the 12th. It appears that the plan would add 2 seats to California as the 9th currently has 29 judges (15 in California, 1 in Hawaii, 13 elsewhere).
I would be open to this plan. Perhaps it could add more judgeships on a staggered basis (2 new seats now, 2 in 2025, 2 in 2027, and so on however long it’s necessary).
The new 9th would be 8-8 (excluding the new judgeships) and the 12th would be 8-5 liberal.
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I think Arizona should either remain in the 9th or move to 10th.
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Democrats should accept this deal. I just read it. “ In addition to the split, the legislation would codify the Judicial Conference’s most recent recommendations to enhance the effectiveness of the federal judiciary by authorizing 66 new permanent district court judgeships, converting seven temporary district court judgeships into permanent posts, and authorizing two new appellate court judgeships for the Ninth Circuit.”
I know Biden won’t get to fill all of the addition seats in his first term, but it’s the risk for Biden winning next year.
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As a Democrat I have no problems with this deal. As a California resident, I have a few. 2 new judgeships is nice but I think we’d need more to fully handle the California caseload. I’m not from the Eastern District but I think they need more seats the most so I hope this deal adds several seats to California’s Eastern District.
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I saw where the new seats will occur, and I would vote in favor of this deal despite my reservations.
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I think some concessions will need to be made. I don’t think any of those Senators are on the SJC.
I think Arizona needs to stay in the 9th at the least. It will depend on what Dems will agree to but otherwise is a necessary change.
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I also caught one thing at the very end. It won’t be effective until 1 year after it passes, and I doubt it will be passed by the end of 2023. So any vacancies won’t be filled until 2025 at the earliest.
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In the great words of Clint Eastwood, this all comes down to “Do you feel lucky… Well do you punk”. You don’t do this deal if you feel Republicans will be in control of both the White House & senate after next year. I feel confident there’s a good chance Democrats will be in control if at least one of those two. So I’d be willing to take the chance.
The senate map looks good in 2026 so even if Biden wins but Republicans take the senate. So either way I would take the deal.
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Lisa Murkowski is a co-sponsor and that may give the proposal credibility with Democrats in Congress.
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I wonder what her angle is because Alaska doesn’t strike me as a hotbed of litigation. That is if you leave out the issues involving the environment.
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Seems like a fine proposal to me. There isn’t a ton to lose. Liberals still control the new 12th and the new 9th is split with two new vacancies. Most importantly more judgeships would be created beginning in 2025.
Biden should go for it and get on getting some of those new seats filled in his second term. Would be a tremendous opportunity for his legacy.
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Even though Jimmy Carter didn’t get an SCOTUS appointees, because of a similar expansion of the lower courts he had a tremendous affect on those courts. Biden could do the same plus have a justice too.
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Excellent point! Of course, the north star of judicial nominations is getting the chance to nominate a young jurist to SCOTUS to rule on cases long after the president leaves office/dies, but the next best thing is stacking the appellate courts with judges who share the same ideology.
I’m still holding out hope that Biden gets the chance to name a second SCOTUS justice, but even if he doesn’t get the chance to rebalance the high court, him potentially getting the chance to appoint well over 60 judges to circuit courts across the country is something I would *run* to sign up for. Not just keeping Dem-leaning circuits intact, but also starting to chip away at the most conservative circuits (5th, 8th, & 11th). Not to mention messing around and bringing the 6th & 7th to a complete balance (a guy can dream).
Not sure if this is factual or not, but I think Carter’s appointments to the 9th circuit were the beginning of that circuit’s liberal lean. I know that Reagan and Pappy Bush did their thing on there, but Carter and Clinton really solidified that circuit (until Trump ruined it).
To sum it up, I’d be over the moon excited to see a 2nd Biden SCOTUS nominee (especially because of who they would be replacing), but surpassing Trump’s circuit judge appointments would put a nice bow on a Biden 2-term administration in terms of judges. Pass that bill and stack the new 12th circuit with solid district court judges and whatnot.
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That is correct, Carter made the 9th circuit liberal as he got to fill 15 seats (5 vacancies & 10 new seats). A lot of Carter appointees took senior status while Clinton was president, thus holding the liberal lean. However, Clinton’s appointees moved the court slightly to the right because he had to negotiate with a GOP Senate.
Near the end of Obama’s presidency, the 9th circuit had 5 true liberal lions left (Pregerson, Reinhardt, Berzon, W. Fletcher, Paez). Pregerson & Reinhardt both died early in Trump’s presidency (Pregerson took senior status in 2015 but seat was held open). Shortly after Biden became president, the 3 remaining liberal lions all announced that they would take senior status, and did so in late 2021/early 2022.
If we exclude senior judges, Biden’s appointees may have moved the court to the right. But the trio of liberal lions continue to hear cases as senior judges. Before Biden, the 9th circuit’s senior judges skewed conservative. Now, the senior judges skew liberal with the addition of 7 new liberal senior judges. So the 9th has moved to the left because each liberal judge “duplicated” themselves by taking senior status.
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Agree with the above comments, I think there may need to be a little more “give and take” here, but I would ultimately support this bill. Additionally, I would also add 3 more seats to the 11th Circuit as well. If you take a look at the population by circuit, you will see that the 11th Circ. has the same amount of judges as the 10th Circ., but double the population.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_courts_of_appeals
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I found out more about Robert Kazan. He is definitely a Democrat. His great uncle was a Democratic Congressman during the 1970’s.
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Robert Kazan at least being a Democrat versus non registered (Like the Connecticut nominee or a former Republican since Biden has been in office like Robert Kirsh) makes him a lot better. Of corded him being born c. 1965 is blah but it is Texas with blue slips. From the looks of it I would give him a B but definitely gotta look more into his background.
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@Dequan
A little bit more that I know- Kazan is of Lebanese ancestry.
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“He is definitely a Democrat. His great uncle was a Democratic Congressman during the 1970’s.”
So, he’s two generations removed from a Democrat. That means he’s a Democrat, too?
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Sorry to be a party pooper, but I don’t like the CA9 split plan and I hope this particular proposal goes nowhere like every other time it was introduced.
One of the reasons I dislike it is when it’ll take effect. I don’t gamble with money and I certainly won’t gamble with the judiciary. Who knows what’ll happen in 2024. But to say 2026 is a good year for Senate Dem is quite a leap. Ironically, 2026 will be a good year for Dems only if Biden loses next year. If you want/expect Biden to win in 2024, you need to tell me why you think he’ll be the first president to avoid the 6 year itch (save for Clinton, whose party won some seats but still didn’t win control of either chambers, due to the prospect of a divisive impeachment).
We can come up with a much better plan.
Also, don’t expect the senate to create more appellate judgeships than what’s recommended by the federal judicial conference, and for years they’ve been revising their recommendation downwards. The number of judgeships isn’t based on population, it’s based on caseload.
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Any proposal from the Right to split the 9th Circuit has always been an effort to weaken environmental protections in the non-California states. I don’t trust any one of these co-sponsors, each of whom is owned by extractive industries.
There’s probably a case that the present 9th is too big, but the alignment here would easily allow the new 12th to be taken over by the next Republican President for a long time. Another red state should be included with California to ensure that the bulldozers and pile drivers aren’t let loose with impunity.
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The 12th circuit would have a 8-5 moderate/liberal majority so to get to a conservative majority they would have to convince Gould & Rawlinson to step down under a Republican president.
Because blue slips are no longer in play for circuit courts (and when they were the senate wasn’t as hyper-partisan), how blue or red a state is does not mean that the judges will all be liberal or conservative (respectively). Montana & Alaska each have 1 liberal in their only 9th circuit seat. Hawaii, a very Democratic state, has a moderate conservative in its only seat.
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@Ryan Joshi: 8-5 is still tenuous. If an R wins in ’24 (God forbid), it’s probably likely that Gould and/or Rawlinson aren’t active by ’28. We all know Rawlinson is already eyeing the exits.
If a Republican wins in ’28, Christen could also go senior or retire. If Gould and Rawlinson somehow manage to make it to ’28 as actives, that would be 3 vacancies a Republican President could fill in the new 12th. Either way you cut it, the 8-5 D majority is weak, and as you point out, without blue slips, it will be Fed Soc nominees as far as the eye can see.
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At the end of the day if one of the Republicans I saw on the stage last week wins next year & they gain control of the senate, the country is in a whole lot of trouble with or without additional judges. That’s why I’d take my chances here even though I’m normally not a gambler.
And @Gavi I’ll be happy to answer your question why I feel Biden will be the first Democrat in a generation to break the streak you mentioned… Donald J Trump
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Surprised with the Hawaii pick as I thought this seat not just because I thought it would be Claire Connors to lose but Micah W. J. Smith, while born in Hawaii and graduated from high school there has largely spent his professional career elsewhere and only returned there in the past few years so I didn’t think he would get picked.
Glad to see he was though.
As to breaking up the 9th, it IS long overdue as the number now is far too large.
I just hope we get to pick some of the judges versus Republicans.
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EXTREMELY excited for Micah Smith’s nomination and fingers-crossed Claire Conners will get the nomination for the other vacancy!
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@Jill
You & me don’t always agree but on this we’re in 100% agreement. I’d be fine if Connors got the second vacancy also as she’s still young enough to be nominated again after getting shafted in the last year of Obama. I suspect it will go to somebody AAPI but I would have no problem if it’s her. Either way super exited to see my number one pick be the actual nominee. I have to go back & count one of these days how many of my number one picks were chosen. Anthony Johnstone & Dale Ho come to mind off the top of my head.
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@Dequan: Agreed on the dangers of any of the current GOP field, but one of our bulwarks against them then would be the judiciary if the Admin and Senate get their act together between now and Nov. ’24. And one of the dangers of a GOP President would be the ability to replace Clinton/Obama judges, and any moderate R judges who got through under the Bushes. I’d just prefer a different proposal that allows for some positive environmental decisions in the Mountain West.
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Also happy for Kazen in Texas!
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@ Dequan
I hadn’t been this excited about a nominee since KBJ to SCOTUS! Smith will definitely be Circuit & SCOTUS Pedigree.
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I am in agreement with gavi ,i strongly oppose any sort of bill splitting the ninth circuit, its done in bad faith by the republicans who have always seen it as too liberal and dont like liberal judges having a say over their states, sullivan and murkowski being co sponsors add no credibility whatsoever to it in my opinion. The default position should be to assume the republicans to work in bad faith simple. The 8th circuit covers 7 US states and a massive amount of people and yet no suggestion to split that one either because its filled with republicans and right wing federalist society hacks. I am sure a blue state like minnesota doesn’t like the idea of unqualified goons like jonathan kobes and steven grasz on the 8th circuit, deciding what laws are constitutional in their state or not.
Leave the ninth circuit as it is. I am not willing to take even a 5 percent chance on anything that can lead to more right wing GOP federalist society hacks on the appellate courts. No way. This has always been the right
wing pet project for decades now. i strongly oppose it.
The GOP work in bad faith and wont do anything for the goodness of the country
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Can’t two things be true at the same time? For instance can’t we assume the GOP isn’t working in good faith while simultaneously saying their bad faith effort is actually a good deal.
Let’s say things remain the way it is now & assume the worse. Let’s say Trump, DeSantis or Ramaswamy become president & the senate turns over to a Republican majority after the election. They will still come pretty close to ruining the country anyway after they end blue slips for district court judges (Since Durbin won’t do it first) & add on to their already existing majorities on the courts. This is in addition to basically trying to end democracy as we know it. That will happen with it without the additional judgeships.
The difference is there’s a HUGE upside for Biden & Democrats if things go the other Ray. Biden will get a Jimmy Carter-esse opportunity to transform the lower courts & actual flip some courts to Democrat control. I see very little downside to be honest.
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Has anyone noticed that the Ninth Circuit doesn’t get as much criticism as it used to? For years, the right called the court The Ninth Circus and dismissed most of the judges as clowns and buffoons.
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It’s simple, the 9th isn’t as filled with liberals the way it used to be.
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That’s what happens when Trump puts 10 judges on the 9th. Unfortunately a couple of those 10 replaced liberal lions. Sucks… But her emails…smh
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The liberal lions on the 9th Circuit pulled an RBG and didn’t retire when they should have, which is how their seats flipped.
Richard Tallman however, as with Stanley Marcus and Frank Hull on the 11th Circuit were Orrin Hatch specials Bill Clinton had to nominate in order to get other nominees through.
Those weren’t true flips at all.
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And let’s not forget the worst one of all, Julie Carnes. The Obama Georgia deal might be the worst Democrat deal regarding the judiciary I’ve seen in my lifetime. Thank God they at least didn’t confirm Michael Boggs. But Obama never should have agreed to Julie Carnes. She’s the only Democrat nominee that givens Irma Ramirez a run for her money as the worst circuit court nominee.
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Dequan, thank goodness you weren’t around when segregationist nominees had to be included in judicial packages as the price for nominating other judges.
Irma Ramirez is the worst nominee for a Dem in my lifetime. Because blue slip wasn’t needed and it wasn’t a part of a package deal. So as bad as she was, Carnes’ nomination was different.
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With the possible exception of Carter, every recent Dem president’s judges have been better than the previous Dem president’s judges. Likewise, since at least Reagan, every GOP president’s judges have been worse than the previous GOP president’s judges.
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@Gavi
I agree. While I wouldn’t have agreed to the Georgia package including Carnes, at least Obama can justify it because blue slips were still in okay. There’s no excuse for Ramirez. All we got for it is one centrist district court nominee nearing 60. Truly a disastrous pick. The 5th circuit will be further to the right the day she is confirmed then the day Biden took office,
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Is we can get 7 more Kazens in Texas by the end of Bidens term then I think that would go a long way to redeeming the Ramirez pick. Clearly that is the WH strategy anyway. Hard to say whether it will pay off. My guess is it probably won’t, but we can’t really say just yet.
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If*
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Julie Carnes came about solely because Patrick Leahy was still clinging to blue slips, which as you said led to a deal that never should have happened, which resulted in her being replaced with a hackish judge that will be on the 11th for decades to come.
I know it’s over and done with but I look at the 11th Circuit with anger because we had a chance to flip it and it’s only due to Leahy clinging to a Senate past that was long gone that we didn’t.
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Thanks for another dollar!
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WHat’s the deal with Carnes?
Was she a Conservative or just blander than plain toast with nothing in exchange?
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Julie Carnes was a conservative George Sr district judge Obama had to nominate in order to get Jill Pryor through due to the blue slip hold still in place at the time.
Dumb since she took senior status under Trump and ensured the seat will stay in conservative hands for some time to come.
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And let’s not forget the four district court judges that were part of the Pryor & Carnes package. Obama had tried to nominate two young Black woman, one if not both were public defenders. They were blacked & replaced with two centrist/left of center judges. And the other two were now judge Cohen who was slightly conservative.
The last one was Michael Boggs who was a Democrat. Unfortunately he was the most conservative of the six. Democrats ultimately blocked him thankfully. Last I checked he was the chief Justice of the Georgia Supreme Court.
It truly was a historically bad deal. I was so angry back then & still get angry thinking about how bad of a deal it was. Pryor is great but a better deal should have been negotiated to get her confirmed.
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Sounds like judges should be on agenda when senate returns next week.
“When the Senate returns next week, our focus will be on funding the government and preventing
House Republican extremists from forcing a government shutdown. We will also continue
confirming President Biden’s well-qualified nominees, especially qualified and historically
diverse judges, building a federal bench that reflects our diverse country.”
https://www.politico.com/f/?id=0000018a-4ed9-d0b1-a7eb-4ed98dd40000
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Thanks for sharing, Rick.
Hopefully de Alba can be confirmed in short order along with the rest of the backlog of district court nominees.
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Thanks, Rick.
Except this is not the first time Schumer puts out such a statement. In fact, he does so after all extended breaks and talks a big talk on confirming more judges, only to fall short of the absolute minimum.
There’s lots to do to avoid a shutdown and give Biden the emergency aid he requested, so none but the most optimistically naive can think that judges will be a priority. Notice how confirming judges is only an “also” in the letter.
I’m not a pollyanna who’s easily pleased or short of memory, so don’t mind my shrug.
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Ok back from home from vacation which begin with me getting the new batch as I was boarding my flight. Now that I’m home I just thought about Hawaii’s 2 vacancies.
Biden very well could have nominated Micah Smith for the first vacancy because Kobayashi is retiring first & she is an Obama appointee. Seabright is a GW Bush appointee & doesn’t retire until AFTER the election. They very well could be worried he would rescind if they saved Smith for him. He likely wouldn’t have a problem with Claire Connors replacing him.
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Seabright retires first on 01/30/2024, almost a year before the election. Kobayashi retires on 10/09/2024, less than a month before the election.
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From what I’m seeing online, John Seabright is retiring first in January on his 65st birthday and while he’s a George W judge, he’s not a firebreather so I suspect he won’t have an issue with Micah Smith replacing him.
Kobayashi isn’t retiring until October of 2024 but Claire Connors could still be nominated and confirmed to replace her before that.
Time will tell.
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Did John Seabright change his retirement date? I remember when he first announced we were in this blog talking about his date was about a month after the election. Well if he did change it to earlier that’s even greater news. Smith replacing a GW Bush appointee, even one that’s not too bad means we got a shot at another great nominee for the second seat. While Connors wouldn’t be an A+ like Smith she would still be good.
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I’m pretty sure that Seabright has planned to retire on his 65th birthday ever since he announced.
Other judges have announced senior status after the election, such as William E. Smith of Rhode Island.
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Hahaha, funny Dequan re: Seabright’s retirement/rescind for Smith. When one theory falls through, pivot to the next.
CT has a new bright and young supreme court nominee! This one is so young that there’s no chance she could have clerked with Amy Coney Barrett, so no embarrassment there:
https://www.wtnh.com/news/connecticut/gov-lamont-announces-nominee-for-connecticut-supreme-court/
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@Gavi
I remember us talking on this blog about the retirement date that was initially announced being after the election. That was what I was basing my theory on. If he changed his retirement date to earlier then nevermind. I’m happy to see he’s retiring earlier.
As for Connecticut, uuuggghhh. 62 freaking years old. Why can’t they ever pick young liberals there.
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#Dequan
Isn’t Raheem Mullins a young liberal?
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Raheem Mullins is young. Now liberal… I don’t know about all that. He’s left of center but in Connecticut we should be able to get both, young & liberal.
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Speaking of the Supreme Court, I really wish that Diane Wood had been appointed by Obama. She’s such a brilliant woman. A real legal superstar who could more than hold her own. The back and forth between Wood and the conservatives on the 7th Circuit gave the court a top-notch reputation. But Obama nominated Sonia Sotomayor, whom Republicans sarcastically call “The Wise Latina.” The next year, Obama nominated Elena Kagan.
I had also wanted for Biden to nominate Leondra Krueger. Like Diane Wood, she’s a judge with a reputation for top-notch legal writing. But the fix was in, everyone knew it was Kentaji Jackson Brown.
They could have formed a strong, articulate liberal version of the Constitution. Just think of what could have been. Maybe Krueger may wind of on the 9th. Circuit. She’d be a worthy successor to Paul Watford.
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I’m assuming that both Leondra Krueger & Goodwin Lui could have been nominated for one of the four vacancies in the 9th had they wanted it. We have talked about it on the blog in the past but I think the California Supreme Court is probably the only state Supreme Court that a Democrat president would credibly nominate a justice straight to the SCOTUS. So both probably passed up on a needless confirmation hearing.
I’m still mad Newsom didn’t nominate Lui for Chief Justice. Lui is one of the few people I would happily see nominated to the SCOTUS even though he’s nearing his mid 50’s. He’s that good.
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Newsom didn’t get along with Jerry Brown and was not going to promote one his picks. It sounds silly but that’s what happened.
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Really @shawnee68? I had never heard of beef between the two. If that’s the reason I’m even more mad now. I mean I’m all for the first Latina justice & Chief Justice but she’s nowhere near the most progressive possibility in California. And not worth the sacrifice of Lui.
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It was nothing major. When Brown left the state the Lt. Governor Newsom could nominate judges or any other type of official. At times Newsom would do that and when Brown got back he would pull them. It didn’t happen with judges.
It’s just two guys with vastly different backgrounds and outlooks that didn’t mesh.
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I remember a much bigger beef in Idaho now that you bring it up about California. When the five it left the state during Covid, I remember the Lt. Governor did something to the effect of she removed all of the restrictions. If I remember correctly, when he found out, the governor returned early & reinstated the restrictions back.
In Idaho the Governor & Lt. Governor don’t run on the same ticket. And the Lt. Governor was trying to run to the right so she could win head to head in the next election. Thank goodness she lost.
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More than likely a SCOTUS pick will continue to come from Academia (i.e. Kagan & Barrett) or from the Circuit.
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Interesting position… Wood is definitely a brilliant legal mind but at the same time she was 60 years old at the time she was considered for the Supreme Court. Not exactly sure what makes legal writings “brilliant”… Kagan writes in a way that’s pretty easy to understand (I rarely read circuit court opinions so idk what Wood writes like).
If Krueger’s writing is as brilliant as Wood’s, then maybe she will be considered to replace Sotomayor or Kagan despite being 60-ish when the next Dem president/senate occurs.
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Considering how much we talk about age, I’m wondering everyone else’s position on whether Diane Wood would be a good Obama SCOTUS candidate despite being 60. Would you nominate Wood over Kagan, who writes a little less brilliantly but is 10 years younger?
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At the time I wanted Obama’s first two nominees to be Kim Warlaw & Dianne Wood. Back then I wasn’t as knowledgeable in the judiciary & saw Sotomayor was nominated by GHW Bush initially. At the time I wasn’t familiar with the deal that got her out on the bench.
I too thought Wood would have been the better pick for the second vacancy. Plus she was from Obama’s home state. I thought Obama would win re-election in 2012 & he would carry over enough voters to get Hillary a win in 2016. So back then I wasn’t as concerned about age as I am now with three consecutive Democrat presidential terms. Obviously things have changed since then which is why I put such a strong emphasis on age now.
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Not every brilliant Jurist will make it to SCOTUS, but Krueger getting an appointment to the 9th Circuit will surely increase her chances for a future SCOTUS nomination.
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I don’t think anyone has ever went from Ca Supreme Ct to 9th Circuit. That’s not a promotion to go from a 7 member court to another with 50+ judges.
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There is one advantage about being on the 9th versus the SCOT-CA. Lifetime tenure. While a seat on the SCOT-CA is basically a lifetime appointment it is not unprecedented to be removed. I remember in the 70’s three justices were rejected. Very unlikely today with California being ultra blue but still not impossible.
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In the California of today it is impossible! The Justices are essentially elected officials and can stay in office as long as they please. They don’t have an opponent it is just “yes”or “no.”
The other day I said Brown and Newsom didn’t like each other. I forgot to mention that Liu wanted to be California Attorney General but got passed over.
I would not want Newsom as President he would not be good on judges. You can compare Brown’s judges to Newsom’s and that will tell you a lot.
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@shawnee68
Now this I absolutely agree with you on. Brown was much better at picking young progressives to the bench then Newsom is. I wouldn’t go as far as to say I wouldn’t want him to run for president just because of the way he takes it to Republicans. But I do agree when it comes to judges he is steps behind his predecessor.
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@Shawnee68
I disagree…it’s very much a prestigious promotion to receive a Presidential lifetime appointment & be one step closer to a SCOTUS appointment. Plus, in Krueger’s case she’d get to remain in CA.
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Can you explain why no one has ever went from CA Supreme Ct to 9th Circuit or vice versa? To switch courts doesn’t make sense.
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Sure, I’ll be happy to. The answer to your question is the same answer as to why the SCOTUS hasn’t had an AAPI judge yet… Or an openly LGBT judge… Or a Native American judge… Because it just hasn’t happened yet. There’s no reason why it can’t happen in the future. Now I don’t think it will because as I said above a seat on the California Supreme Court is about as close to a lifetime seat as you get. But I don’t think that means it can’t or even won’t happen.
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No, it’s not gonna happen because nothing beneficial can come from it. You don’t have to leave the state to do your job and you don’t have to face the SJC.
Only one person has left for US Supreme Court and Janice Rogers Brown for DC Circuit.
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JRB was a big time Republican & a Darling of the Federalist Society, and had GHWB gotten a second term…there wouldn’t have been a RBG but a JRB!
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Joshua Kolar’s profile write up on the Alliance for Justice website mentions “pro bono representation of indigent clients.” Hopefully he is more progressive then meets the eye.
(https://www.afj.org/document/joshua-p-kolar/)
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There’s nothing progressive about pro bono work for people who can’t afford legal services. Most practices do pro bono work, including non-progressive white-shoe firms.
But yeah, we are often left to hope that Biden nominees are more progressive than their conventional profile suggests.
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The Senate is back tomorrow, and in order to make lemonade from the lemons that is the Executive Calendar, let me say that at least we’ll clear some non-judicial nominations off the agenda this week.
Weak tea, I know…
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I’d be surprised if any judges get confirmed this week. No cloture motions have been sent from before the recess so if Schumer sent any motions to the desk tomorrow, the earliest they could be confirmed is Thursday. That’s unlikely with Thursday being a short day so I wouldn’t hold out hope for this week.
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If anyone gets cloture, maybe De Alba for a late Thursday vote? I remember the Senate Cloakroom Twitter feed inadvertently said that cloture was filed on her nomination right before the August break (I double-checked the C-SPAN tape of Schumer’s cloture filings and didn’t see it). I know she was a party-line vote in committee so I’m not sure if Manchin will also vote no and they’ll need all hands on deck for her, or if they have everyone + Collins/Murkowski ala Rikelman.
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Manchin just voted for de Alba last year to the district court so he should be a yes for her to the 9th. I hope the next few of cloture voted are her, Ramirez (Despite how much I hate her nomination) & Kato (So we can clear all pre-2022 nominees off the calendar.
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I completely agree @Dequan. The sheer volume of non-judicial nominations they’ve teed up would be hard to clear even if they worked 4 days this week. I had been hoping they’d do 10 judicial nominations this month (2 CCA, 8 district), but looking at the calendar, that’s unlikely unless they can get some unanimous consents (which they probably will get for the IT vacancies, but it won’t be enough to get them to 10 overall).
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Unfortunately they have too much on the senate agenda that will likely put judges on the back burner for a week or two. The government funding is most important, particularly with so many House Republicans stand bing by to happily let the government shutdown.
We still got the military blockade from Tuberville. That’s not to mention how many non judicial nominees that need to be confirmed. This is the consequence of taking 5 weeks off versus a much more reasonable 4 weeks. But seeing that we only are getting around 4 new judicial nominees every couple of weeks, the backlog won’t get piled on much more anytime soon.
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My guess is that we’ll get down to about 20-30 vacancies, mostly in red states, by November 2024, and then there will be a lot of retirements* after Biden wins re-election. Unfortunately, it’ll mostly be Clinton and Obama appointees, but my broader point is I don’t see a spate of pre-election retirements next year.
*”retirements” of course includes senior status.
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Schumer should be able to confirm every nominee they filed for before the break this week.
Tuesday – Cloture Jefferson
Wednesday- Confirm Jefferson, cloture/confirm Wilcox, cloture/confirm Cook, cloture Kugler
Thursday – confirm Kugler, cloture/confirm Gomez
My hope is at the end of the day Thursday he sets up for some judicial votes the following week.
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There is one vacancy for the Northern District of Texas. I had thought that nomination would be included in a package of nominees for the three vacancies for the Southern District of Texas. It may still even after Robert Kazen’s nomination.
For the Northern District, I’m sure that the Biden Administration wants to nominate Renee Toliver. She checks all the boxes, she’s a Magistrate Judge who’s the first black Federal judge for the Northern District from Texas and she has an inspiring biography, having grown up in poverty.
I don’t know much about her jurisprudence, other than that she stirred up controversy for remarks she made while presiding over an oil heir’s billing dispute with his lawyers. It didn’t seem like a huge deal to me. Here is an article on that.
https://www.law.com/texaslawyer/almID/1202736866497/
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After Ramirez, I’m sold Biden would nominate anybody within reason Cornyn & Cruz nominates. If Chad Meredith dressed up in drag, moved to Texas & was recommended as Chadisha Meredith, Biden would probably nominate her… Lol
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I’m hoping Judge Toliver gets the nomination, because she is the most well-qualified.
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I’m hoping that Judge Toliver will get the nomination, as she is so deserving and extremely well-qualified!
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@Mitch, I would think that Magistrate Judge Jodi Jayne (born c. 1971), a former clerk to Judge Barbara Lynn (whose seat this was) would also be in the running. She’s White but a decade younger than Toliver.
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Kazen is a good nominee. If we can get 7 more like him then I think the Ramirez nomination should be looked at as a success.
My biggest concern right now though is that I don’t think Cruz and Cornyn are serious about filling these vacancies and we’ll see them try to slow walk any additional nominees so he only has time to get 2 or 3 of them confirmed.
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I hardly doubt Cornyn & Cruz are serious about filling all 8 vacancies before Biden’s term is up. Of course that could have been different had the 5th seat been negotiated with a hard lined young liberal & then they worked their way to Irma Ramirez. I wouldn’t have gone as far as a nominee as old & moderate as her period but Carrie not not without filling at least 6 of the district court vacancies in a simultaneous package deal. Truly a missed opportunity.
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I agree. I do no expect it to happen but would love to be pleasantly surprised. In my opinion Ramirez should have come with at least 4 district court nominees with another 4 to be determined later.
I will hold off making any final judgement until the proof is in, but right now that’s why I have Ramirez as a C nominee.
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With no district court nominees, I give Ramirez a D-. And the only reason that high is because she is the first Latina & a former Obama nominee, so I give her a little extra for both.
With just Kazen I’ll leave her at a D- but if we get a few more nominees like him, I’ll move my grade up for her. Getting an outright Republican for any of the 8 seats might move her down slightly.
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The SJC calendar added 10 judicial nominees for the hearing Thursday. They all are in red so they should get moved to the floor next week barring any unforeseen issues. I hate that they take three weeks off & don’t consider that holding over nominees. If anything they should have held an executive meeting last week just to gavel in, hold over & gavel out.
(https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/committee-activity/hearings/09/07/2023/executive-business-meeting)
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I agree, it is dumb. Especially considering they canceled the last executive meeting before the recess when many of these would have been held over. Oh well.
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With regard to the Northern and Southern Districts of Texas, I’ll wait for Ethan to introduce new names. But I’m convinced that the Biden Administration would like to name Renee Toliver to the Northern District vacancy. Whether the Senators go along with it remains to be seen. I think they would rather not, but might in exchange for a concession on another vacancy.
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Normally when I see somebody born 1960 when talking about possible Biden judicial nominees, I would be ready to pass out. Renee Harris Tolliver as a possible nominee to the NDTX seems to be a good exception. She would actually still be younger than one Trump judge on the court. And with 4 other judges on the court eligible for retirement, it’s possible this won’t be Biden’s only shot at putting a judge on this court if he is re-elected. She would be a good choice unless Durbin finally took my advice & ditched blue slips.
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@ Dequan
If a package comes together for the Northern and Southern Districts of Texas vacancies, I can see something like this happening: in addition to Robert Kazen, who’s already been nominated, I can see Renee Tolliver and Amparo Guerra being nominated, along with an uncontroversial Republican, perhaps Eva Guzman.
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That type of deal would be decent but definitely should have done with a better circuit court nominee if we’re still going to get an actual Republican.
@Rick
Uuuggghhh… Only the two circuit court nominees tomorrow. This is what happens when we’re short on nominees. Instead if 5 or even 6 per hearing we get this…smh
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If anyone had concerns from her fall over the break, Feinstein is in and voted for cloture on the fed vice chair nominee. She’s pretty much my bar for Senate attendance, if I see her vote on the C-SPAN feed I feel pretty comfortable about everyone else being in.
Normally Fetterman is the next one up I have for attendance concerns. He almost never suits up and votes on the Senate floor, most of the time he votes from one of the doorways to the chamber, that way he can stay dressed in his trademark shorts and hoodie (from what I read the dress code is only required on the Senate chamber/committee meetings).
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I did not know that. I know he wore a suit and tie for his swearing in. Usually he wears his semi-formal “work shirts” to work. Glad that he found a loophole to keep wearing what he wants to wear.
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Both circuit nominees up Wed. Surprised it’s not 2 panels given there are other nominees.
https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/committee-activity/hearings/09/06/2023/nominations
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@Rick
I just checked & both Lee & Bryan along with another non judicial nominee are listed for tomorrow. It’s a total of 4 judges. 2 circuit court & 2 district court.
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This is election news, not judicial. But in Rhode Island, ex-White House aide Gabriel Abo won the Democratic primary in a special election in Rhode Island. His surprise victory will make him the first black Congressman in Rhode Island history.
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The Northeast is very white yet very liberal. Rhode Island is only 5% Black so Abo’s win is quite surprising.
I’ve heard theories along the lines of “The Northeast is white enough so that white working class people won’t vote against their own interests” (the theory has also used for why heavily white countries like Finland are run so well) but a simpler explanation is that the Northeast votes Democrat because people there are well educated.
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I’m reading the SJC questionnaire for Joshua Kolar. He prosecuted Keith Soderquist, the former Democrat Mayor of Lake Station, Indiana – and his wife for corruption. While that doesn’t mean he won’t be a reliable vote for the left (Because it seems both of them were guilty as sin), I’m still not finding too much progressive background in his SJCQ.
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I just finished reading the SJC for all four nominees for tomorrow. In addition to the above inform about Joshua Kolar prosecuting a Democrat mayor, three other things jumped out at me;
1. The WHC office reached out to Joshua Kolar first, before senators Braun & Young. On Doris Pryor’s SJCQ she stated they reached out to her first. I’m shocked that the WHC made the initial contact to Kolar versus another magistrate judge such as Mario Garcia or any number of other more progressive options.
2. Richard Federico SJCQ states senator Moran reached out to him first. The WHC office reached out to him 2 months later.
3. It seems to be taking about 2 & a half months from the time the WHC office first makes contact to the time the nominee is announced.
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I wanted to give biden the benefit of the doubt after the atrocious decision of nominating Irma ramirez to the 5th circuit and getting nothing of substance in return, he was played like a fiddle by ted cruz and john coryn.
This recent news on kolar background just reinforces the incompetence of biden. He has no semblance or any background of progressive credential ls.
I was right all along. The bad faith Indiana senators stalled and stalled for over a year and was able
To get biden to pick the most moderate milquetoast former prosecutor who has went after democrats and liberals as a life time judge. So sick of this bullshit and people defending biden.
What I still cant understand is why cant biden do to these charlatans the exact same way they treated us democrats when in power.
1. Daniel collins
2. Bumatay
3. BadE
4. Kenneth lee
This were just a few of the egregious hacks trump put on the ninth circuit to poison it, and with Kenneth lee and Bumatay he told the democratic senators to kiss his ass and nominated conservatives over their objections.
Why cant biden do that? It really grinds my gears how we get taken for suckers time and time again and yet this same president expect voters to reward him with a second term and be enthusiastic?
The moment a republican is back in office its back to telling democratic senators to kick rocks and not caring about their input or blessing.
We cant keep going on like this. You cant have one side go all out when in power and the other refuse to use their power. Im fed up.
I despise the republicans and i know they want a world where black people have less freedoms and rights and it pains me to see biden even allowing a charlatan like ted cruz to even get a say on who he picks as a judge, someone who actively thumbs his nose at bidens voters and yet biden bends over backwards to accommodate him and other gop senators?
I dont know about you guys but im fed up of this abusive relationship. You have one party declaring an all out assault on anyone non white and non heterosexual and the courts one of the ways we can use to get justice biden
is backing it with moderate milquetoast prosecutors
who will just follow the status quo.
I am sick of this abusive relationship.
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People are generally contented with the scraps they are tossed, so I am not surprised. If Biden had gotten around to officially nominate Chad Meredith, I am sure people like Joe would be able to see a silver lining and grade the nominate at least a C. Ramirez is only a little better than Meredith. One you need blue slips to confirm, the other you don’t.
Saying Biden is the best president in your lifetime on one issue or another is a sycophant’s defense and not worth much, since Dems didn’t care about the courts, and Biden hardly does. You don’t compare people on your team. You compare your team to your opponents. Quantity is one thing (which Biden has also fallen behind on) but quality and impact are much more important.
I don’t gnaw at bones, but they can keep enjoying the banquet.
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You can also continue to cry like aagren is, but Democrats aren’t interested in a clone of Trump who is progressive. As it stands with the current voting base in U.S. elections, I think Biden is the best that can be done on judges. Is that enough? Really, no, but that is how things stand.
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I don’t think that Irma Ramirez and Chad Meredith belong in the same sentence. Ramirez at least is not a right wing Fed Soc hack and won’t vote to roll back our rights.
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Once again, Biden is not interested in trying to be the Democratic version of Trump, and the Democratic voting base isn’t at all interested in him being one. You can continue to cry and whine about it (and Kolar wouldn’t be my first pick either for the IN seat) but voters of our major parties want different types of presidential candidates. Democrats want more middling moderates who can actually win elections, while Republicans want more extreme nominees who will pass their purity test even at the cost of winning (at least at the presidential and congressional level; Democrats still don’t care about judges the way Republicans do), which is why one party is more extreme and more willing to break norms than the other. While I’m in agreement that prosecutors are over represented currently on the federal courts, I can also assure you that Kolar will be more progressive than Kanne, which is most definitely a good thing, and to still expect a lot of prosecutors over the remainder of Biden’s presidency. While you might sneer and cry at that, everyone is still massively concerned about crime (regardless of if that is rational or not) and leading to the upcoming presidential election Biden needs to be showing that he takes the issue seriously to swing voters across the country. While I generally think people talking about headlines in the press negatively for Biden judicial nominees is overrated, leading up to the election it is likely more important than in the past.
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