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 was against Meredith the entire time. His background was too conservative to be a part of any deal and I was glad when it fell through.
I know I am optimistic at times on nominees and I don’t mind if people chide me about that (even though there are plenty of times I have been right too) but please do not put words in my mouth.
With Ramirez, frankly I think the backlash against her here is a little over the top. I do not like her age or lack of progressive background but I haven’t seen any indication she’ll be anything other than a reliable center left vote on the fifth. She won’t be anything resembling Meredith.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Very good points. Last I heard also, Ramirez isn’t in the FedSoc. Gavi has a Leahy type of obsession with Meredith, who wasn’t even nominated, and came nowhere near close to actually filling any seat on the federal judiciary.
LikeLike
@ Dequan
I think it will take at least 6 weeks (usually more) from time judicial nominees are submitted to the WH til time they are officially announced. I think it takes a few weeks alone for the FBI background check. Then they meet with senators, as well as the WH team working on the nominations.
LikeLike
Is the SJC hearing link working for anybody? My link keeps showing only 24 seconds & then stops after.
LikeLike
Kennedy seemed extra combative today at the hearing, especially with his “gotcha” question on minorities deserving “special” treatment. I thought Kolar did a better job answering than Federico – you aren’t going to lose any votes on the left, I probably would have crafted a more acceptable response on this one.
Blackburn is up next, and she looks like she just got off the bus from crazy town…
In any event, they both seem like fine nominees, I suspect they will be confirmed with bipartisan support (how much – TBD).
Hoping for more nominees by next week, we have to keep maxing out nominees at every available hearing.
LikeLike
Mike, the WH technically has until September 20 to submit additional nominees without missing another hearing. The next available SJC hearing date is October 18.
Of course, earlier is always better.
LikeLike
Why is Thurs Business meeting canceled?
https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/
LikeLike
@Rick
I’m thinking that maybe one of the Democratic Senators couldn’t make it that day. Health or travel issues, perhaps.
LikeLike
But this Thurs would be the “held over” week which would take a couple minutes and then they’d vote on them next week
LikeLike
Put it bluntly, many folks in the progressive wing have shown as far back as 2000 when they voted third party or stayed home that the courts didn’t matter to them so hearing whining about how Biden isn’t rolling over the red carpet for them now is a joke IMO.
As for Kolar, would I have liked someone more liberal?
Yup but there is nothing to show that he will be a far right hack like the man he will be replacing and that is good enough for me.
As for Rich Federico, from all indications he will be a fine judge and IMO, is far better then the original nominee for this seat was.
Folks should be happy here but of course some won’t be because they hate Biden and nothing he does will change that.
LikeLike
Alas, COVID is making a comeback so I have a feeling one of the Democratic members of the Senate has it and thus can’t attend.
LikeLike
Disappointed to hear the executive session of SJC is cancelled again tomorrow.
Gosh, if only they had, say, 17 or so nominees who were already on the floor who they could vote on, instead of the Fed and FCC. You know, like 17 people who could secure lifetime appointments with just a couple of roll call votes per person. That wouldn’t be asking too much, would it? Just 17?
(I know we talked already about how there won’t be any judge votes until next week at the earliest. As @Gavi mentioned earlier, it’s frustrating to hear Schumer say time and again how much of a priority this is for him, and then not schedule votes).
LikeLike
There are four vacancies on the Western District of Texas. I don’t know who’s being considered or recommended.
In 2021, there was a feud between two judges on that court recently. Then-Chief Judge Orlando Garcia stripped Alan Albright of autonomy regarding patent cases after some people complained about the large number that Albright took. Albright was an IP lawyer in private practice for many years, so it’s not surprising that he’d focus on that. But at one point, he was hearing a major portion of all IP cases in the nation, not sending them to the Federal Circuit.
Perhaps Harsh knows the inside story.
LikeLike
For anyone interested. A webinar with judge andre birotte obama appointee and judge sunshine sykes biden appointee who is native american on their pathways to the bench and diversity on the federal bench. it is hosted by the orange county coalition for diversity in law. OCCDL.
Title: Pathways to the Bench and Diversity in the Judiciary
Date & Time :Sep 6, 2023 10:00 PM London
Webinar ID :975 1466 3372
Passcode :353101
https://knobbe.zoom.us/w/97514663372?tk=euUGPM4-NzOlJzJ_8e-Y_a8bjGI-J87qSF4lZzIX6ks.DQMAAAAWtFOtzBZOUW9WbnJKX1R0Q0hxb2RfUXRnc2x3AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA&pwd=S2RJZVcxNTlkMGNPdEZ1WUM4Tnk3Zz09&uuid=WN_R5Rq1R_EQcOpusfhUfahpg
LikeLike
Stand by for judicial nominations today… sounds like at least two out of NJ:
https://newjerseyglobe.com/judiciary/biden-names-semper-kiel-as-federal-judges/#:~:text=President%20Joe%20Biden%20will%20announce,is%20a%20federal%20magistrate%20judge.
LikeLike
@Mike S
WOW… Thanks for the heads up. Two nominees from New Jersey & neither are bad. I’m in shock.
Jamel Semper is an A in my book. A 41 year old Black man. Wow. He was a prosecutor but seems to be imminently qualified despite his youth. And again this is New Jersey. Menedez & Booker can screw up a wet dream so this is beyond my wildest dreams.
Edward Kiel is an A- in my book. His background as a member of the Asian American Legal Defense Fund is solid. Only his age born c. 1966 is a draw back but again this is New Jersey so I won’t complain much. Him being AAPI adds diversity as well.
Great change from what we are use to getting from the Garden State.
LikeLike
More nominees is good.
The timing is interesting on these. If SJC wanted to get really creative, they could add these two to the four announced last week and hold a large SJC hearing with six nominees on October 4. That would at least partially make up for the missed hearing spot that we lost because the last batch was delayed.
Unlikely, but a man can dream.
LikeLike
I wonder if this means a nominee for the 3rd Circuit seat from NJ is pending as well.
LikeLike
Zack, I certainly hope so. The 3rd and 4th Circuit nominees are long overdue.
We have actually only had 4 circuit nominees in the past calendar year. I partially give the NH senators a pass because they did recommend Delaney at least. I would love to see the four remaining vacancies at least have a nominee receive a hearing by the end of the year.
LikeLike
Semper is a Republican to my understanding from people who know him
LikeLike
As long the nominees are still considered held over for this week’s cancelled SJC business meeting, I’m fine with the meeting being cancelled. There are two attorneys listed who will probably be voice votes anyway.
I know there’s some speculation here about some Democratic Senators maybe having COVID. On the first vote today all but two Senators voted (Booker and Whitehouse), both SJC members. I looked up both of them and found nothing regarding COVID (I don’t think Whitehouse was in attendance yesterday), however on the last vote, held open for a while, Whitehouse did come in and cast effectively a tiebreaking vote (cloture on Wilcox to the NLRB), making the vote 50-49, the vote then ended. Booker was still the lone non-voter.
Interestingly, the 50-49 was not purely party lines, Manchin was a no and Murkowski was a yes.
LikeLike
Like Mark says, you love to see it.
Sure wish he was on the 2nd Circuit or SCOTUS though.
LikeLiked by 3 people
I actually see two people that should be on a circuit court in that picture.
Dale Ho – 2nd circuit or DC circuit.
Ryan Haygood – 3rd circuit. There is still time for this one to happen albeit I doubt it.
LikeLike
A 41-year-old nominee is exciting in any state, let alone NJ!
But a 57-year-old? Besides the extraordinary accomplishment of being born Asian, what solid background does Edward Kiel have that warrants an elevated grade in the face of his old age? Merely exceeding expectations for NJ nominees? This is the scraps I’ve been talking about.
Just to repeat my *hope* for the 3rd Circuit vacancy, I really want one of the 2 women that Murphy put on NJ’s supreme court to be the nominee. Like I said when Michael Noriega was announced as another one of Murphy’s nominee, people assumed that seat would remain vacant until another seat opened up, which would have allowed Murphy to nominate a Dem and Republican pair to maintain the partisan balance. But with Noriega’s nomination, it looked like Murphy was preparing for a new supreme court departure. (Of course, all speculation and tea leaf reading.) I’d love to see the prediction of it going to Neals or Salas go down as hard as all the other near-certain predicted nominees. I don’t understand why it would take so long to name Neals or Salas. Anyway, time will tell.
As to tomorrow’s canceled business meeting, this is your timely reminder that the nominations on the agenda will NOT be automatically considered held over the next time they appear on the next meeting’s agenda. Unless we are relying on the kindness of Republicans, every cancellation is a major delay.
LikeLike
Edward Kiel was a long-time member of the Asian American Legal Defense Fund. That is a solid progressive background. Hime being AAPI is only icing on the cake but if a White man were a long-time member of a legal defense fund, I would say the same about time. I actually gave him an A- as lowering his grade due to his age. I gave Beth Robinson an A- as well & she is almost the same age.
LikeLike
@Gavi
As for your hope for the 3rd, I would be the happiest person on this blog if my Salas or Neal prediction turns out to be wrong… Well I would be the happiest unless the pick was one of the horrible NJ district court picks we have seen before today, save Caster.
Anybody governor Murphy picked that hasn’t seen their 50th birthday & wasn’t a Republican due to senate tradition is automatically good in my book. I do not need to do any research on them. I trust in Governor Murphy’s ability to pick judges. He’s the exact opposite of the two US senators from New Jersey. But yes, either of his SCOT-NJ female picks or Michael Noriega himself would instantly be the best circuit court pick by Biden since Democrats expanded their majority last year.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh lordy, so completely have I disregarded most of Biden’s DCNJ appointees that I haven’t even thought of any non-Salas/Neals judge from that court as a possible 3rd Circuit nominee!
Now I see the reason to put so much hope into Salas/Neals, because outside of them, it could potentially be disastrous.
LikeLike
Haaaaaa
Yup @Gavi. Unfortunately Salas would be ok, maybe slightly good. Neals would just be ok. But any non-Caster Biden New Jersey dc judge would be worst & in some cases substantially worse. I don’t think any of them besides Zahid Quraishi would actually be considered but we must remember they are a possibility. Let’s just hope they made the recommendation the same time they picked today’s two. Perhaps Menendez & Booker were pissy drunk & picked good judges for a day that day.
LikeLike
Another article on todays nominees, including NJ, OR, CA and HI. Still waiting on WH announcement.
https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/biden-continues-push-diversify-judiciary-with-four-new-nominees-2023-09-06/
LikeLike
@Ben
The nomination of Shanlyn Park surprised me, I had expected Clare Conner to get it. While in private practice, Park specialized in insurance and commercial litigation. I think she’d be the first Korean-American District Judge for Hawaii.
The nomination of Kirk Sheriff also surprised me. I learned that before becoming a lawyer, he was a school teacher in Mississippi. He seems to be a career Federal prosecutor. Seems like a traditional nominee.
LikeLike
Wow, Murphy knows how to play this game and I’m glad he managed to survive his 2021 reelection.
His 3 Dem judges added to the NJSC are 42, 43, and 45. His Rep judge added to the court is 62. Somebody at the White House needs to poach his legal counsel team.
I don’t know if anyone already saw this but folks are starting to notice Bidens nominees background revert to the mean from public defenders and civil rights lawyers.
https://news.bloomberglaw.com/social-justice/biden-court-picks-have-less-diverse-resumes-sought-by-liberals
Also, I’m a little annoyed that every time someone asks Chuck about judges oh he’s on it, we’ll confirm every seat! Then we look at the votes lined up in the senate calendar and it’s like come on man, what are you doing.
LikeLike
Ok we got five new nominees coming for today:
Jamel Semper – NJ
Edward Kiel – NJ
Mustafa Kasubhai – Oregon
Shanlyn Park – Hawaii… Federal defender
Kirk Sherriff – EDCA – Born 1969. Worse pick of the batch.
I’ll give grades later today when I get more time to vet them more. The announcement should be coming by tomorrow.
LikeLike
Here’s the list. Weirdly, Kiel was not announced today after all.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/09/06/president-biden-names-thirty-eighth-round-of-judicial-nominees/
LikeLike
Could Kiel potentially be in play for the Circuit seat perhaps? It is weird that he wasn’t nominated after the story broke.
Overall though, it’s good to see (at least) four more picks. Now I’m really made that last weeks batch wasn’t made the week prior because otherwise we would have filled three SJC hearings between Labor Day and Columbus Day.
LikeLike
I certainly hope Keil isn’t being considered for the 3rd. His background is good but he’s simply too old born c. 1966. Same reason why Salas & Neals aren’t good picks. It’s more than likely this WHC office isn’t capable of nominating more than 4 people at once so we’ll get him later this month… Lol
Ok had some time to digest the nominees for today;
Mustafa Kasubhai (A-) – Before becoming a judge, he represented workers and unions in workers compensation cases and plaintiffs in civil cases. He will be the third Muslim federal judge in the country once confirmed. As I said before, out of the six Oregon recommendations, anybody except Katharine von Ter Stegge is acceptable.
Shanlyn Park (B+) – While she is a former public defender, there simply were too many younger options from Hawaii. I may even say Claire Connors would have been as good of a choice.
Kirk Sherriff (D+) – Horrible pick. Born 1968, much older than de Alba who he is replacing. Nothing progressive in his background from bright blue California. Unless I’m missing something, this may be amongst the worst California nominees to date by Biden.
Jamel Semper (A) – Great pick. I know this 41-year-old Black man has prosecutor in his background, but civil rights groups fought hard to get him the US attorney position prior.
LikeLike
That’s your thing. I don’t think Administration has hang-ups on age like some the posters on here.
People who make these age related complaints I would like to meet their doctor’s or dentists.’
Let’s see how this age bias plays out in real life.
LikeLike
M dentist doesn’t have a life time appointment nor does he decide the rights of 330 million people. If he did, I would want him to be younger too… Lol
LikeLiked by 1 person
Jamel Semper gained some fame as the lead prosecutor of Ali Mohammad Brown, a terrorist spree killer who murdered at least 4 people, one of them a college student in New Jersey.
LikeLike
Surprised Claire Connors wasn’t given another shot like many other Obama nominees were.
Maybe she didn’t want to become a judge after all or is hoping for a Circuit court seat down the line.
LikeLike
Same here but not mad at the fact that Biden went with a well-qualified Native Hawaiian diversity pick.
LikeLike
I’m not able to track Senate updates as well as I used to because a few days ago I officially terminated my X account. So please let me know on here any cloture filings for judges.
I’m hoping to see cloture filed tomorrow for de Alba and/or Ramirez. Despite Sherriff not being the best, I hope for his speedy confirmation because E.D. Cal. needs all the help they can get.
LikeLike
I think on this blog, you will be well taken care of when it comes to updates on cloture motions… Lol
Congrats on terminating your Twitter. I never had an account. My chart has been updated with the new nominees from today, approximate years of birth, links to bio pages (Since the Wikipedia idiots won’t allow it on their until they are confirmed) & the new batch.
(https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1WTD3XQ_beYUtrpuvwmS7F47Ql8L5-M_knlwCx5lCTPs/edit#gid=1366630074)
LikeLiked by 1 person
This is impressive. It’s basically all the Wikipedia pages combined + nominees – senior judges.
I have actually found a few birthdates for Biden judges but I’m no longer sharing them on Wikipedia because they would definitely get reversed (and it’s possible some are inaccurate). Birth year is good, but sometimes birthdate is useful both for purposes of becoming Chief Judge in a close call and also for knowing when they can take senior status down the line. Just a me thing but I like knowing who a court’s oldest judge is.
I’ve figured out why it’s so much harder to find birthdates for recent judges. Under Clinton & Bush, the judicial questionnaire told them to state their birthdate but now it asks only for birth years.
LikeLike
Additionally, I want to say that I feel sorry for any judicial nominee who doesn’t get confirmed. If it weren’t for Let’s Run et al., they would have Wikipedia pages (which in theory could promote them). Instead, they will be forgotten as there won’t be a Wikipedia page for someone in the far future to find when they scroll through the federal courts’ Wikipedia pages.
LikeLike
Yup, I totally agree. The Let’s Run idiot is a partisan hack (He had a page during all 4 years of Trump & never once tried to get any pages taken down then). I’m more mad that a few idiot users that are also probably partisan hacks could use Wikipedia vague wording to give them what they want.
But it’s always darkest before the dawn. I enjoy making & updating the chart & best of all is none of them can never do anything about it. It’s sad you can’t go to Wikipedia to read up on pending nominees but feel free to read up on any on my chart anytime. They are always notable to me the minute they are nominated… Lol
LikeLiked by 1 person
How have you been finding the dates for the judges, if I may ask? On an unrelated note for that user, I found this tool where you can enter his name to see what he is trying to get deleted. Funny enough (sorta), he has moved away from judges and towards deleting beauty pageant contestants pages. Soon enough he’ll probably use some lingo to get Elizabeth Prelogar’s page removed: https://afdstats.toolforge.org/
LikeLike
@Frank
What dates for the judges are you referring to buddy?
And are you kidding? The Let’s Run nut case is now trying to get beauty pageants pages taken down from Wikipedia? Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
My God that may be the funniest thing I’ve heard all week. What a pathetic idiot he is. If I my life ever becomes as miserable as his please just put some rat poison in my drink… Lol
LikeLike
I was replying to Ryan, regarding birthdates.
LikeLike
Just saw this. I’ve been finding them in various places. I type in the judge’s name and find something I think is a match.
LikeLike
There’s nothing here that any of us is not already aware of, but it’s good to keep the pressure on Schumer.
https://thehill.com/opinion/congress-blog/4190408-our-future-depends-on-the-confirmation-of-highly-qualified-and-diverse-judges-now/
LikeLike
DC district judge Beryl Howell announces her senior status for Feb 1. Makes a fifth seat for Biden on that court.
LikeLike
I was hoping Beryl Howell would go senior. I believe she was the only remaining judge on the court eligible. Now hopefully Biden picks a young reliable progressive nominee. I would see John Howard from the DC court of appeals as a possibility. He’s still in his late 30’s but so many good choices.
LikeLike
Howard was first nominated for the municipal court by Donald Trump. He was confirmed after being nominated again by Joe Biden. If he’s a reliable progressive, how did that happen?
LikeLike
Eleanor Holmes Norton is usually really good with DC recs. She recommended Jia Cobb, Ana Reyes, Loren AliKhan, Todd Edelman, etc. to the WH
LikeLike
Just catching up.
I see we have new nominees sans Claire Connors. I don’t mean to gloat, but I think it’s so hilarious. Like I always say, obvious candidates should be announced sooner rather than later. The more time that goes by, the less likely your assumed candidate will be the nominate.
Be very wary of prophetic predictions of nominations (see Mitch). Who will be the next candidate to defy nomination expectation?
Speaking of which, it’s September now and butting up against my deadline for confirmation. What is the WH waiting for to nominate blog favorite (not mine) Samantha Elliott to NH’s 1st vacancy?
–
Great news about Beryl Howell’s senior status announcement. What are the odds of an old moderate getting the nod in this city full of progressive young lawyers?
LikeLike
Hope that Esmeralda Aguilar gets the nomination. Need more union attorneys on the bench.
LikeLiked by 1 person
@Mitch
I’m not saying John Howard is the best option or even my number one option. I’m saying based on the reality of the post-election WHC office, he would be a good nominee. He is on the same court as Loren AliKhan who is the most recent nominee to the DC district court & they even got commissioned the same day. He’s a year younger & after Edelman & Alikhan is confirmed, only 3 of the or the 15 judges on the court would be lack despite the city having overwhelmingly Black residents.
@Gavi
You can definitely gloat when it comes to Claire Connors. With two vacancies, I would have bet she would have got one of the seats for sure. I’m ecstatic I was right about my number one choice Smith getting one of the two vacancies however.
LikeLike
Anyone else find it odd that we just got a nominee to a vacancy that will occur in October 2024? While there are vacancies in blue states in CT, NY, PA, MI, and CA?
LikeLike
It is a little odd that the opening is so far away. I guess it’s better than sitting on the nomination though. At least SJC can get the hearing out of the way.
LikeLike
Does anyone have a running list of the blue state vacancies that do not have nominees? I did the math about a month or two ago but I know there have been several nominees and additional vacancies since then.
LikeLike
&Joe
Click on the tab for any circuit you want & every vacancy with or without a nominee is up to date. You can also go to the last tab & click on the link for the official federal judicial vacancies current & future.
(https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/1/d/1WTD3XQ_beYUtrpuvwmS7F47Ql8L5-M_knlwCx5lCTPs/htmlview#gid=0)
LikeLike
Thanks Dequan. Appreciate that.
LikeLike
This is the best list I could come up with but someone please check behind me:
SD California
D Connecticut
ND Illinois
ED Michigan
D New Jersey (second nom technically hasn’t been made)
SD New York
ED Pennsylvania
WD Virginia
D Oregon
D Rhode Island
D Arizona
D Arizona
D DC
LikeLike
Sounds like the Hawaii senators were on the ball and didn’t want to risk those seats staying open past 2024.
LikeLike
Schumer filed cloture on a District Court judge
LikeLike
Yep. Looks like the other business for next week will be the deputy VA Secretary and three appropriations bills.
LikeLike
I figured there was too much on the calendar for judges in September. Looks like Durbin’s influence supersedes judges that have been waiting longer again. I was hoping Kato finally got teed up. Either way Cummings is liberal so despite him being old, I’m happy to see him get teed up.
LikeLike
Cummings is a good one for sure.
I think we’ll get a few other judges worked in here and there. But it may be slow going until they figure out the spending bill. One of the negatives of divided government.
The good news is that unlike election years the senate is only in recess for two weeks (Columbus Day and Thanksgiving) the rest of the year, so there should be plenty of opportunities late in the fall.
LikeLike
I forgot two AZ judges are going senior next year, these seats should filled immediately! Sinema has been solid on Biden judges and Kelly is a party man who just won reelection so they should go as progressive as they want.
I dread the fact that with a 3 way race, Kari Lake could have her thumb on the scale of future confirmations.
LikeLike
Roopali Desai was a very good nominee from them, I agree. Looking forward to seeing their picks.
LikeLike
Another new vacancy. GWB appointee George Wu in Central District of CA. November 3, 2023. I’d have to assume/hope the Feinstein-Padilla recommendation engine has another name prepped and waiting.
LikeLike
There’s about six judges in the CDCA. I’m surprised we haven’t seen more vacancies there. I would think they have attorneys teed up a mile long but the SDCA vacancy has been open without a nominee for over 9 months. I hope Bryant Yang is the nominee for either seat. He would be an A+ & automatically should be on the short list for a future 9th vacancy.
LikeLike
Comparing vacancies across the country is ridiculous (someone from yesterday) but comparing vacancies within a state makes sense.
I am very curious how the Californians do it. Maybe the senators prioritize judicial emergencies?
Dequan, what SDCA vacancy are you talking about, that’s been vacant for 9 months? The only one I see without a nominee is the one caused by Curiel going senior yesterday.
Kenly Kiya Kato’s nomination is at risk of being returned to Biden for a third time, since she was nominated in 2021. The powerful Dianne Feinstein of old would have pushed Schumer for a floor vote for her recommendee by now (what Durbin does now).
LikeLike
Honestly at this point who cares, for me the joy of seeing new judical vacancies have long left, since the abrupt turn of the whitehouse back to the standard mold of prosecutors and corporate lawyers the joy and thrill have mostly left, at-least for district court seats.
High quality polls are now showing biden losing or at best tied against trump and desantis and losing convincingly to nikki haley, the truth is the vast majority of americans think he is too old to be president, he is seen as frail and that’s including the vast majority of democrats who want another nominee, i would proudly add myself to that list. I know other black men who strongly feel this way as well, and once again polls show weakness and biden bleeding support from black men. You would think he would make a deliberate show and effort to show appeal to the group right? No. We are going to end biden tenure likely with less black men as circuit court judges than before he took office. I repeat it is very likely that at the end of biden first term tenure as president, in what is supposed to be the most diverse number of judges ever appointed,the amount of black men as circuit court judges would be less than it was under trump. I say this genuinely if you told me that in January 2021 i would have said it is a practical joke.
I watched Joshua Kolar nomination hearing just the other day and couldn’t help but have a bitter taste in my mouth about the whole ordeal, he is certainly no liberal.
i am certain several progressive black men in Indiana who are qualified were available, yet he chose the career prosecutor who clerked for a republican judge. Enough!
I am about ready for this biden presidency to end to be honest, we need a fighter especially when the other side have declared an all out war against anyone non white, from his picking of a moderate prosecutor as his attorney general, to refusing to replace powell as fed chair, to always being behind the ball and never quick to take decisive actions and always trying to placate bad faith republicans, it has grown stale.
I certainly can bet my dime that no future democratic nominee like a wes moore or gavin newsom would nominate an irma ramirez a 59 year old centrist solely to please the whims and ego of a charlatan like ted cruz , can put my money on that. An absolute disgrace.
LikeLike
Why does the race of the nominee matter so much to people like you and Dequan so long as the candidate understands treating all races equally and giving them all a fair shake? I agree that it would be nice to see a bit more career diversity from the Biden administration, but I am not interested in seeing a bunch of minority corporate lawyers being appointed simply because they are minorities.
Since when has clerking for a Republican appointed judge meant that someone is conservative? In that case, I guess Arianna Freeman, Myrna Pérez, and Ketanji Brown Jackson are all conservative, just to name a few of Biden’s nominees.
LikeLike
I’ll repeat what I said earlier. Biden has nominated 188 attorneys’ to be federal judges. Would you be fine if all 188 were White men, even if all of them were like Dale Ho? If your answer to that is no, then YOU too care about race & diversity.
More than that, this is politics. The objective is to get the person you want elected and/or re-elected. I want a Democrat to be elected president next year. Joe Biden is likely to be the Democrat nominee. So that means I would like him to win next year. How does that happen?
He needs to get the coalition that came out to elect him in 2020 to return again. Black people are a HUGE part of that coalition. So yes, he needs to put diverse nominees forward for the federal judiciary. Nobody is saying we want unqualified Black nominees. There are plenty of young progressive nominees available.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I wouldn’t want every judge to come from the exact or similar background as Dale Ho (for certain reasons, I have issues with him becoming a federal judge), but I care about career diversity first and foremost. Thus, my answer is yes, I’d be fine with it if they were actually the best nominees. Democrats aren’t voting based on judges the way Republicans are anyhow.
LikeLike
@Frank
Then we just 100% disagree if you’re saying you would be fine if all 188 of Biden’s judges were White men, even if they were (Insert your favorite Biden judge). There’s simply no way on God’s green Earth that Biden would be re-elected if all 188 of his nominees were White men no matter who they were. Hell, even I would have a hard time walking into a booth & voting for him under those circumstances.
So if your objective is to see him re-elected, I would argue your argument would almost guarantee that not to happen. I don’t care how much Republicans care more about judges than Democrats do, he simply wouldn’t be re-elected.
LikeLike
First, I wouldn’t want all nominees to come from the same background as my favorite judge, as I value a wide swath of experiences from all judges on any one court. Maybe you wouldn’t vote for Biden if he ignored identity politics, but polling shows that judges don’t move the needle for the average Democratic voter one way or the other in presidential elections. I also wouldn’t care if every Biden judge was black if again, they were all the best possible nominees based on career diversity.
LikeLike
I watched the SJC hearing earlier this week & senator Durbin was glowing about two red state circuit court nominees having their blue slips turned in. So it got me thinking, how many red state district court nominees have we had announced this year since circuit court nominees don’t require blue slips anymore. It’s September 8th & we have had a total of SIX red state district court nominees this year so far. And one of them withdrew. Also three of the six are from Louisiana.
So we have had more months passed this year then red state district court nominees. But hey, let’s all keep pretending most Republican senators are going to work in good faith to fill these vacancies with an election 14 months away.
John A. Kazen
Jerry Edwards, Jr.
Brandon Scott Long
Darrel James Papillion
Jabari Wamble ***Withdrew***
Amanda Brailsford
LikeLiked by 2 people
Dequan, did you see my comment to you this morning for clarification on the SDCA vacancy?
Also, I am not where you are on ditching the blue slip, but I agree that it’s absurd for Durbin to declare a national holiday for 6 returned blue slips. But hey, we got the politicians we vote for.
LikeLike
@Gavi
I replied to your SDCA comment earlier this morning but I just scrolled up & see it didn’t post yet for some reason. But basically the short version of what I wrote was the vacancy was announced earlier this year. All 4 of California’s districts have had multiple Biden nominees so there should be a running list for future vacancies. It’s not acceptable any California vacancy goes this long without a nominee. Hawaii’s vacancies were announced after the SDCA & don’t become vacant until next year yet both have nominees already…
Hopefully this comment post but let me copy/paste just in case
LikeLike
Why can’t I find that SDCA vacancy? The only two I see for that court are for Hayes (8/1/21) and Curiel (9/7/23). Who from the SDCA is leaving/left?
LikeLike
@Gavi
I’m talking about the Gonzalo P. Curiel vacancy. He announced earlier this year, yet we still do not have a nominee. That’s what I’m saying. Any California vacancy should have a nominee in short order since all 4 districts have had multiple nominees announced by Biden so a running list of runner ups shouldn’t be out of the realm. The idea that Curiel could give enough heads up about his vacancy for a woman to have a baby yet still no nominee is not acceptable to me.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh, I see. You said “open… for over 9 months” so I took it literally. I thought there was an actual vacancy that I was missing, not a future (before yesterday) vacancy.
At any rate, I agree. But I think the California senators do their commissions per the vacancy, and not like NJ and Ill, where they have a list. So in CA, each vacancy means new screening by the two commissions. If this is how they do it, it would be ridiculous. Their recommendation process is already terrible, with each senator having a separate commission. so you’d think they’d come up with multiple names for court. I suppose adherence to judicial divisions may complicate things, too.
Bottom line, I dislike all delays and will never be satisfied with excuses for them haha.
LikeLike
Yea sorry, I probably mis-wrote the second time out of frustration my first longer, more detailed post didn’t go through. But yea that’s how California does it & it’s absurd. I’m actually hoping whoever replaces Feinstein changes that & has a joint commission with Padilla. There’s far too many vacancies in California for a separate commission.
This vacancy should have had a nominee, hearing & confirmation vote already done by the time the vacancy actually occurred yesterday. But then again we have 2 out of the 3 circuit court vacancies without a nominee in blue states & both have been vacant for over a year so pretty hard to look past both of those…smh
LikeLiked by 1 person
It used to be that Ca Senators split up vacancies. These commissions exist for a reason : campaign donations.
There’s nothing wrong with the system more vacancies have been filled by Ca Senator’s than anywhere else. They take applications before vacancies arise.
LikeLike
I meant NY, not NJ, having list of names per vacancy.
LikeLike
Dequan you left out Matthew Brookman from Indiana.
I agree though. Far too few. We really need to get those TX and FL seats filled
LikeLike
Matthew Brookman was nominated on December 21, 2022. I was only talking about this year, 2023. I wasn’t counting Biden’s entire term. For this year, the first 9 months & 8 days we have only gotten six red state district court nominees & one of the six withdrew.
LikeLike
I gotcha. I kind of forgot since he wasn’t sent to senate until Jan 3.
I agree though. We are quickly running out of blue state vacancies. I think there are only 13 with no nominees. Soon enough, the WH will have no choice but to force the issue with some more red states senators.
LikeLike
I just counted. We are down to the following vacancies without a nominee;
Blue state vacancies:
Circuit court – 2
District court – 14
Purple state district court vacancies: 3
Red state vacancies:
Circuit court – 1
District court – 38
Here’s the purple & red state vacancies I’m most positive about before the end of next year;
Wisconsin – Despite Ron Johnson, the two recommended possibilities are White men who should be ok with him.
Indiana (3)
Maine
North Carolina (2) – Some names have been thrown around that I can see being agreed to.
South Carolina – This is actually a surprise to me one of the two women rumored haven’t been announced yet. Perhaps with Tim Scott running for president, he has shut down the negotiations.
Texas (7) – Out of the 7 remaining vacancies without a nominee, I could see maybe 4 or so of them getting filled. I doubt all 7.
Louisiana
South Dakota (2)
Kansas – It’s possible a deal can be reached now that they got the 10th vacancy out of the way.
Wyoming
Florida (7) – I can see maybe 4 of these seats getting filled. I doubt all 7 by the end of next year.
The rest of the vacancies I doubt we will get filled before the end of next year.
LikeLike
Is the Twitter for the senate cloakroom not in order of date anymore for anybody else? It started putting each update in random order instead of by date during the Summer recess for me but I just shrugged it off as a temporary glitch. But it’s still doing it for me at least. Anybody else? If not, could you include the link you’re using please?
(https://twitter.com/SenateCloakroom)
LikeLike
It’s because you don’t have an account. Twitter changed to prevent non-account viewers from accessing much of it. This means you won’t be able to see tweets on the page chronologically, just a random selection. Non-account holders are still able to see tweets shared with them via a direct link.
LikeLike
WOW… Elon Musk really? Well thanks for the explanation @Gavi. I guess I’ll use the senate official site to track now.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Jeffrey Cummings was nominated in January of this year. There are six nominees (Not counting Scott Colom) that were nominated before this year. I hope Schumer prioritizes them as well as the (By then) four circuit court nominees pending on the floor.
2021
Kenly Kiya Kato
2022
Rita F. Lin
Julia Kobick
Ramon Reyes
Charnelle Bjelkengren
Todd E. Edelman
LikeLike
Those nominees are obviously important, but right now the most important thing is making sure that the government is funded, and passing these spending bills. Once the spending bills pass, the Senate can use most of October and November to confirm judicial nominations.
LikeLike
@Christian
Yup, I said the same thing a couple weeks back. I hope out of the 3 weeks & 2 days the senate is in session in October, at least 2 weeks is spent on judges. That should clear the backlog up pretty nicely.
LikeLike
Yeah, I think that Schumer will definitely prioritize the 2022 judges, De Alba, and AliKhan, but some of that time will also be spent confirming executive nominees who have been waiting since 2021 to get confirmed. Nominees like Elizabeth H. Richard, Margo Schlanger, Cathy Harris, José Javier Rodríguez, Dave Uejio, Solomon Greene, and LaWanda Toney have all been waiting since 2021. I think that Schumer will prioritize getting them confirmed before confirming 2023 judges.
LikeLike
If I had to pick a non judicial nominee to get a vote it would be Karla Ann Gillibride. I wish she had been nominated for a judicial vacancy instead. So far Biden has nominated two judicial nominees with disclosed disabilities. Her being young, progressive & blind would have been a good third.
LikeLike
That’s another nominee that’s very important. I highly doubt that Schumer will only prioritize judicial nominees in October because there are so many any other important executive nominees. I think that Schumer will prioritize the 2022 nominees, and get those all confirmed by the end of October, but the other ones might have to wait until the Senate reconvenes from the Thanksgiving holiday. AliKhan and Garnett are probably the 2 that will get special treatment because of how important the DC and SDNY district courts are.
LikeLike
Not to forget Adrienne Jennings Noti, which is also remaining from 2021 and is the longest pending judicial vacancy.
The Superior Court of DC is with 12 vacancies and Edelman will be elevated desperately short and three of the six nominees, of whom two had been nominated by the WH in March, had their hearing on Wednesday more than a half year later. I hope they can be confirmed this year.
The longest vacancy at the Court of Appeals of District of Columbia will have its tenth birthday at 1 November unfilled. With Loren AliKhan leaving the court after just a little more than a year serving, I would’t generally choose the replacement of Beryl Howard not from the DC courts, at least not until they are in a better condition.
Further unnoticed vacancy at the US Tax Court, where Judge Richard T. Morrison’s term expired at 27 August 2023, here there are not 5 vacancies and no nomination.
They have lower priorty, I know, but no reason not to fill them anyway.
LikeLike
It’s always tough for the Senate to find time to confirm superior court nominees, just because there are so many so one judge doesn’t have as much power as a normal district court judge would. In terms of a replacement for Howell, I doubt that the WH will choose someone from a local DC court. It will probably be either Abid Riaz Qureshi or Todd Kim IMO. As for the Tax Court vacancies, the WH should move quickly now that there are so many vacancies, and those nominees go through the Banking Committee so there is not really a backlog. Also, those nominees normally get confirmed by voice vote, so as long as Biden announces qualified nominees, I think that they could fill at least 3 out of the 5 seats.
P.S. Don’t expect a vote on Jennings Noti anytime soon. It will probably happen sometime in December once all of the other nominees are confirmed.
LikeLike
SJC executive meeting already posted for next week Thursday. None of the 10 nominees re listed in red so hopefully that means they considered the cancelled meeting Thursday due to Booker being out as a hold over week & now all 10 will be voted to the floor this up & coming Thursday.
(https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/committee-activity/hearings/09/07/2023/executive-business-meeting-1)
LikeLike
I’m returning to the recent vacancy and two pending vacancies in the Middle District of Florida, It’s still early in those cases. But I can see a future package consisting of Magistrates Monte Richardson and Julie Sneed, along with a third moderate nominee.
LikeLike
I think that when the WH announces MD of Florida nominees, they will announce them all at one time, so that the Senate can process them all at once, and they can be confirmed by voice vote. There’s just no reason to rush Florida nominees this early though when the vacancies don’t occur until December.
LikeLike
Here’s everything you wanted to know about New Jersey’s District Court nominees but were afraid to ask
https://newjerseyglobe.com/judiciary/a-closer-look-at-all-10-of-bidens-federal-judicial-nominees-in-n-j-so-far/
LikeLike
@Rick
Great article. It only confirms up until this past week & teo most recent nominations (One still hasn’t officially been made), New Jersey has been the worst state with multiple nominees for Biden judges. Even worse than Louisiana.
For God’s sake the article confirms Robert Kirsch was still a Republican a full 2 months after Biden won the 2020 election. It’s bad when out of 10 nominees there’s more Republicans then public defenders or civil rights attorneys since Biden knew he won. We will need Menedez & Booker to be pissy drunk when they make their recommendations for the 3rd to have any chance of them being better then Salas or Neals…smh
LikeLike
I’m still holding out hope that the NJ senators surprise us with a strong young liberal for that vacant 3rd CCA seat (nothing in their history gives me any hint, just pure hopium). And ANY day now, I’m sure we’ll get a nominee for the 4th circuit. Pretty sure someone is going to blink and it better be Cardin with his old and intransigent ass. I doubt Sen. van Hollen is the one holding this up. He’s a back bencher/rank-and-file senator as it is, he’ll vote for a ham sandwich if Biden nominated it lol. Just nominate Prelogar or find someone young and liberal AF and get the ball rolling. If we can get a nominee to move the 7th slightly to the left after Kanne, we HAVE to be able to get someone for the blue CCA vacancies. Do not go into 2024 with a vacancy still in the 1st, 3rd, and 4th. That would be political malfeasance.
I’ve basically given up on hoping that Biden surpasses Trump’s 4-year record. Trump came in and had so many vacancies due to McConnell’s stymying of Obama’s nominees, Biden didn’t have that and has been the best president on judges in my lifetime. Imagine what he could do without Durbin (Mr. “my republican friends”) getting in the way? Ugh. Get to 185-200 by the end of his first term, and then win reelection and see if the number can reach 350 over 8 years. A friendly senate all 8 years and reelection are the only obstacles.
LikeLike
If you are expecting all of the nominees to be registered Democrats its not gonna happen. The Republicans have nominated registered Democrats before .
No President has nominated judges and excluded people from other parties.
LikeLike
@shawnee68
What Democrats did Trump appoint in Texas? How about in Florida after Nelson was defeated by Scott? Or Missouri? Mississippi? Arkansas? South Carolina? Can you point to one red state in which Trump won & has two Republican senators where a Democrat was nominated as a federal judge? Just one of his 230 judges?
You are correct when you say “No President has nominated judges and excluded people from other parties.”
Your just wrong if you include Trump. But of course, instead of Biden responding in kind, we get non-Democrats in blue states like New Jersey & Connecticut.
LikeLike
Yes, Trump appointed registered Democrats to bench. I think you place to much weight on party registration. There are several reasons why people do this. It’s not dispositive on what kind of judge you will be . This is why people are interviewed.
You have to know people on a deeper level. I have known people informally for years to find out that they were “registered” Republicans. This does not mean that they condone the acts the national party.
There are several courts in your state I would encourage you to visit the clerk’s office and view cases on PACER. You’ll find that most cases have nothing to do with political party affiliations and whatnot.
Stay safe in Florida
LikeLike
Very nice detailed response. I seem to noticed you completely left out answering my question… Lol
Once again let’s try for a second time. Can you name me one registered Democrat that Trump named in a state he won with two Republican senators? I know he nominated Democrats in New York, Rhode Island, Michigan & other states. I’m asking for you to name one in a red state he won, which would be the equivalent of Biden naming Republicans in New Jersey & Connecticut.
Don’t worry, I’ll wait. I’m sure your reply will be another long write up with everything but an actual name of a Trump judge but it’s fun to wait while you try… Haaaaaa
LikeLike
Your question doesn’t make any sense. It’s the job of a Senator to present lower court nominees.
I understand you live in hyper-partisan Florida where party registration is everything.
It’s nonsense to say that if you are a registered Republican you can’t be a fair judge. Did you think Justice Stevens, Blackmun and Souter were fair judges of the cases before them?
LikeLike
My question doesn’t make any sense or you just can’t answer it after what you initially said?
I said Biden has now nominated two non Democrats in blue states. Your response was all presidents do it. So I’m asking if you can name just ONE Democrat that Trump put on the bench in a red state. I know you said all presidents do it all the time so I’m asking for you to name the most recent president doing it just ONCE.
Of course you can’t because your answer was not based in fact or reality. That’s why you’re replying with long winded answers that don’t answer the question asked. It’s a good try, you just failed & are getting called out on it.
You can change your answer to a more reasonable “Trump didn’t do it but Biden isn’t the type of president to play hard ball like Trump”. That would be a much more honest answer then every president does it which is obviously not correct based on your repeated non answer.
LikeLike
I said all president’s have nominated judges from a different party. I think you know that.
I see what you are saying. But here in California Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed Lucy Koh who is a Democrat and Quentin Kopp who was Independent to the Superior Courts.
I your reliance on party registration is mis-placed. Were it not for “registered” Republicans Biden would not be President.
LikeLike
But you saying “all president’s have nominated judges from a different party” has absolutely nothing to do with the original topic. That topic was this president nominating Republicans in blue states. Trump did not nominate any Democrats in red states which would be the equivalent. So again, what are your thoughts on THAT subject? Mine is Biden should be responding in kind. It sounds like yours is unilateral disagreement… Lol
LikeLike
The most successful president in my lifetime was Ronald Reagan. I can recognize this even though I did not care for him. He went after the votes of Democrats without compromising his own values.
I also remember GWB nominating liberals to the appellate courts. This had no effect on his agenda of changing the courts.
The political geography makes it very difficult for Democrats to win while excluding Republicans. It’s nearly impossible because young people are inconsistent voters.
So, I reject the premise that judges have to be 100% of the same party regardless of whether it’s red state or blue state.
LikeLike
Can you show me the data that you’re seeing telling you had Trump nominated a couple Democrats in blue states, it would have gained him votes? Or the data that you’re seeing showing you had Biden nominated Democrats to the two seats in New Jersey or Connecticut that he would have gained Republican votes? I’m not finding that data so I would love for you to share with me. Because if you can’t show me any data backing up what your saying, then yes I say Biden should respond in kind… Lol
LikeLike
You are asking questions to get answers that suit your purposes. I didn’t say that lower court judges affect outcomes of races.
All I said that party registration in and of itself is not an indicator of if someone will be a fair judge. In any event that’s why we have juries. I think people forget that juries decide the facts of cases not judges. That is if the plaintiff in civil lawsuit or defendant in criminal trial waives that right.
I don’t expect Biden to change at this stage of his life. You wouldn’t do it now so why should he?
Let’s stop quibbling over the former registration status of prospective nominees and move on to something more worthwhile.
LikeLike
There are plenty of Democrats, progressives & liberals in both the states of New Jersey & Connecticut that could have been selected for lifetime appointments to the judiciary. These seats are limited. So wasting one on a Republican is something worth quibbling over.
Republicans know this which is why no Democrats were put on the bench in red states under Trump. They are winning. Democrats need to respond in kind so one day they can be winning.
LikeLike
What do you mean by “wasting”? This guy who changed his registration had his legal career examined and was given the opportunity. Your former party registration isn’t who you are. We don’t have a “cancel culture” president so let it be.
We ought not be running our government as Trump did and pretend we’re doing good. He’s the last president that I would emulate. How can anyone look at the Trump presidency and think anything good came out of it. Yeah they shifted the Supreme Court but how many of them will be going to prison.
There’s a rumor that that the Georgia prison where Trump will reside smells like dick. No one in right mind wants to go there. Let’s leave at that.
LikeLike
That sounds nice to say but as they say in sports, you are what your record says you are. Conservatives are winning when it comes to the courts. The 5th circuit arguably will be further tot he right after two Biden judges are put on the court. We can’t afford seats to go further to the right. So yes, when that happens I call it a waste.
LikeLike
I the senate confirms every current Biden nominee (minus Colom) that would 189. If he fills every current blue seat district vacancy and circuit court vacancy too that would get him to 202. He would need additional vacancies or red state packages to get closer to Trumps number.
I don’t think he will ultimately get there but I think 215 or 220 is quite realistic.
LikeLike
@ Dequan
Do you think Georgette Castner would be a good pick to elevate for the 3rd Circuit vacancy? Would you agree she is probably the best of the NJ District Court nominees?.
LikeLike
Georgette Castner is the best of the 10 Biden judges on the D-NJ. She’s an advocate for decriminalizing marijuana & is in her low 40’s. Jamel Semper is probably neck & neck with her in my book, maybe even slightly ahead but I wouldn’t argue with anybody that put her first.
If she was the nominee I would be delighted, not just because it’s her but because that means it’s not Salas or Neals. I would rather the nominee be Ryan Haygood or any of governor Murphy’s 3 Democrat appointees to the SCOT-NJ or wish it had been Jamel Semper himself, just to avoid having to backfill a district court seat. But if Castner were the nominee she would be an A in my opinion.
LikeLike
So Dequan, we’ll have the Executive and Judicial nominees confirmed probably Tues afternoon. Does rest of the week look to be tied up with the bill that will follow the Cummings nomination?.
But I guess there will be more budget related votes before they can have one of those weeks where they confirm 5+ nominees
LikeLike
Outside of Jeffrey Cummings, I highly doubt we will see many other judicial confirmations in September. I do think October has the potential to clear a large portion of the judicial backlog though. Hopefully all 4 circuit court & all pre-2023 nominees will be confirmed by Halloween.
LikeLike
That’s true, but if all Democratic senators are present, and no one gets sick, I think that Schumer will prioritize getting party-line executive nominations and district court nominations out of the way first. He’s going to prioritize 2022 nominees before the circuit court judges that were just nominated.
LikeLike
@ Dequan I don’t think that confirming all of the circuit court nominees is going to happen. I think that Schumer will try to confirm the district court nominees that have been waiting since 2022, then maybe he’ll try to confirm the circuit court nominees. I think that all of the Circuit Court nominees will be confirmed by Thanksgiving though.
LikeLike
That’s possible. I only said confirming all 4 circuit court nominees by Halloween because 3 of the 4 have two home state Republican yes votes. We all know Schumer seems to prioritize easy confirmation votes over those with almost universal Republican opposition.
Since both Kolar & Frederico should be voted to the floor from the SJC by the end of September, I figured a month was long enough to get a confirmation vote. I don’t think any of them will require the full 30-hour post cloture time.
LikeLike
It looks like Joshua Kolar will have a comfortable confirmation. There are also two vacancies for the Northern District of Indiana and a pending vacancy for the Southern District of Indiana. I expect a package which will definitely include Magistrate Mario Garcia for the Southern vacancy and a real chance of AUSA David Hollar for the Northern vacancy based in Hammond. In this package, the two Senators will get to choose the third nominee, who’d be based in South Bend.
LikeLike
Do you know how old Hollar is?
LikeLike
According to @Ethan’s chart, he was born around 1975.
(https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/0/d/1uRo9jpeSqKzj6S2HcZaMEOBbfsB3PBce2EwgX5sPCus/htmlview#gid=1946085266)
LikeLike
Who made that list? It’s very helpful!
LikeLike
@Ethan made the list. He’s one of the users that frequent this blog. I have it on the last tab of my list (Below) of all active judges as well as other judicial related info. Btw @Ethan has predicted a majority of the nominees from the last few batches. He removes the names from his list once they are selected however.
(https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/1/d/1WTD3XQ_beYUtrpuvwmS7F47Ql8L5-M_knlwCx5lCTPs/htmlview#gid=0)
LikeLike
Thank you for the kind words @Dequan.
@Mitch, While I would love for Mario Garcia to get the vacancy on the Southern District, I unfortunately worry that fellow Magistrate Judge M. Kendra Klump, a former AUSA is the more likely pick given the previous picks of Doris Pryor, Matthew Brookman, and Joshua Kolar.
Although maybe the Indiana Senators would be fine with Garcia over Klump since he’s 9 years older (1973 vs. 1982) despite being a lot more progressive.
Magistrate Judge Kellie Barr (born c. 1981) was a career clerk to Jane Magnus Stinson, the judge on the Southern District of Indiana whose senior status is creating the vacancy, so those ties might put her in contention.
LikeLike
Maybe Shelese Woods (born c. 1972), a black woman who serves as the Civil Chief for the Southern District of Indiana’s US Attorney’s Office could also be a contender.
LikeLike
@Ethan
I just learned something about Judge Klump. She was once a nuclear scientist.
https://www.wfyi.org/news/articles/veteran-prosecutor-named-us-magistrate-judge-in-indy
LikeLike
@Mitch
“I expect a package which will definitely include Magistrate Mario Garcia for the Southern vacancy and a real chance of AUSA David Hollar for the Northern vacancy based in Hammond.”
These are the breathless hubristic predictions I always laugh at when they don’t pan out, as if more and more often the case.
It costs nothing to have a little humility when predicting things we literally have no way of knowing before news leaks or it is made official.
LikeLike
I think we all humbly make predictions in this blog. We don’t have insider information as to the interview & vetting process so we all give it our best when making predictions without any inside knowledge. I for one have been right many times as well as wrong.
I know @Ethan has a really good track record with his list when it comes to nominees eventually being nominated. I enjoy reading everybody’s predictions actually. I learn a lot from all of you & sometimes learn of attorneys that wasn’t on my radar before. Keep them coming
LikeLike
Dequan, the use of “definitely” is neither humble or a prediction. It’s an absolute certitude.
I like Ethan’s running list because it’s just that, a list of potential candidates. He doesn’t promise the nomination of anyone on the list like “definitely” does.
LikeLike
Well I’ll speak for myself then. I never use the word definitely (If I have certainly not intentionally). I have no inside information in the WHC office. I think we all do our best based on information known. If anybody uses words like definitely I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt that perhaps they misspoke or got a little ahead of themselves while typing. But unless anybody on the blog discloses otherwise, I think we should all assume we are just making predictions based on our opinions & information known.
Back to the original note, I like the Mario Garcia & David Hollar combination for Indiana. I don’t know if that will end up being the deal but if so, it makes Joshua Kolar’s nomination to the 7th a little more tolerable.
LikeLiked by 1 person
@Dequan
Thank you.
LikeLike