A lifelong prosecutor who was considered to be U.S. Attorney in 2021, Jamel Semper has now been nominated to a seat on the New Jersey federal bench.
Background
Born in Brooklyn in 1981, Jamel Ken Semper received a Bachelor of Arts from Hampton University in 2003 and a J.D. from Rutgers School of Law in 2007. He then clerked for Judge Harold Fullilove on the Essex County Superior Court and became a state prosecutor with the Union County Prosecutor’s Office. In 2013, Semper shifted to the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, and in 2018, to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey, where he currently serves as Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division.
History of the Seat
At the recommendation of Senator Cory Booker, Semper has been nominated to replace Judge John Michael Vazquez, who resigned from the bench on September 8, 2023.
Legal Experience
Semper started his career as a state prosecutor, first working in the Union County Prosecutor’s Office and then shifting to the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office. Notably, with the latter office, Semper prosecuted Ali Mohammad Brown, who ended up pleading guilty of murder and terrorism for the murder of Brendan Tevlin as part of “Jihad”. See Alex Johnson, Man Pleads Guilty to N.J. Murder, Admits to Three Others in ‘Jihad’, NBC News, Mar. 6, 2018, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/man-pleads-guilty-n-j-murder-admits-three-others-jihad-n854346. Semper also prosecuted Lamar Hunt, who was found guilty by a jury of murder for killing a man his girlfriend had been texting with. See Thomas Moriarty, Man Gets Life for Luring Shooting Victim to His Death, NJ.com, July 25, 2017, https://www.nj.com/essex/2017/07/lamar_hunt_sentenced_to_life_for_white_castle_killing.html.
Since 2018, Semper worked at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey. At the office, Semper was named Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division in 2022. Among the matters he handled there, Semper prosecuted Richard Adebayo, who was convicted after a two-week jury trial, of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, 14 counts of wire fraud, and two counts of aggravated identity theft. See Essex County Man Convicted of Wire Fraud and Aggravated Identity Theft, Press Release, Office of the U.S. Attorney, June 28, 2019 (available at https://www.justice.gov/usao-nj/pr/essex-county-man-convicted-wire-fraud-and-aggravated-identity-theft).
Overall Assessment
Semper is one of a number of Biden appointees that is transforming New Jersey’s federal bench. While a relatively young nominee, Semper’s background as a prosecutor is likely to avoid too much opposition and will likely lead to a smooth confirmation.
The Vetting Room 
This is a solid nominee. I honestly would have been pleased if he was the nominee for the vacancy on the 3rd. A young Black man that civil rights groups fought for should be the model for New Jersey & not the old management side attorneys.
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Semper already got two Republicans in the Judiciary Committee to vote for him. He should be confirmed.
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Names posted for tomorrow’s SJC nominations hearing. Aframe, Kiel, Russell and a DOJ position.
Maddox confirmation vote today at 11:30.
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I’m surprised the NMI judge hasn’t been before SJC yet. A few nominees announced later than her have already gone. Not that I expected any issues re-confirming her, of course.
The next SJC on 11/15 should be pretty thin indeed. Possibly as few as two nominees.
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The 11/15 meeting will probably be US Attorneys and perhaps the 2 Oklahoma nominees
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Yes, with the possibility of Manglona or may Kirk Sherriff in there if de Alba is confirmed in time (highly unlikely).
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When looking at his SJC questionnaire, it was the first time I had ever seen someone say that they forgot to register for the Selective Service.
Anyways, definitely among the best of Biden’s New Jersey nominees.
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In what might be the most shocking news out of Washington, a Republican Senator (Tillis) tested positive for COVID!
Not sure when voting on the minibus finishes up, might be the last votes done on Thursday, but there’s still a window for Schumer to file cloture on de Alba and have that be the final Thursday vote, knowing Republicans will be down a Senator for a week.
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@ tsb1991
I guess senator Tillis didn’t get the memo. Republicans aren’t suppose to report Covid…lol
@Gavi
Welcome back buddy. Hopefully you returned just in time for a new batch tomorrow or you mine as well go back on vacation… Lol
And yes I agree both Oklahoma seats getting nominees is shocking. As for what you missed, the OK governor slammed Hill’s nomination so that makes me like her even more.
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And hello, my fellow judiciary nuts. I was far removed from the anxieties of the federal judiciary for a few weeks while on vacation, now I am back within reach of its grasp.
What’s new?
I read some of the comments on the Kazen post and it looks like we have new nominees for OK? Wow. That’s shocking. That is almost (or more?) shocking than the fact that we don’t have a new nominee for the 4th Circuit.
I’m out of sorts on everything, so I’ll need Joe, the Master Senate Schedule Tracker, to catch me up on timelines and missed hearings/slot, etc.
(Looks like a lot of us need something from Harsh these days, so I will continue my own niche (and pedantic) advocacy for him to change the title of the “History of the Seat” subheading. This grating inaccuracy is easier to change then moving to a whole new platform. The history of a seat is so different and not interchangeable with the history of a vacancy.)
Anyway, Semper looks like an A-level nominee. But as Ethan points out, it’s very interesting that he forgot to register for SS. How is that even possible? He went to college and law school without needing to do so? Even if he got a full ride, didn’t he still need to fill in this info on FAFSA and college apps? He’s lucky the Rs didn’t notice this.
Cory Booker’s statement on filling the 3rd Circuit vacancy is a bad omen for Salas (hopefully!).
Did I miss anything else of note?
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Gavi, we did miss a hearing on October 18. There weren’t many options then anyway, and it appears they all got rolled over into tomorrow’s hearing. As others have mentioned there are still a few nominees (Holland, Manglona, Sherriff) that it looks like will have to wait until 11/15 (or later). Doesn’t sound so bad on the surface but every missed spot adds up down the line.
The big surprise was the Oklahoma nominees. No one saw that coming and one of them looks like an A or A+ nominee. Keep you’re fingers crossed for another batch tomorrow hopefully.
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Sorry to be back so soon, but in other big news, we do have the nominees listed for tomorrow’s hearing:
https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/committee-activity/hearings/11/01/2023/nominations
The biggie, Seth Aframe (1st Circuit) will have his hearing tomorrow, in addition to Russel (DCT) and Kiel (DNJ), along with some DOJ nominee (Assistant AG to Office of Legal Council).
That still leaves Holland (WDNY) as needing a hearing, she could still get into the 11/15 hearing with the Oklahoma nominees, and having that hearing slot go from having two nominees to three would be easier to stomach.
If there’s any concern, it reminds me a bit of Maddox (DMD) who will be confirmed today, IIRC it took a while between his nomination and his hearing. His cloture vote btw was yesterday, got the usual three Republicans along with Kennedy (who did vote for him in committee as well).
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I have been baffled by the lack of urgency for NY nominees with the majority leader being from that state. Ramos still hasn’t been confirmed & now Holland will miss a second straight hearing. We have seen Illinois nominees fast tracked with Durbin being the SJC chairman & we have spoken in the past about all three Delaware nominees being fast tracked including Jennifer Hall being confirmed about two months before the judge retires for her seat.
On a side note about Kennedy, he’s been surprisingly supportive of Black men when it comes to the judiciary. He saved Andre Mathis with his yes fire & numerous others.
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Dequan
So unlike McConnell who moved nominees from his state quickly (Craft x2, Thapar, Walker, etc.).
Schumer seems to take the opposite view, sacrificing nominees from his state for others in his caucus.
Thanks, Joe.
For clarification, is tomorrow the drop-dead date for new nominees to not miss another SJC slot?
Just imagine, this time tomorrow we’ll be celebrating the awesome choice for the 4th Circuit. Hahaha
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Gavi
Yea you certainly seem to be right. It seems Schumer is moving other state’s nominees at the expense of his own. Any comparison that comes to mind to anybody? I’ve been following the judiciary for 23 years. As Gavi mentioned McConnell prioritized Kentucky nominees. I remember the senate moved on a slew of Nevada nominees when Reid was majority leader. I’m not too sure about Tennessee nominees when Bill Frist was majority leader.
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Gavi,
Yes, tomorrow is a drop dead date if they wish to have a hearing on November 29. If it gets pushed back a week then that jeopardizes a potential December 13 hearing.
The senate is set to adjourn that week, so if they miss tomorrow then that means only one new hearing the rest of the year
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It seems as though the New Hampshire senators had no plan B for the vacancy on the 1st. Reading Seth Armor’s SJC Q, he didn’t apply until May 26th of this year. Thankfully the senators moved very quickly after that.
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All Democrats are in attendance for todays vote. Perhaps some cloture votes can be set up? There is a certain nominee for the Central District of CA who has been waiting for quite a while!
https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_votes/vote1181/vote_118_1_00275.htm
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And even better, two Republicans out. But of course we confirm judges that could be confirmed with all Republicans present & two Democrats out instead…smh
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Third GOP debate is next week, unsure if Tim Scott has qualified but I am positive that like with the first two debates, Chuck won’t take advantage to confirm close vote nominees.
I really hate that the senate dem leadership completely turned me against them after I spent half the year defending them and being certain they’d confirm everyone by the August recess.
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@Mike
So true. It’s totally disappointing that the day before, of & morning after the debate, Schumer isn’t confirming Kato, de Alba, Bjelkengren & Crews.
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Also, can someone who has a wiki account please message user “ChartsAreFun” that they missed Jennifer Halls confirmation and it should be 109 district confirmations for Biden on the wiki page “Judicial appointment history for United States federal courts”.
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Unfortunately Wikipedia has been taken over by some right-wing idiots. There’s one “Lets Run” idiot that sole purpose in life is to take down any judicial nominee’s page. He got a couple of other idiots to follow him. I got fed up with Wikipedia. I wish there was a viable alternative. And they have the nerve to send me messages begging for money. I wouldn’t’ send them a dime as long as they allow idiots to highjack the site… Lol
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posted this to the John Kazen post last night, looks like no one saw it so I’ll post it again here.
Apparently chief judges in Texas have the power to stop this single judge division nonsense. If only the Northern District of Texas would do the same (chief judge David Godbey is a GW Bush judge and I have no idea how far to the right he is)
“Garcia was chief judge of the Western District of Texas from 2016 to 2022. Starting in 2020, the allegedly litigant-friendly behavior of Judge Alan Albright of the Waco division of the court led to a significant increase in patent filings in that division. Garcia ultimately responded to Albright’s behavior by issuing a docket-stripping order that ensured patent cases filed in Waco would be randomly assigned rather than assigned to Albright by default.[5][6]”
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The problem is because of blue slips, the Texas courts are over run with Republican appointees. So even with a chief judge being able to put a stop to it, there’s no guarantee the chief judge would be sympathetic or have common sense.
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Yeah. I think the reason that Albright got reprimanded is because patent law isn’t liberal vs. conservative. Garcia was a Clinton appointee but he had bipartisan pressure calling on him to stop Albright.
Northern District of Texas had a Democrat appointed Chief judge until September 2022. The abortion pill case wasn’t Matthew Kacsmaryk’s first judicial sabotage (in 2021 he sabotaged Biden immigration policy for a year before being reversed by the Supreme Court), but the abortion pill case was the case that showed how bogus this single-judge division rule is.
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With the recent nominations of young A+ left-of-center nominees in Oklahoma, it has me wondering what other surprising red/purple state nominations could Biden get to make on the district court level? (Where blue slips are still a giant obstacle)
While checking the current judicial vacancy tracker, these are my top 5 states/districts where Biden is likely to come to an agreement with a GOP senator(s) to get them to return a blue slip on a nominee.
1. District of Maine. (When the vacancy becomes official in 2024): Susan Collins isn’t a blatant ideologue, and I could see her coming up with a consensus nominee with Sen. King
2. Western District of Louisiana: The Louisiana senators have been one of the best red-state senators in returning blue slips for district court judges and there is no reason to think that goodwill and sense of cooperation won’t continue.
3. District of South Carolina: Even though Lindsey Graham can have his extremely partisan moments (Defending Kavanaugh, attacking then-Judge Jackson, doing a complete 180 on confirming a SCOTUS nominee in an election year, etc.,) he has shown the potential to be fair as he’s voted to confirm a lot of Biden judges and hasn’t actively opposed many besides the most partisan ones. With Tim Scott more concerned about his long-shot presidential run, I think there is a chance Biden can elevate a state judge or even a magistrate judge to replace Judge Childs and keep this seat from becoming a FedSoc hack when there is a GOP president.
4. Western District of Texas: There are 4 vacancies (with one nomination pending), so by law of averages, there has to be at least one more nominee, right?….. right?!? I know Ted Cruz is a charlatan and can easy run out the clock to keep these vacancies for a GOP prez, but I would at least think there are a ton of respected lawyers or law professors, or even longtime magistrate judges who could get Cruz and Cornyn to support their nomination.
5. Southern District of Florida: We’ve been hearing rumors about a potential package deal of judicial nominees in Florida involving, I think, the relative of a Rubio donor, so it’s likely there will be at least one nomination and confirmation to the federal district courts down there in Florida. Who will they be? I have no clue, but we’ll find out soon and hopefully before the 2024 election gets going too much. (If we get nominees for Florida before we get a nominee for the 4th CCA, I’m gonna throw something, grrrr)
Honorable mentions are…. D-IN: The Indiana senators have been reasonable in allowing left-of-center nominees, so it’s likely they’ll agree with one more nominee from Biden.
D-NC: We’ve been hearing rumors about a nomination incoming from NC, but I’m not going to hold my breath when the senators are Tillis (known for his aggressive racial gerrymander when he was in the NC legislature) and bible-thumping Sen. Budd (self-explanatory).
D-AK: If Sen. Sullivan wasn’t such a hack in only wanting conservative judges on his state’s district court and on the 9th circuit writ large, then I could easily see Murkowski and Sullivan finding a centrist or even a slightly liberal judge to fill their state’s vacancy. But with Sullivan deploying the same bullshit delay tactics such as forming his own judicial screening committee and whatnot, it’s likely he will attempt to run out the clock on Biden’s first-term. If he gets to accomplish his goal is another story, but for now, expect nothing coming from Alaska.
Hope you all enjoyed my list and rationale, feel free to respond, I enjoy the discourse on this forum (except for the one disingenuous hack on here). Plus, with very few judicial confirmations being teed up, it isn’t like there’s anything better to do lol.
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@dawsont825
We already heard the two names for the South Carolina vacancy that were rumored to be going through vetting. Both women (One Black & one White) were near 60 & neither seemed liberal.
We also have heard three rumored names for the SDFL (My home district). The man is the nephew of one of Rubio’s financial backers. The other two woman were magistrate judges. None of the three seemed to be liberal at all so the only hope is for the fourth vacancy but I’m not holding my breath. This past Sunday I saw the first re-election ad for senator Rick Scott. I still don’t know how he fit so many greatest hits in a 30 second commercial. He talked about the border, inflation, this country not knowing the definition of a woman, men thinking they can get pregnant & of course threw in the word socialism. I can’t imagine the guy I saw in that commercial signing off on a red state nominee that I would give an A-, A or A+ to.
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Chuck filed cloture for the remaining joint chiefs of staff since like before Tuberville was in the process of forcing a vote on his end. What an embarrassment this whole military block has been for Dems.
What really pisses me off is that I know no Democrat is ever going to have the guts to put a total 6 month hold on 100s of officers and if they did, Fox News would’ve already revved up their base and made the senator go into hiding.
I dare a liberal senator from like Cali or Illinois put a block on the military until they got a policy change in place.
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In case anybody didn’t understand what @Mike just wrote, let me translate it for you. Tuberville won…
We are now wasting a third day of senate time confirming military promotions that every previous president got to do with unanimous consent. Are we doing it on a Thursday afternoon, Friday or Monday before 5pm when they usually gavel in so it doesn’t take up normal senate floor time??? NOPE. This will now be a THIRDA day we could have been confirming judges that we are using for this instead.
Hell we could have confirmed 3 of the 4 circuit court nominees with this floor time. Tuberville doesn’t have one reason to drop his hold. He could keep holding them up & happily watch each one waste over 3 hours of floor time that otherwise would have gone to judges. Congrats on your win senator Tuberville. Well done
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I don’t think taking three days to confirm the joint chiefs vacancies is a bad look at all. If anything, it makes democrats look like the more reasonable party while they try and work out a rule change to vote for the rest en masse.
Just my opinion of course , but You could hear McConnells frustration in his remarks today and those are the people that senate Dems have to convince.
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> If anything, it makes democrats look like the more reasonable party
To whom? Not one voter is switching to Dems because of this, in fact, it’s shown majority of the conservatives including the military voters that 6 months without the joint chiefs didn’t make the sky fall down and now they’ll be more inclined to do this again for whatever policy issue they don’t like.
This will become another one party tool, like gov shutdowns and debt ceilings threats, Republicans will use moving forward.
I dare chuck to keep the senate in session over thanksgiving to confirm every military nominee to show the GOP who’s actually in power but of course he won’t because America’s military and judicial systems aren’t worth 20 hours with families they see every year at minimum, being that most are rich I’d wager they see their families a lot more often.
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It makes them look more reasonable to other senate Rs. They’re going to need 9 if they want to do their resolution to vote for mid level nominees en masse. By taking the highest level positions off the table it makes their point a lot clearer and Rs can’t say “you aren’t even trying”.
I don’t know if this strategy will ultimately work or not but this appears to be the current strategy at any rate.
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I’ve been reading these comments, and I too have been upset about their lack of focus on judges. Even when they did have attendance issues they would confirm the judges who could get 3 Republican votes. Now Senate Dems don’t have attendance issues and are confirming judges slower than they were when they did have attendance issues.
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Everything seems backwards. We thought 51 seats would be better than 50, but they have been confirming judges slower with 51 seats than with 50. Then we thought things would get better once Senate Dems stopped having attendance issues but they are confirming judges slower now without attendance issues than earlier this year with attendance issues.
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Two more future vacancies announced. Edward Davila, northern CA, date TBD. James Shadid, central Illinois, Sept 2024.
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@Ben
Very good news in both cases. I was hoping judge Davila would go senior status. There were actually two judges with the first name Edward on the court that was eligible. The other Edward went senior about a year ago so happy this one followed suit. It looks like senator Butler will get a chance to make numerous recommendations in her short tenure.
And I hope the administration sticks with the same recommendations for the CDIL. If so, I truly hope they go with Johanes Maliza. I wanted the first vacancy on the court to go to him but definitely this one. He’s a young, progressive Latino who’s also a former professional soccer player.
Speaking of nominations, I’m holding out hope for a new batch today. Perhaps we finally get either Gowen or Shelley for the NDIL.
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Tampa Bay Times reports that Magistrate Judge Julie S. Sneed will be nominated for a vacancy in M.D. Fla.
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@Ethan has Julie Sneed on his list. She seems to be a good compromise nominee. She’s born c. 1969 & nothing too progressive in her background so about what I would expect for Florida.
(https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida/2023/11/01/tampa-based-federal-judge-biden-nominee-us-district-court-julie-sneed/)
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With Julie Sneed being a Black woman, hopefully that satisfies some of the complaints about no Black woman on the SDFL for now. I hope we get her & the three SDFL rumored nominees, Rubio’s backer’s nephew & two Latina magistrate judges within the next hour or two.
That would be enough to fill a SJC slot in a month but of course it would be nice to throw in some blue state nominees as well. I’m looking at you EDPA, EDMI & NDIL. And for God’s sake will the administration please pick one of the toe recommendations for the EDWI already. We need to give senator Johnson as much time as possible for his usual bs.
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A batch of Florida nominees would be excellent news indeed.
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Ok we have our first WH announcement for the day. It better not be the last… Lol
(https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/11/01/president-biden-announces-kurt-campbell-as-nominee-for-deputy-secretary-of-state-department-of-state/)
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Looks like we are getting five nominees today – not too shabby!
https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/biden-nominates-five-judges-republican-led-states-2023-11-01/
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Good news. That’s enough for a full hearing. All names we have mentioned on this blog so no surprises but very happy we get five red state nominees at once. Rubio’s backer’s nephew finally gets nominated after Trump refused.
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5 red state nominees on top of the 2 from Oklahoma a few weeks ago. This is great news indeed.
I’m very glad these red state seats are getting filled with qualified judges and not fed society hacks. Even though many of them will not be progressive, A+ nominees, there are still millions of people living in red states and they deserve justice. Empty seats and judges with conservative agendas don’t help anyone.
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Looks like Steve Benjamin has already come out in favor of Jacquelyn Austin. Of course, his closeness to Biden along with Biden nominating his wife to the 4th gives me little surprise that he would approve of whoever was picked. Two Black woman picked in Southern states today is a good step towards progress.
(https://www.postandcourier.com/politics/biden-nominates-sc-judge-jacquelyn-austin-to-succeed-michelle-childs-on-federal-bench/article_03d6a416-7835-11ee-b3c5-47a7e3c2f9a8.html)
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Another WIN & great day for US Magistrate Judges! Austin & Sneed are both highly qualified for lifetime appointments.
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Excellent point. Sometimes I get pessimistic that Biden isn’t putting liberal judges in red states. But then I remember that a moderate judge won’t allow fuckery in a state, whereas a FedSoc hack will gladly allow some anti-trans bill to remain law. I may not love the age of the nominee to MDFL, but that’s the kind of political shenanigans you expect. Take what you can get and push for more. Not a bad red state haul. Keep ’em coming!
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5 District Court nominees is good, BUT why the extensive delay on the long standing Circuit court vacancies. The 3rd and 4th circuit especially the latter have been open for a long time
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Rick,
The 4th circuit vacancy is due to some long running dispute between the WH and Sen. Cardin. I haven’t seen any updates to that in about a year or so.
The 3rd Circuit vacancy is also inexcusable in my opinion. Booker and Menendez have recommended 10 nominees to the WH since 2021, so clearly they have a screening apparatus for nominees in place. But it’s been nearly a year and no word on this vacancy.
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We finally have more red state nominees then months of the year for 2023.
(https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2023/11/01/president-biden-names-forty-first-round-of-judicial-nominees/)
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What are you thinking grade wise for these @Dequan?
I only read the WH summaries of each nominee which makes them sound like a continuation of Obama type nominees and not much younger. Like @Joe said, the benefit seems to be filling a red state vacancy for the people and avoiding it being filled by a FedSoc hack.
I can’t believe Biden got 4 FL nominees for nothing and what he paid for 1 TX nominee, did Cruz really get that big a win for the Circuit seat?
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@Mike
Luckily, I’m familiar with 4 of the 5 nominees as we have spoken about them right here on the blog & the fifth, judge Sneed is on @Ethan’s list. So, I’ll give my grades on each of course pending any future unknown information. Of course, these grades are based on these nominees being from red states. They would obviously be lower if they were nominated in a blue state.
Jacquelyn D. Austin (c. 1967) – She’s a Black woman in her mid 50’s that has a traditional background. She clerked for a very progressive judge which of course doesn’t always translate to the law clerk. I think she will be slightly to the left of the judge she is replacing, now DC circuit (Uuuggghhh, I still want to vomit every time I say that… Lol) judge Childs… B-
Jacqueline Becerra (c. 1969) – She is the daughter of Cuban immigrants. With her being a magistrate judge in her mid 50’s, she seems to be non-conventional… B-
Melissa Damian (c. 1968) – Her LinkedIn says she has worked on whistleblower and False Claims Act cases. It also says she is fluent in Italian, not sure if that is her background or if she learned it. With her being a magistrate judge in her mid 50’s, she seems to be non-conventional… B-
David S. Leibowitz (c. 1971) – We all knew this nomination was coming with his uncle being one of Rubio’s biggest financial backers. He does seem well qualified for the seat however & I haven’t found anything in his background that shows he is a right winger. Maybe he is just right of center which is ok for the Republican pick in the deal… C
Julie S. Sneed (c. 1969) – A Black woman in her mid 50’s & current magistrate judge who is probably left of center is a good pick for the MDFL… B
Overall a good day. 5 red state nominees & none of them ultra conversative & probably just one out right Republican at worst in the bunch. Today was badly needed.
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Meanwhile back to the SJC hearing. Seth Aframe was having a smooth hearing but here comes Blackburn. She brought up Mike Delaney’s nomination & withdrawal then tore into Aframe for cases regarding child rape he was involved in. She was over the top with her faux outrage.
Next up it was senator Padilla’s turn, but he wasn’t ready, so Durbin skipped him & went to senator Kennedy. He surprisingly skipped his normal law school quiz & asked about rent control. He then stumpped him when he asked him if he would have followed the Dread Scott & also Pleassy decisions if he was a lower court judge at the time.
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@Ryan J
Just saw your comment on Texas chief judges’ power to unilaterally dismantle single judge divisions.
This is not accurate. Nothing is ever that simple, otherwise it wouldn’t be a problem. Let me first say that I am not endorsing the current situation within this court and how litigants are so easily able to game the system to forum shop, especially in the Amarillo division. Reasonable minds can differ/agree on solutions. The point of this is just to correct the record.
A couple points:
NDTX is larger than the state of New York. Having local judges preside over cases is so much better than shipping in a judge from hundreds of miles away. It would be like a judge from Suffolk County, Long Island traveling to the NY side of the Canadian boarder to hear cases. In the NDTX, this would mean a judge sitting in a Dallas court relatively closer to Louisiana would decide on civil cases from Texas’s border with northeastern New Mexico. It’s this geographic expanse and the number of authorized judgeships that make the NDTX unique.
Chiefs may tweak caseload here and there, but not make a wholesale change, unless already provided for by the court’s local rules. Remember, every single court, even district courts, has administrative rules and procedures that judges must follow, including on how to change those administrative rules and procedures. Something as simple as a district judge deciding that he wants to make an exception to have cameras in his courtroom has been overturned by a higher court. Court rules can’t be arbitrary and at the whim of one individual. In NDTX, per the rule (L. Civ. R. 83.3), case allocation is decided by the entire court.
The WDTX example you cite in that passage isn’t an apples-to-apples comparison. The rules of WDTX allows patent litigation across the district, not just within a particular division of the district. There’s no apparent advantage for someone from Waco to file a patent case in El Paso (besides a judge openly encouraging forum shopping). But it makes sense that a civil case brought by someone/entity that lives/incorporated in Amarillo doesn’t have to go to Forth Worth. It just sucks that the Amarillo division has only one judge.
Not to mention the fact that patent litigation is just different than other kind of civil litigations, as the venue for such suits follows the patent venue statute (28 U.S.C. § 1400).
Final point, no rule can hold up to bad faith actors intent on exploiting loopholes. Of course, we need to change procedures when necessary, but we know that no part of government is that nimble.
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ahhh, got it.
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Thanks for clarifying
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Good news about today’s nominations. Not necessarily because these are great progressive nominees, I am sure they are not. But I’m OK with these seats not going to young FedSoc hacks.
Is this the largest batch of the year? Maybe the single largest batch since mid-2022?
David Leibowitz reminds me of that old joke:
What’s the difference between a judge and a lawyer?
A judge knows a senator!
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This SJC hearing is brutal. The amount of demagogery is staggering. At the same time, that doesn’t mean it won’t be effective, and these 3 might be on the “needs 51 Dem votes” list.
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My God, it gets worse–Cruz just got his 5 minutes.
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Here’s my overall take on the SJC hearing today;
Afrome – He’s the real deal. I gave him an A+ for a reason & saw nothing today that gave me any pause in doing so. The only slight hiccup was when Kennedy asked him if he was a lower court judge when Dread Scott & Pleassy were decided, would he follow the decisions. He ended it after some struggle taking Kennedy’s suggestion if considering quitting the bench versus not adhering to the law or adhering to an egregiously bad law. Blackburn tried her usual fake outrage. I think he will likely get at least 3 Republican votes.
Keil – I think he is a case of being over coached. I know you don’t want to answer certain questions when you’re a judicial nominee. Still I think when Hawley asked him does he condem the attack on Israel by Hamas, that would an easy yes. You could be the most pro-Palestine person & still condemn an attack on innocent people, regardless of the aftermath of that attack. That exchange might have cost him a Republican vote or two.
Russell – I initially gave her an A but after listening to @Ethan, he convinced me to upgrade her to an A+. Her biggest mistake for the hearing was not including the letter she wrote to governor Lamont regarding reducing prison populations during Covid. It makes it look like she was trying to evade the contents of the letter. Watching senators Kennedy & Cruz read the letter line by line made me cringe. Cruz just read the part of the letter that says governor Lamont should release ALL inmates. He then said that includes murderers, rapist, child molesters & other criminals. I think she might need VP Harris present to confirm her. I doubt she will be confirmed before next Summer.
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My thinking of the hearing is that if anyone’s going to be a party-line vote, it’ll be Russell. Keil I think should be fine, I think Aframe is a coin flip on whether or not he’s party-line. If he’s not going to be a party-line vote, the only other Republican I saw in play for Aframe was Grassley, I thought Grassley’s questions were fairly basic and not hostile, and the two seemed to be on decent terms.
Their committee votes will most likely be on 11/30, I doubt they’ll be held over next Thursday on the 9th, the 16th will likely be the holdover week for them, and then Thanksgiving is after that, so it’d be the week afterwards.
Since we’re creeping up on the end of the year, I know unconfirmed nominees need to be renominated at the start of a Congress, as we saw earlier this year when the SJC voted out a ton of nominees over two weeks. After the new year, it will be the 2nd session of the 118th Congress. Do unconfirmed nominees need to be renominated at the start of the next session, meaning in January we’d need to revote out every that wasn’t confirmed? I thought I remember something similar happening going from 2021 to 2022, and I think one of the 9th Circuit nominees (Holly Thomas or Gabriel Sanchez?) had their cloture invoked before the holidays, Congress convened for the second session, and that there was some unanimous consent agreement to allow the vote on one of those two nominees without needing to invoke cloture again.
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As @Gavi preaches, Holly Thomas & Gabriel Sanchez were fast tracked in the new year 2022 without needing to be voted out of committee again because of unanimous consent. Basically Schumer told Republicans they can stay two extra days at the end of the year in 2021 to confirm them or UC to allow them to be confirmed when they return in 2022.
Without a UC agreement, any nominee held over after the new year would have to go through the normal process. That’s Biden renominate them, the SJC vote them back to the floor favorably (But not a second hearing) & then a cloture & confirmation vote on the senate floor.
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Who does everybody think is the best Biden red state district court nominee to date? I would answer Scott Colom but it doesn’t look like he will be confirmed so who is number two? I’m a little torn between David Pappillion & Sara Hill. Bill is younger by about a decade so I may give her the edge.
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Hmm, higher grade than I thought you’d give them @Dequan Glad Biden got a decent bunch for Florida, even though they’re not young hopefully they’ll stay on for a while until Dems have the WH and Senate again.
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@Mike
I’m heavily taking into account both these are red states & we are now a year away from the election. The senators could easily run the clock out @ & leave the seats vacant. Plus over the past 7 nominees we have gotten over the past 14 days we haven’t gotten even one ultra or right wing conservative. Even Trump nominate liberal judges in blue states. So my grades are taking everything into account.
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Was going to mention it being a pretty busy day in terms of the judiciary, with the confirmation hearings, the new nominations, and the announcement of two more judges taking senior status.
Was obviously disappointed when Schumer didn’t file cloture on de Alba last night (setting up a final Thursday vote when you know you have full attendance and Republicans being down at least one Senator). Given that only a couple of votes happen on a Thursday, does the Senate plan on staying late tomorrow to maybe pass the minibus and confirm the three military promotions Schumer filed cloture on? If not, the cloture/confirmation votes would drag into next week and typically cloture is filed for nominees for the following week on a Thursday.
If anyone gets confirmed tomorrow, I’d be on the lookout for a voice vote on Kazen, given that Brookman and Brailsford were both voice voted a week after their SJC voice votes.
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Looks like the Senate is on track to pass the minibus today actually. Then they’d probably do the military promotions tomorrow before leaving town. Hopefully some judicial cloture filed tomorrow, especially Circuit.
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After the minibus is complete, what else does the senate have on its plate for the next two weeks & then three weeks after they return from the Thanksgiving week recess? I know judges, military promotions & bs positions I’ve never heard of like Secretary of Baking Cookies. But anything else besides confirmations?
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Durbin might throw a full fledged parade a month from today if there is a SJC hearing with five red state nominees. The parade he throws might put some World Series parades to shame… Lol
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I believe it’s looking like the Israel-Ukraine package, whatever gets worked out, will be combined with the next CR, which expires Nov 17. Those are the big things pending this month. So I’d think while they continue to haggle, he can do nominees in the meantime.
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Right now the priority is Kato (Who has been waiting for almost a year) & de Alba so Biden can send Sheriff’s name to the senate. Of course he doesn’t have to wait for her to be confirmed but we know this WH…smh
Can somebody please give Schumer the Republican presidential debate schedule. Then let him know Miami is over 1,000 miles away from DC & that Tim Scott can’t teleport to the senate floor so feel free to tee up some tough confirmations next week. Please & thank you
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@Dequan
A lot of what I’ve been predicting has come true. Of course, the southern Florida nominees we all knew were coming. But I also had predicted Julie Sneed, who checks all of the boxes for a Biden nominee but is not controversial or outspoken. I think I’ve earned some bragging rights.
The only nomination that surprised me was South Carolina. I was sure that the Senators would insist on Beth Drake, with Jacqueline Austin being promised the next vacancy. If another judge from SC announces Senior Status, than look for Drake to get the nod.
I’ve looked into Jacqueline Becerra. Her focus has been on public integrity and corporate compliance. No doubt Harsh will mention those cases in her write-up. In addition, she’s locally renown for her knowledge of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. If she’s confirmed (likely), than look for a number of such cases to be steered her way.
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@Mitch
Haaaaa, true. Good foresight. Although not a prediction, I did suggest if they can’t agree on a Black woman for the fourth vacancy in the SDFL, just pick one for the MDFL along with the three other SDFL nominees & live to fight another day on the remaining fourth vacancy. Especially with the number of judges eligible for senior status on the SDFL. Happy they were able to work it out.
And good info on Becerra. She seems like she might be right down the middle or slightly left or center. What I would really love is some more info on David S. Leibowitz. I would love to know is he like his uncle or more moderate or maybe even left of center himself. Even if he’s slightly right of center this is still a good deal & a good day for the judiciary.
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@Dequan and @Harsh
I got more info on Becerra, and it’s big. She’s overseeing an extradition hearing for Mario Antonio Palacios Palacios, who with others assassinated the President of Haiti in 2021. Any ruling Becerra makes will get worldwide scrutiny. Look for it to come up in her confirmation hearing, even if she doesn’t generate controversy.
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She probably won’t make big news in that case. I’m sure she will follow the facts & her decision won’t generate too much controversy. If anything, it’s likely to gain her a Republican or two votes. It would take an extradition case like Elian Gonzalez which was a lose/lose scenario to likely hurt a nominee in that respect. But good to know she’s the judge presiding. That’s an important case here in South Florida where I live at.
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The right person got the nomination to replace Judge Childs, but good luck to your preference next time.
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Did the Florida senators say anything about the nominees?
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A third vacancy announced today, Malachy E. Mannion (Obama appointee) on the Middle District of Pennsylvania, announced his intent to take senior status on 1/3/24.
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@CJ
I haven’t seen any public statements from my home state senators but then again, I’ve probably blocked every Rubio & Scott email address I’ve seen when they send me crap so I’m probably not the best person to answer your question… Lol
@tsb1991
Wonderful news. Keep the blue state retirements rolling in. What a day for the judiciary today. A new batch of five red state nominees, a fiery SJC hearing & three announced senior status. Can Schumer top the day off by sending some cloture motions to the desk tonight?
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The other day, Fetterman posted
“ICYMI:
@SenBobCasey
& I are accepting applications for Federal District Court Judge vacancies in the Eastern and Middle Districts of PA.
I encourage every qualified Pennsylvania lawyer who wants to serve the public and advance equal justice to apply.”
At the time, people were confused because there weren’t any Middle District openings. Now it makes sense after the Mannion announcement.
I am curious about him asking people to apply for the Eastern District. The Cynthia Rufe vacancy has been open since 2021. I was hoping we were close to getting a nominee rather than being at the soliciting applicants stage.
I wonder if they are seeking applications for the Rufe spot or if they’ve received a heads up about another upcoming EDPA opening – Maybe Alejandro or McHugh.
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@Dequan
You mentioned that Melissa Damian was fluent in Italian. It turns out that she’s also practiced law under the name Melissa Visconti. She worked for several years at a prominent Miami law firm named Damian, Valori, and Culmo. Did she marry the firm’s senior partner?
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That certainly is a possibility. I think we will learn a lot more about all three SDFL nominees over the rest of the week as more articles come out about them.
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Lindsey Graham is on the senate floor right now blasting senator Tuberville to his face. He’s holding up pictures of nominees Tuberville is holding up. WOW
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Looks like Rubio has come out in support of the SDFL nominees from today. Also according to the article, the White House is looking to fill the remaining vacancy with a Black woman, Detra Shaw-Wilder… Link below.
(https://www.aol.com/biden-nominates-three-federal-bench-140000033.html)
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3 nominees to the SDFL? No excuse to not get at least 3 more Texas nominees within the next 6 months.
Whoever said that Durbin was going to throw a parade bigger than the World Series parade the day he chaired an all-red state SJC panel made me LOL in public. Well done!
But in all seriousness, if Durbin is able to convince deeply conservative senators from states like Alabama, Missouri, South Dakota, and Arkansas, I’ll help Durbin throw that big ass parade and help clean up after. Leave less than 25 red state district court vacancies and that will be Biden best impact long after he’s gone.
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@dawsont825
My bad. Next time I’ll make sure I warn you before inviting you to Durbin’s parade… Lol
I know I’m gonna feel like vomiting watching the SJC hearing a month from today when he’s glowing about five red state nominees sitting in front of him. I think there is zero chance of getting nominees for Alabama & blue slips returned. I’m watching the senate floor right now & Tuberville is objecting to Republican senators calling for votes on military promotions one by one, just like he said he wanted. He is a vile senator.
I have almost no hope for Arkansas as well. Hawley said he was having talks with the White House for vacancies in Missouri. Since there are now four vacancies, it is possible we may get one or two nominees. South Dakota is possible to get one or both vacancies filled. I had much more hope there than I did for Oklahoma.
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Haven’t there been some talks with the South Dakota vacancies? I feel like of all of the states mentioned, South Dakota is the most likely to get nominees, can’t imagine Thune or Rounds playing hardball on nominees. The other three states, I can’t imagine Tuberville supporting any Democratic appointee in his state, there’s absolutely no chance of any Democratic appointees getting confirmed in Missouri as long as Hawley is a Senator. Arkansas I would think is also pretty unlikely but I think you have a better chance, however slim, of getting a blue slip from Cotton than Hawley or Tuberville.
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I know a month or two ago we spoke about if Biden could come close or even exceed Trump’s 230 judges. Of course, he won’t get to 3 SCOTUS justices or 54 circuit court judges in one term, but with 7 red state nominees since we talked about it, I think Biden could get within striking distance of 230.
If every pending nominee except for Scott Colom were to get confirmed, that would bring Biden to 184. There are an additional 19 vacancies that have been announced that do not require a Republican blue slip to be turned in. That would get Biden to 203.
Biden would be 27 judges short of Trump’s 230 if that all played out. It’s unlikely we will see a combination of 27 judges confirmed that require a Republican blue slip & vacancies that don’t require a blue slip from a Republican by the end of next year, but I do think Biden will get fairly close.
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I agree Dequan. There will be additional vacancies (like the three we for today) plus at least a handful of additional red state nominees. I think 220+ range is reasonable to expect.
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I actually feel there’s a chance we actually got a nominee or two out of Missouri. 4 vacancies is a lot.
In other news glad to see senate Rs turning up the pressure on Tuberville. Makes me feel better about Sinema and Reeds Resolution eventually getting done. One senator should not be able to hold up our military.
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There are two Clinton-appointed judges on the Southern District of Florida who are eligible for Senior Status. If one of them applies, than any remaining impasse could easily be settled.
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The article I posted above from today said Detra Shaw-Wilder was recommended by both Rubio & Wasserman-Schultz’s committees. I’m actually surprised she wasn’t apart of the package today. I can see her being a compromise pick only if Rubio & Scott are going to work in good faith to fill the vacancy now that we are a year away from the election.
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The thing is that Rubio and Scott want U.S. Attorney Markenzy Lapointe to be nominated and he’s certainly well-qualified.
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I heard that as well. With Julie S. Sneed being nominated to the MDFL, I really don’t know what’s the big deal about a Black woman versus a Haitian man for the remaining SDFL vacancy. And as it was mentioned above, there’s likely to be additional vacancies if Biden wins a second term. I wish they had just tons ahead with Markenzy Lapointe today.
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@Dequan
“I really don’t know what’s the big deal about a Black woman versus a Haitian man for the remaining SDFL vacancy.”
Haha. No comment. (You live by the quota, you die by the quota.)
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Haaaaaaaa
Good one @Gavi… Lol
I do advocate an African American on the court as the SDFL is a large court & there is a large African American population down here in South Florida. But I would have happily filled the seat with the Haitian male US attorney yesterday versuswaiting for an agreement in a Black woman. As I’ve said before once you nominate David S. Leibowitz, you lose all of your leverage.
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As I always say, racial/identity politics is a zero-sum game. So this squabble doesn’t surprise me. Put differently, if this seat was earmarked for a Haitian-American man, an Afro-Latino man with family connections to the DR (just across the border) would be unacceptable, even though there’s a high chance that his ancestry is Haitian as well.
Always be weary of things that are so arbitrary and have no limiting principle.
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I do agree with everything you say from the second sentence on. But the first sentence only sounds nice but it’s simply not reality. If your goal is to have a like minded president so he can nominate the type of judges you like then you need people to vote for you.
So I will go back to a version of the question I have asked before. Biden has nominated 198 judicial nominees. If in each & every one of those cases the most qualified person was a straight White male, would you be ok with Biden nominating 198 straight White men? If the answer to that is yes, then I would argue he would lose lots of votes in the election next year which defeats the ultimate goal. If your answer is no then congratulations, you agree with me… Lol
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Dequan
“As I always say, racial/identity politics is a zero-sum game.”
That’s what you think isn’t a reality? That’s shocking because that’s the most objective thing in my comment, everything else is just my opinion. You can accept a factual statement, whether or not you like it. I can concede that it’s hot in the summer, even though I hate it!
The zero-sum nature of identity politics isn’t disputed: it simply acknowledges the reality that the selection of one group does not cover another group, even if the groups are very similar in identity (eg, the first Tibetan judge isn’t equal to the first Nepalese judge, etc.). That’s all the first statement is. Based on your comment expressing frustration re: Haitian man/black woman, you seem to agree with the zero-sum nature.
As to your oft-asked question, I’ve always answered it and will give the same answer today: a whopping yes! I’d be OK with Biden nominating 198 straight white men, if they are progressive.
Also, I’ve always followed up with conceding your point, that such a record wouldn’t be healthy for Biden’s reelection prospects.
At any rate, my comment wasn’t to reopen this debate. It was more to jeer at something that’ll always be a thorn in Dems side, while I watch and eat popcorn from the sideline. Your view is absolutely more prevalent in Dem politics; this will keep happening, more frequently, and so I’ll have many opportunities to watch and jeer.
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@Gavi
Oh my bad. I didn’t see your answer previously when I asked it (I only remember @Frank answering it) but I will say at least you’re consistent if your answer to my question is yes. And I’m happy to see you also agree your yes answer would hurt Biden’s re-election chances.
So now that I see your answer (Sorry I truly missed it previously) I would actually agree with your principle despite me not agreeing personally with not taking race into account. In a world in which the only thing taken into account is the individual nomination, the most qualified person should be selected. But in the political world, we both agree doing that could impact votes & to me personally, that should supersede picking the most qualified person in some cases.
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The good news from the senate floor this evening is these senators are furious at Tubberville and I believe will support a rules change freeing up vital time for more judges to be confirmed.
Schumer will need 9 GOP’s if all 51 Dems agree. I think it’s safe to say he has the 2 easy to get senators already (Collins and Murkowski). Sullivan,Ernst,Romney,Young and Graham take him to 58. I feel it’s very easy then to get the last remaining 2 senator’s.
Meaning it will pass and we can go back to confirming judges at a faster pace.
Probably in the next few weeks Schumer needs to decide what nominations he wants to pass by the end of the year and what ones to carry over.
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Well that was interesting, the nominees are held over again despite the committee being in session and senators, mostly Republicans whining for an hour.
Apparently a Democratic member went to the senate floor, and since every Democrat will be needed for the 2 nominees currently awaiting a vote, the meeting was adjourned
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Republicans in the meeting were steaming mad. Graham had alluded to it yesterday and more Republicans joined in today about being furious about the subpoenas to Harlan Crow et al and were doing the whole “Wait until the shoe’s on the other foot and we can issue subpoenas blablabla”. Pretty rich from a party who runs on endless investigations into Democratic officials every two years, the moment Democrats want to cook up a subpoena they just absolutely lose it. I do remember when Garland testified to the SJC last year when Cotton was going off on him to create segments for shows on FOX News about how he couldn’t wait until this year when Republicans would have a majority and they’d bring him in for more questioning.
Cruz came out to go off on Kasubhai and pretended that Republicans by comparison shot down a couple of Trump nominees. It’s like man, you put people like Kacsmaryk and James Ho onto courts in Texas who in many cases are too nutty for this current SCOTUS, you might want to take a seat.
Hilariously, Cruz also said he missed Obama’s appointees, who I’m sure he routinely voted against confirming (and probably called them all Marxists and socialists anyway). Republicans saying “I miss Obama” during the Biden presidency is almost identical to “Bill Clinton was the good Democrat, nevermind the whole impeachment and the Republican congress having 15-round boxing matches against him every day things” during Obama’s presidency.
Didn’t someone here say that when Cruz came onto the floor to vote against confirming Dalo Ho, he was visibly pissed? If Kasubhai eventually gets confirmed I’d support his confirmation for the sole reason of making Cruz angry, lol.
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Oh damn, I didn’t bother tuning in to the SJC meeting today because I figured it would be a quick. But if you’re telling me senator Cruz had a shit fit, I may have to look at the replay. I still to this day go back & watch him at the SJC meeting for Dale Ho’s vote.
I’ve said it before but when I die I will have to ask God for forgiveness because very little gives me more joy then to see senator Cruz flip out in pain & disgust over liberal judges getting confirmed. I know I shouldn’t take as much joy in another man’s suffering as I do in those cases but I’ll just have to ask for forgiveness on that… Lol
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Yeah, neither Kasubhai or Lee got voted out today since Republicans ultimately had a talking filibuster, one of the Ds had to leave the meeting, when I saw an empty seat I think it was Blumenthal, so the meeting ended up adjourning. Again, not that they’d be confirmed anytime soon, but it would set them up to be voted out with the subpoena next week, barring attendance issues.
Graham did talk about needing 60 votes to enforce a subpoena, so wouldn’t that effectively neuter Senate subpoenas if that’s the case?
I know back in February when we had a ton of nominees re-voted out, Republicans did try to essentially hold a talking filibuster and stall out nominees from being voted out that day. I remember Rikelman’s committee vote after it got delayed, Klobuchar had to vote by proxy and when she got back which allowed the committee to keep voting she had to ask to have her vote change to being as cast in-person for Rikelman.
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@tsb1991
The short answer to your question is yes. There are work arounds to if Republican’s try a talking filibuster. The work around is TIME. If they want to talk for an hour, stay an hour & a half. If they want to talk for six hours, stay six & a half hours. If they want to talk until Saturday, Democrat senators on the SJC need to call their airline & rebook their weekend flights. That is the answer but as we have seen, this Democrat Party doesn’t seem interested in cancelling any recess or weekend time to get lifetime appointed judges that will decide the country’s laws confirmed.
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I know it doesn’t really matter because there’s such a huge backlog, but so ridiculous that they couldn’t hold a vote on those two nominees.
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It really means nothing, honestly, due to the backlog. Neither of those nominees is going to get confirmed before the end of the year even when they do pass through committee, so they’ll have to be voted on again in January anyways.
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Yes, I know haha. It’s just me being annoyed.
Those two will get voted on in the next few weeks and certainly well before they would ever have come up for a floor vote.
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The three military promotions where cloture was filed will be confirmed today. There’s six votes but they’re flying through them pretty quickly, there should be one left after this. Never get in between a Senator and the end of the day on Thursday, right?
Of other interest, Murray has been standing at Schumer’s desk during these votes, which leads me to believe she’ll talk once everyone is confirmed, and most likely about appropriations matters.
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Yes, I have a hunch they’re going to want to work on Israel, Ukraine, and CR stuff the next two weeks. Perhaps Schumer sneaks 1-2 more judges in there though.
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Cloture filed for:
Kato!
Kobick
Reyes
NIH director
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Schumer filed cloture on Kato, and Kobick !!
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