David Leibowitz – Nominee to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida

The nephew of Norman Braman, a billionaire and longtime benefactor of Sen. Marco Rubio, David Leibowitz was first proposed as a judicial nominee during the Trump Administration, but was never nominated. Leibowitz has now been tapped by President Biden for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Background

David Seymour Leibowitz received his B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1993, a Ph.D. from the London School of Economics in 1998, and a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 2000. Leibowitz then clerked for Justice Robert Flanders on the Rhode Island Supreme Court.

After finishing his clerkship, Leibowitz worked as an Assistant District Attorney in Cambridge, Massachusetts and then became a federal prosecutor with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York in 2003.

In 2012, Leibowitz returned to Florida to join Braman Management (an umbrella company managing the automotive businesses owned by his billionaire uncle Norman Braman). He has served as Secretary and General Counsel since 2015.

History of the Seat

Leibowitz has been nominated for a vacancy on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. This seat opened when Judge Federico Moreno moved to senior status on July 17, 2020. Florida Senator Marco Rubio recommended Leibowitz to the Trump Administration to fill the vacancy in April 2020. See Jay Weaver, Rubio Holds Sway Over Judge Picks, With Benefactor Braman’s Nephew on Tap For Miami Slot, Miami Herald, Apr. 30, 2020, https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/article242390041.html. However, Leibowitz was not nominated as the Administration instead focused on Renatha Francis, who had her initial nomination to the Florida Supreme Court blocked by a lawsuit. See David Oscar Markus, Did the Dems Win the Fight Against DeSanctis Regarding the Florida Supreme Court, Southern District of Florida Blog, Sept. 15, 2020, https://sdfla.blogspot.com/2020/09/did-dems-win-fight-against-desantis.html.

After the election of Biden, Rubio recommended Leibowitz again to replace Moreno. See David Oscar Markus, Breaking – Rubio JNC Names Finalists, Southern District of Florida Blog, July 21, 2021, https://sdfla.blogspot.com/2021/07/breaking-rubio-jnc-announces-finalists.html. After extended conversations, Leibowitz was nominated to the vacancy along with two other nominees more favored by the Administration.

Legal Experience

Leibowitz started his legal career as a state prosecutor in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where, among other prosecutions, he handled appeals. See, e.g., Commonwealth v. Thad T., a Juvenile, 59 Mass. App. Ct. 497 (2003). Between 2003 and 2012, Leibowitz worked as a federal prosecutor for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, where he handled a wide variety of cases. Among his more prominent cases, Leibowitz prosecuted Michael and Eric Nouri, executives at Smart Online Inc. for manipulation of their stock. See United States v. Nouri, 711 F.3d 129 (2d Cir. 2013). In another notable case, Leibowitz was government counsel in a motion brought by James Cromitie, who alleged that government agents had entrapped and encouraged him to engage in religiously-motivated terrorist activity. See United States v. Cromitie, 781 F. Supp. 2d 211 (S.D.N.Y. 2011). Judge Colleen McMahon rejected Cromitie’s motion, acknowledging that government agents largely facilitated Cromitie’s terrorist activities, but noted that he had largely participated and engaged without any coercion or pressure from the government. See id.

Leibowitz also had the opportunity to argue some appeals as a federal prosecutor. For example, he worked alongside future federal judge Diane Gujarati and future New York Court of Appeals Judge Michael Garcia on an appeal in defending a sentencing where the judge failed to allow the defendant a chance to address the court prior to sentencing (which the court of appeals found warranted resentencing). See United States v. Gonzalez, 529 F.3d 94 (2d Cir. 2008).

From 2012 onwards, Leibowitz has worked at Braman Management, notably serving as Secretary and General Counsel since 2015. During this time, Leibowitz helped represent Braman in commercial litigation. See, e.g., Braman Motors, Inc. v. BMW of North America LLC, Case No. 17-CV-23360-GAYLES/OTAZO-REYES. For example, Leibowitz was part of the legal team defending Braman in a suit brought over an unsolicited voicemail left for the plaintiff. See Schaevitz v. Braman Hyundai, Inc., 437 F.Supp.3d 1237 (S.D. Fla. 2019).

Writings

Throughout his legal career, Leibowitz has frequently written on issues in the law, starting with a doctoral thesis advocating for judges to behave “sincerely” instead of behaving “strategically” to influence the law as a judge. See David Seymour Leibowitz, American Constitutional Communication: Appellate Court Opinions and the Implications for Judicial Power of the United States, A Dissertation Submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Department of Government, London School of Economics (August 1997).

In another notable article that he coauthored, Leibowitz was critical of the U.S. Supreme Court’s majority decision in U.S. v. Morrison, which struck down portions of the Violence Against Women Act as violative of the Commerce Clause. See Louis J. Virelli III, David Leibowitz, “Federalism Whether They Want It Or Not”: The New Commerce Clause Doctrine and the Future of Federal Civil Rights Legislation After United States v. Morrison, 3 U. Penn. J. Con. L. 3 (2001) (available at https://deliverypdf.ssrn.com/delivery.php?ID=550083013021093025088127093096120109019053019081050000104123064004026109095112098007032035042036057108108080070116112000114001107011054000040113113096120116098006009021057027067074108015120094026066070026007111076007023030071017075097086102105073121&EXT=pdf&INDEX=TRUE). For example, the article noted:

“In short, civil rights laws are readily at odds with principles of state autonomy. This does not mean, however, as the Morrison court seemed to believe, that we should eliminate Congress’s power to promote social equity in the name of state autonomy. See id. at 962.

The article went on to note that the narrow conception of Congressional authority “will fashion new standards of state governance that will effectively preclude future federal protection of disadvantaged minorities.” Id. at 964.

Political Activity

Leibowitz has a history of donating to candidates of both political parties. For example, in 2017-18 campaign season, Leibowitz donated to Republican Congressmen Robert Pittenger, Chuck Fleischmann, Brian Fitzpatrick, and Carlos Curbelo, and to Democratic Congressmen Charlie Crist, Al Lawson, and David Cicilline.

Overall Assessment

As a candidate primarily advocated by a home-state senator from the opposing party, Leibowitz is an unusual candidate for the Biden Administration. Additionally, Leibowitz’s familial connection with Braman could lead to suggestions that he was primarily nominated due to his connections rather than merit. However, Leibowitz’s overall record suggests a candidate who has extensive experience with the law. Additionally, Leibowitz’s writings, on both judicial modesty and critical of court interventions in civil rights legislation, suggest that his views are not that different from most of Biden’s other nominees. As such, it will be interesting to see what Leibowitz’s jurisprudence ends up being.

88 Comments

  2. Joe's avatar

    Leibowitz is certainly very well qualified. He also does not appear to be a partisan activist and in fact his writings about judges and the Violence Against Women Act suggest he will be more of a centrist judge.

    Overall, I think this deal with the FL senators is a very good one.

    Like

  3. dequanhargrove's avatar

    I’ve been torn about the Leibowitz nomination. I’m the one hand, he seems to be extremely qualified for the seat. Also as a Republican pick in a package deal, he doesn’t seem to be too far right & perhaps I would even call him a centrist, certainly to the left of his billionaire uncle.

    In the other hand I honestly only have one problem with his nomination. I think Biden could have gotten more from the pagage deal. Clearly Rubio wanted Leibowitz nominated since Trump, to the point they actually left the seat vacant rather than a last minute nomination of a failed SCOT-FL nominee.

    This deal included three woman, each of whom are probably left of center. I think we could have at least gotten another nominee for the fourth SDFL vacancy & maybe even at least one of the (then two, now three) vacancies in the MDFL. It will be harder to fill those seats now that Rubio for the one thing he wanted.

    But still this nominee seems to be as good as a Republican pick will get in a package deal. Now I just hope he’s confirmed by voice vote & not waste senate floor time.

    Like

    • Gavi's avatar

      You know me, I’m no Biden sycophant, so I hope I don’t sound like one when I say that this is a decent deal, and I don’t think the WH could have gotten a better one.

      Grading this package deal on a Biden curve also proves that this is a (dare I say it?) great deal, because Biden didn’t trade away a circuit court seat for an elderly centrist for a single district court seat.

      The Biden judicial selection folks really earned their paycheck on this package and they should take the time to throw themselves a party if they manage to secure confirmation for all the nominees in the deal.
      The Ramirez nomination, as the absolute worst of a Dem president this side of Carnes, will be the standard by which I judge others going forward. (There’s an argument to be made that Ramirez is even worse than Carnes, since the latter required blue slips whereas the former didn’t!)

      With that, Leibowitz himself is graded not on an A-F scale but on a pass/fail binary:
      PASS

      Liked by 1 person

  4. tsb1991's avatar

    The Senate is also back from its break today. Looks like over the break we got a preview of what’s lined up for the Senate in December:

    Assuming “coming to the floor as soon as 12/4” means just the start of procedural votes for Israel/Ukraine, that should hopefully mean that this week will be entirely on judges. We should get cloture motions sent to the desk today to fill up Wednesday and Thursday’s schedule, and hopefully an appeals court nominee for Thursday cloture/Monday confirmation?

    Most likely next week will be Israel/Ukraine and the week after will be NDAA (which has gone to conference with the House)? Hopefully something is struck to go on a confirmation spree before the Senate skips town for the holidays, which the 14th will probably be the last day of the 1st session.

    Liked by 1 person

  5. derickjohnson's avatar

    Central Illinois Vacancy

    Do you think Durbin and Duckworth will use the list submitted to the White House for the upcoming vacancy? Here is the list:

    Colleen Lawless: Lawless has served as an Associate Circuit Judge on the Illinois Seventh Judicial Circuit Court since January 2019. (Pick for previous opening)

    Johanes Maliza: Maliza is currently Of Counsel at the Chicago and Cleveland offices of Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan, & Aronoff.

    Rhonda Perry: Attorney for the University of Illinois since 2006 and has served as the legal counsel to the University of Illinois Springfield since 2014.

    Like

  6. rob's avatar

    I think what someone said a few weeks ago about Schumer leaving all the likely bi partisan nominees to the end seems to be correct.

    I was looking on the executive calendar and there is a large number of nominees who are Republican nominees to commission/FCC/FTC etc.

    Schumer seems to be leaving them to the end to get voice votes on them. I think he is also going to leave Judges to then as well so we may get to 170 before the end of the year here’s hoping.

    Liked by 1 person

    • dequanhargrove's avatar

      Yesssirrr that was me that said that a few weeks ago. David Papillion was the last red state nominee to get a vote. Schumer looks like he’s trying to confirm all non red state nominees so we hopefully get a vote-a-Rama or even better voice votes for the red states at the end of the year.

      Like

  8. keystone's avatar

    Apologies if this posts more than once. I’m having word press issues.

    I just discovered a press release from Durbin and Duckworth about forming a search committee for CDIL vacancies. (I’d add the link but I think that’s what caused the posting issues last time)

    The press release is from February 23, 2023.

    The timing is weird bc, at this point, Colleen Lawless (who was the nominee from the original CDIL list) had already been nominated and successfully reported out of the Judiciary Committee and would easily be confirmed a few weeks later. The current opening wasn’t announced until Oct 31, 2023.

    Not really sure what this means for Johanes Maliza’s chances.

    I’m also curious if the Senators had a super advanced heads up from Shadid about going Senior and were being proactive. If so, I’m not mad at it, I just didn’t know that happened.

    Liked by 2 people

    • dequanhargrove's avatar

      Sometimes judges will give home state senators and/or the WH advance notice they are set to retire before making a final decision. I’m happy in this case Durbin & Duckworth seemed to be ahead of the ball. But in the case of the NDIL, all but one or two of the new names were worst than Gowen & Shelley so in the case of the CDIL, I hope we either get better names or they stick with Johanes Maliza.

      Like

    • keystone's avatar

      Also worth noting that the 3 SDFL noms are all replacing judges nominated by Bush Sr and GWB.

      Once they are confirmed, that court will have 9 judges appointed by Dems, 8 appointed by Rep, and 1 still vacant. I doubt Rubio would have ever given us a 4th nom on that court b/c a 10-8 Dem majority would be too much of a give.

      IMO, that’s a pretty good deal on its own and the fact that they were able to get a MDFL seat included is icing on the cake.

      Liked by 1 person

    • dequanhargrove's avatar

      The deadline is December 15th, so you figure after the holiday’s they will really ramp up interviews & selections to recommend. Throw in the time the White House will need to work in good faith with one of the two most good faith Republican senators & then time for vetting & I would guess we may see nominees for both seats sometime around June.

      Like

  13. dequanhargrove's avatar

    Great great news it’s all judges. No Secretary of Baking Coookies finally. Schumer’s all blue state district court judges strategy is still going strong smartly. I’m a little disappointed Ramirez isn’t a fast track vote bypassing the need for cloture. I am mostly surprised to see Park’s name. I thought for sure we would see any of the nominees pending since 2002 (Bjelkengren & Edelman) versus Park whose seat doesn’t become vacant until October 9th of next year. Maybe that’s a good sign that Schumer intends to confirm all blue state nominees before the end of the year so they won’t have to be renominated.

    Liked by 1 person

    • dequanhargrove's avatar

      Only 3 confirmed in November 2022 isn’t as bad as it looks since they knew they had clinched at least a 50/50 tie. Warnock was out campaigning through the runoff so Republicans had a 50-49 majority at the time.

      As for who will need the VP tie breaking vote out of the remaining nominees for this year, my guess would be Bjelkengren who might possibly would be my fourth Biden no vote if I was in the senate after O’Hearn, Childs, & Pan (For the DC circuit). I would hold my nose & reluctantly vote for Ramirez Thursday/Monday.

      Like

  18. Ryan J's avatar

    Confirming Irma Ramirez to the 5th circuit is important because it will make the 5th circuit a little bit less of a kangaroo court. We would need to flip several seats to revoke its status as a kangaroo court but at least the 5-member Dem minority will be restored (the GOP majority is currently 12-4 and will be 12-5 upon Ramirez’s confirmation)

    Like

    • dequanhargrove's avatar

      Confirming Ramirez is important more so because we don’t want to leave the seat vacant for a potential future Republican president to fill. But as for the 5th itself, it will likely be more conservative at the end of Biden’s first term then at the start. Both Dana Douglas & Irma Ramirez moved the court to eth right with he judges they replaced. It’s a sad situation on the 5th.

      Liked by 1 person

  20. dequanhargrove's avatar

    Both Ossoff & Warnock missed the Bryan cloture vote tonight. They will likely miss tomorrow, Wednesday & probably just say no reason to come back just for Thursday unless Schumer comes through on his threat to work this weekend (Haaaaaaaaaa… I swear I tried to type that without laughing). Lucky none of the nominees this week will need their two votes. Ossoff’s vote will be needed at the SJC executive meeting Thursday, so I hope he returns if not both him & Warnock. Mrs. Carter is buried Wednesday so he should be able to be back by Thursday.

    Like

  21. Zack's avatar

    I understand why Delaware Judge Jennifer Hall was confirmed early even though her seat won’t open up for another month.Besides being from the president’s home state, any vacancy in that district quickly becomes a judicial emergency due to the high number of patent lawsuits the DE district deals with among other things.Likely a similar thing in Hawaii which is why behind the scenes I bet Senators Hirono and Schatz pushed for quick confirmations just to ensure that won’t happen, especially if something like an death/illness happens to a Democratic senator like Feinstein’s death/Lujan’s stroke or Fetterman’s brief leave for mental health treatment.

    Like

  23. Ethan's avatar

    Of the two Obama appointed judges still on the court in Utah, Robert Shelby is a Republican and Jill Parrish was appointed to the Utah Supreme Court by a Republican Governor but seems moderate. Shelby was appointed in 2012; Parrish in 2015. Lee took office in 2011 so he agreed to them.

    Like

  24. Ethan's avatar

    I do wonder if duty station is a hold up. David Nuffer, who held the vacant seat (he was initially appointed in 2012, so Lee agreed to him too) was based in St. George. He was the only judge on that court not based in Salt Lake City.

    Like

  26. keystone's avatar

    The Massachusetts Senators get the prize for speed. Yesterday, they kickedoff the process to fill Judge Saris’ seat.

    Judge Saris announced on Wednesday and the Senators had a committee up and running by Monday (and that period included Thanksgiving and a weekend).

    Search Committee is chaired by retired US District Judge/current Harvard law professor Nancy Gertner. Applications Due Dec 11.

    I also noticed that Arizona kicked off their process a few months ago. Looks like their application deadline was October 26th, So I’m guessing that they are prob at the stage where the committee is sending people to speak with Sinema and Kelly.

    Like

  27. keystone's avatar

    The Massachusetts Senators get the prize for speed. Yesterday, they kicked off the process to fill Patti Saris’ seat.

    Judge Saris announced on Wednesday and the Senators had a committee up and running by Monday (and that period included Thanksgiving and a weekend).

    Search Committee is chaired by retired US District Judge/current Harvard law professor Nancy Gertner. Applications Due Dec 11.

    I also noticed that Arizona kicked off their process a few months ago. Looks like their application deadline was October 26th, So I’m guessing that they are prob at the stage where the committee is sending people to speak with Sinema and Kelly.

    Liked by 1 person

  28. Gavi's avatar

    1: WordPress seem to be especially sucky recently. This blog barely works for me without glitches these days.

    2: The MA senators haven’t always been quick about their judicial recommendations, even when they were advocating for the expansion of SCOTUS. I remember wanting to yell “fill your own current vacancy first!” whenever I saw/read Warren talking about adding judges to SCOTUS.

    But I am happy to see their new urgency.

    I’m amazed at how many senators have adopted some form of judicial selection commission. The widespread use of these commissions is a *relatively recent thing.

    If I were a blue state senator (2 Dems), I would work out an agreement with my fellow senator. I’d go the Schumer/Gillibrand route, not necessarily their ratio, but their method. Recommending judicial candidates is such a plum perk, I wouldn’t want to give that power away to some commission. I’d want to keep it for myself. Yes yes, I am aware that commissions give the impression that a nominee is better qualified and not being selected because of patronage. But look at Leibowitz. He’s a patronage nominee and he’s qualified.

    If I were a purple state senator, I’d try to work something out with my Republican colleague and have an arrangement like the Casey/Toomey deal.

    I would only grudgingly agree to a commission if we can’t agree on nominees, like Baldwin/Barnes. Sorry, I meant Johnson/Baldwin.

    Liked by 1 person

  29. Frank's avatar

    Paywalled, but a WP article about judicial nominations was published today, discussing why Biden has fallen behind Trump in terms of nominees. Not too much here that hasn’t already been said, but Richard Blumenthal was quoted as advocating for staying weekends to confirm judges. Easy for him to say that though when he is already so close to DC. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/11/28/why-biden-is-falling-behind-nominations/

    Liked by 1 person

  30. keystone's avatar

    Judge G. Edward Smith (EDPA) surprisingly passed away yesterday. Obama appointed Smith in 2013. He was a Toomey Republican Judge.

    When we discuss EDPA candidates, we usually focus on Philly lawyers. However, Smith’s seat is based in Easton (Northampton County). It’s a populous and politically important region so I suspect that the seat will remain there. I’m not really sure who the candidates might be.

    RIP Judge Smith

    https://www.lehighvalleynews.com/easton/ed-smith-eastons-federal-judge-and-navy-veteran-has-died

    Liked by 1 person

  32. Gavi's avatar

    Yes, he’s only a few years older than Ramirez.

    Now the PA senators have another vacancy to make recommendations for. Just goes to show that anything can happen, when it comes to unplanned/involuntary vacancies. There must be statistics somewhere for how often death opens up seats on the federal bench annually or during a presidency.

    Liked by 1 person

  34. tsb1991's avatar

    Regarding some of the absences this week, took my dumb self a while to figure it out, but Ossoff and Warnock are most likely at Rosalynn Carter’s funeral service, right? I remember reading about some of the people in attendance there (Kemp, the Clintons, Michelle Obama, Laura Bush, etc), but I don’t remember seeing Ossoff/Warnock.

    While we could also get nominations from the President tomorrow, I wouldn’t be surprised if we didn’t. After 12/13 the next hearing slot will be on 1/10 once Congress is back from the holidays, so the President does have until 12/13 to get new nominees in for that hearing.

    Liked by 1 person

  35. star0garnet's avatar

    We’re now up to nine deceased judges who were on the bench as of 1/20/2021:

    Four that held out for the Biden admin:Peter Hall: qualified 2016, went senior 2021Robert Katzmann: 2018, 2021Marcia Cooke: 2019, 2022Rosemary Pooler: 2006, 2022

    Two lifers:Martin Feldman: qualified 1999, died 2022Michael Kanne: 2003, 2022

    Three who died young:Philip Martinez: died 2021, would have qualified 2022Michael Juneau: 2022, 2030 (went disabled)Edward Smith: 2023, 2028

    Liked by 2 people

  36. aangren's avatar

    Federal ninth circuit judge holly thomas will be having a virtual brown bag lunch meeting on zoom in a few minutes for people who want to hear her opinions . The meeting ID is 862 7057 5230 passcode is112823. it is 12PST california

    Liked by 2 people

  38. raylodato's avatar

    Correct me if I’m wrong, but it seems the maximum number of confirmations we can have by the end of the session is 171. We’re currently at 157, and with those on the floor and those who could/should/will be voted out of SJC at this meeting or next, there are another 24.

    (BTW, I include IT, but not Court of Claims, Northern Mariana Islands, Tax Court, or D.C. Superior Court. All important, but only looking at Article III courts for now).

    Below my earlier hope for 180, but possibly within striking distance for 235 by December 2024. There are another 12 awaiting SJC hearings (not counting Colom) and hopefully another set of nominees before the end of the year.

    Liked by 1 person

    • star0garnet's avatar

      Yeah, I think 171 is the ceiling this session. If Biden filled every announced Article III vacancy, he’d be up to 250; with no GOPer besides Susan Collins returning an unpromised blue slip, he’ll hit 215. While every GOP blue slip is gravy, the only announced vacancies I’d be truly shocked to see filled barring a FedSoc+moderate tradeoff are AL (2), AR (1), MS (1), MO (4), and TN (1). I’d also expect at least 30 newly announced vacancies within the year; more than 60% of seats that have a judge eligible for senior status would not require a GOP blue slip.

      Liked by 2 people

  39. aangren's avatar

    The luncheon with judge holly Thomas just wrapped up, I asked judge holly thomas on the chat if she sees herself serving into her 80s and 90s like other federal judges she said she sees it as her final job and something she would want to do for several years, she leans towards being on the court for several decades. She said I was generous when I asked her if she sees herself in 30 to 40 years still serving, saying based on her age she would be well into her 80s already.

    She said she started watching court cases by 5 years old and she went to court to watch proceedings.

    She said her experience as a superior county judge allows her to understand the importance that this are real cases with real litigants and that federal court is very lonely just 4 clerks she sees on her average daily basis. She appears very thoughtful and kind and she says as a judge she isn’t embarrassed when she isn’t aware of one area of the law, she is certain if she researches it and works hard enough she will figure it.

    Liked by 1 person

      • tsb1991's avatar

        I saw Manchin and Collins vote No early on and knew the cloture was going to fail with the attendance disparities. Even before that I was skeptical of the vote passing since Biden’s Labor nominees tend to have gotten little, if any Republican support (since a labor nominee buying a coffee for someone in a union is enough for a Republican to oppose them). The weird thing for me was that I was surprised Schumer didn’t pull the vote, as he has done in the past (Dale Ho’s original cloture vote was withdrawn since Patty Murray was sick that week).

        I also honestly thought that since Schumer voted Yes early on too, that since it was the last scheduled vote today, that he’d hold the vote open the entirety of the day if he was expecting the other Democrats to return to the Senate (like Coons/Menendez on Abudu’s cloture vote).

        The schedule for tomorrow is also posted. Smith and Semper look to be confirmed for tomorrow, and then Parker will have cloture invoked, setting up a Thursday confirmation.

        Liked by 1 person

    • Mike's avatar

      This is when I’d complain about Chuck wasting over an hour of senate time on a failed cloture vote but I won’t let it put down my mood.

      Confirm the judicial nominees in the pipeline and I’ll still call this one of the most successful weeks the Senate Dems have had in a year.

      Like

    • dequanhargrove's avatar

      That’s great news we got six in the hearing tomorrow. I’m surprised Holland will miss yet another hearing, I believe this makes three further now. But with the caseload in the EDCA being amongst the highest in the nation, I’m happy to see Sheriff will be there.

      With five red state nominees in one hearing, Durbin may be on full celebration mode. Get ready for the biggest parade since The Bulls won their first championship.

      Like

  43. keystone's avatar

    Apparently Senator Sullivan’s separate committee to evaluate judicial candidates had 16 people apply (6 of which were people not previously identified as being interested in judgeship).

    The Alaska Bar Association, which Murkowski asked to lead the process, had 14 applicants.

    No names released. Hopefully there’s some overlap between the two so that Sullivan and Murkowski can agree on a nominee.

    https://mustreadalaska.com/sullivans-judicial-council-receives-16-applications-for-federal-judgeships/

    Liked by 2 people

  44. Aiden's avatar

    Judge Pryor published an opinion today that Invoked a dissent from left wing Judge Hamilton. Its a well written, centrist opinion, but she still has being no conservative so far.
    However we can see that she will likely be at least on the conservative side of the liberal wing in the 7th circuit.

    To be fair this is a little bit of an exaggeration of how much we can schiper from one opinion.

    But im very interested to see how the biden appointees compare to other democratic appointees espeically

    Like

  45. Aiden's avatar

    For me the circuits with the most change;
    1. 2nd
    2. 9th

    Moderate change
    7th circuit
    4th Circuit

    Minor Change
    1st Circuit
    3rd circuit ( They have low levels of published opinions in the 3rd)

    No change;
    6th circuit

    It is my prediction that the 4th will see significant change with Brener when she gets confirmed due to the split en bancs, with Benjamin going left and heytens going right.

    Also with Aframe and depending on it is for Maine, we may hopefully see better change there

    Like

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