Robert White – Nominee to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan

Federal prosecutor Robert White has been nominated to the federal trial court in Detroit, filling the last pending vacancy on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.

Background

Born in 1985, Robert J. White received a B.A. from the University of Michigan in 2007, and his J.D. from the Chicago-Kent College of Law at the Illinois Institute of Technology in 2010. White then spent four years as an Associate at Ralph E. Meczyk and Associates before becoming a federal prosecutor with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas. In 2018, White returned to Michigan to be an Assistant U.S. Attorney at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan, where he currently serves.

History of the Seat

White has been nominated for a seat on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. This seat opened on August 1, 2023, when Judge Paul Borman took senior status.

Legal Career

White started his legal career at Ralph E. Meczyk and Associates, working in criminal defense at both the state and federal levels. However, since 2014, White has worked as a federal prosecutor, starting in the Western District of Texas and more recently in the Eastern District of Michigan.

Notably, White prosecuted a group of six individuals for a racketeering conspiracy related to their participation in criminal activities as members of the gang Young and Scandalous or YNS. See Melissa Nann Burke and Robert Snell, Biden Taps Prosecutor White for Federal Bench in Detroit, Detroit News, Jan. 10, 2024, https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2024/01/10/president-biden-taps-prosecutor-robert-j-white-for-federal-bench-judge-in-detroit/72165594007/. The case included allegations that the co-defendants engaged in a pattern of murder and violence in the Brightmoor neighborhood to intimidate the locals and thus enable them to carry out crimes with impunity. See 5 Young and Skantless Detroit Gang Members Indicted on RICO Charges, CBS News Detroit, May 17, 2017, https://www.cbsnews.com/detroit/news/detroit-yns-gang-indictment/.

As a member of the office’s Drug Task Force Unit, White prosecuted Savinder Singh, a Canadian truck driver, for trying to drive a semitrailer into the United States with over 300 pounds of cocaine. See id. See also United States v. Singh, 5:21-cr-20686 (E.D. Mich.).

Overall Assessment

At 38 years old, White would be, if confirmed, the youngest district judge not only in Michigan, but also in the Sixth Circuit (with only 2-3 younger judges across the country). That being said, White has been litigating for fourteen years and has experience on the criminal side on both the state and the federal level (albeit less civil experience). All in all, while White is unlikely to draw widespread support, he is nonetheless favored to be confirmed to the bench in due course.

200 Comments

    • Dequan's avatar

      It’s always a good morning when I hear my Rauw Alejandro ringtone Curame, look down at my phone & see a new Vetting Room post from @Ben… Lol

      Unfortunately with the announcement being for North Carolina, I’m not sure how positive that seat will get filled this year. I do remember there was talk of a possible compromise deal for a White man in his 60’s & a person of color for the other two seats. Perhaps a third seat will increase the chances of a deal being struck but I wouldn’t hold my breath on all three getting filled this year.

      Like

    • Thomas's avatar

      That’s pretty bad, because there is no judge left, who get the post of the chief according to being not older than 65 years and not older than 70 years.

      I assumed that Schroeder resigned due to the fact, that Eagles can take over and staying for a while, but now either Schroeder or Osteen have to start a second term, or Biggs take over, but she’s already seventy years old. None of the others is eligible for senior status so far. Eagles has just become chief this year.

      And that’s the subject I mentioned with signing commission of Hill before Russell at the Northern District of Oklahoma.

      Liked by 1 person

  3. keystone's avatar

    Well, if they’re gonna block the district courts, that means full steam ahead with the James Wynn seat.

    Bring on Ryan Park.

    Or Superior Court Judge Alyson Grine… Jesse Helms hated the idea of a black man being a North Carolina Circuit Judge… I think appointing a Lesbian as Wynn’s successor would make Helms rollover.

    Liked by 1 person

  4. raylodato's avatar

    With the IT confirmations today, Biden will be tied with Trump at this time of their presidencies in terms of Article III confirmations at the sub-Circuit level (135). Trump didn’t have any 2020 confirmations until February 12th, so there’s a chance for Biden to pull ahead slightly at the district level.

    Of course, Biden is far behind on CCA confirmations (40 v. 50 for Trump at this date of their presidencies) and SCOTUS.

    Liked by 1 person

  5. star0garnet's avatar

    Eagles is the youngest Obama appointee to qualify for senior status this year. The youngest Clinton appointee and 17 Bush appointees are younger and have/will qualify as well. North Carolina could easily reach crisis levels, with three of those 17 being from NC (and that doesn’t even include Conrad), plus another Obama appointee qualifying in December.

    Liked by 1 person

  6. tsb1991's avatar

    Laroski cloture was 96-1, if we at least got a voice vote after that or something that’d be fine.

    Lankford mentioned the text of the Ukraine/border bill probably won’t be released today, so maybe we’ll get more cloture motions for nominations today?

    Liked by 1 person

  7. keystone's avatar

    Curious to see what attendance is like for the Republicans next week. Next week is a short week and is followed by a two week break.

    Barrasso’s wife died ~ a week ago. He’s out this week. Is he going to come back for such a short period, esp when there’s a break coming up.

    Cramer’s son’s hearing is on Wed, which would be the only big vote day next week. Not sure he’s gonna come back for a couple votes on Tuesday or Thursday.

    If this happens, I could see the Dems trying to squeeze in that Labor nominee that Manchin and Menendez are against.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Gavi's avatar

      I’m not sure I follow your train of thought about personal issues forcing senators to miss votes. Deaths and illnesses are one thing. You mentioned the possibility of Cramer being out a few times, has that actually been the case? Defendants face a lot of court dates, I don’t see Cramer staying away from DC for a lot of them. Character testimonies and maybe for the sentencing way down the line, yes. We know that Manchin wasn’t out as was predicted when his wife got in an accident.
      I guess we have to try to read Republican attendance tea leaves because Schumer so suck at scheduling nomination votes.

      Liked by 1 person

  8. tsb1991's avatar

    Looks like some news breaking while I’m waiting at the dentist. It’s being reported that the Senate will be back Monday. Largely for the Ukraine/border bill but could help on nominations. Possible that part of the two week break gets canceled as well.

    Also, it looks like the reason that there was no vote on an appeals court nominee is that Stabenow and Peters are both out with Biden campaigning in Michigan. Must have given Schumer advanced notice which is why we got the less exciting IT nominees today.

    Liked by 2 people

  9. Joe's avatar

    That makes sense. I was thinking that today would have been a good time to get a vote for Aframe. If it was up to me, Berner and Mangi would be lined up in short order as well just to get those out of the way. We already know there will be at least 6 other circuit nominees the rest of the year and we don’t want those to pile up

    Liked by 1 person

  10. Dequan's avatar

    Schumer just said there will be voting this Monday, & it is no longer a non voting day. He then filed cloture on the following nominees;

    Kurt Cambell Deputy Secretary of State.

    Amy Baggio – District of Oregon

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    • tsb1991's avatar

      For his tax nominees, would they go through the Finance Committee instead of the SJC? It’d be nice to not need to use an SJC slot for them. I know Tia Johnson, his Armed Forces nominee, had hear hearing in the Armed Services Committee and not the SJC.

      It also sounds like the cloture vote for the Ukraine/border bill will be filed Monday, setting up Wednesday for the voting to start on that bill. If that’s the case they probably won’t go into the following week, was about to raise the longshot possibility of having hearings on 2/14 to make up for 2/7.

      Liked by 1 person

      • Dequan's avatar

        Speaking of nominations that traditionally got voice votes, what’s going on with all the nominees for the Superior Court of DC. I know one is a pro choice advocate who if I’m not mistaken is the longest pending Biden judicial nominee. But the others should be able to get voice votes by now. Or will Republicans object to even the Administrator of Carpet at this point to waste floor time. For God’s sake, these aren’t even life time appointments.

        On a totally different note, I must say I enjoy watching when Senator Booker is the presiding officer of the senate. He brings such enthusiasm when he speaks after being called Mr. President.

        Like

      • Ben's avatar

        Dequan, that’s precisely what it’s about- wasting floor time. To them, any vote that’s a voice vote is just allowing for more openings to be filled at the end of the term. So any extra recorded vote now, despite how little real opposition there is, is one less overall Biden judge to them.

        Liked by 1 person

      • Thomas's avatar

        At last there is some movement at the Tax Court, where the longest open vacancy at a federal court is present since the confirmation of Lisa Wang today.
        The seven DC Superior Court nominees are back on the floor since yesterday they have voted out again after they have been returned to the President, and it was the second time for Adrienne Jennings Noti, who was nominated at 15 November 2021. She will surely need a roll call vote, what should be granted to her sooner than later. The other ones might get a voice vote. Three nominees had no hearing so far at the Committee for Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, and there are two more vacancies without nominee.
        One of the two vacancies at the Court of Appeals of DC is open for more than 10 years.
        With Joseph Laroski confirmed on Monday and Robin Meriweather to the Court of Federal Claims, these are the remaining vacancies at special courts.

        Liked by 1 person

      • Dequan's avatar

        @Ryan J

        Hmmmmm… I never thought about that. I don’t know the answer to that. If I had to guess, I would say no or certainly not without unanimous consent. If a president nominates somebody for seat A & seat B opens up, I don’t know if you can simply switch the seat you nominated them for once they have cleared the SJC & are pending on the floor. Perhaps @Gavi knows the answer.

        Liked by 1 person

      • Gavi's avatar

        What star0garnet said.
        Technically, Biden can withdraw the nominations and renominate them, reflecting the switch, but that would restart the entire senate confirmation process for both.
        Remember, every judgeship is numbered. So every nomination is technically attached to a particular numbered seat, even though the previous occupant is usually used as a placeholder when describing the exact vacancy.
        So Florence Pan was nominated to Seat 12 on the DC Circuit. Even though the nomination form said “Florence Pan, vice KBJ, elevated”

        Liked by 2 people

  15. Rick's avatar

    A couple of very good articles about judicial nominations

    1. https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/biden-durbin-judicial-nominees/

    This one is little confusing as Mystal seems to be saying Durbin brought blue slips back, but I think it’s only for District Court nominees

    2. https://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta-news/biden-to-fill-vacancy-on-atlanta-based-federal-appeals-court/RZYRAGC3OND7RNA3NKRZY7WZMA/

    ““The president has a great opportunity to confirm someone who will be younger than Wilson is now and serve for decades at least,” Tobias told the AJC. “I expect them to move very expeditiously to fill that vacancy and any other appellate vacancies around the country that arise.”

    Like

    • keystone's avatar

      The Oregon court also has another judge (Simon) who becomes eligible for senior status this summer. With Baggio (who has cross party support), they can easily confirm her and in so doing, help to clear out the queue and make it more enticing for Simon to take senior status.

      On the plus side, the Oregon Senators have a fairly recent list of judicial recommendations and it’s full of excellent choices.

      Liked by 2 people

  17. Rick's avatar

    I tried to post links to articles earlier but got a comment awaiting moderation so I’ll post brief summary then you can look up.

    There were 2 good articles about judicial nominations today. One from Elle Mystal. And one from Rosie Manins from the AJC.

    1. the Mystal article he talks a lot about blue slips, but seems to say Durbin brought them back, but i think it still only pertains to District Court nominees.

    “Durbin has brought them back, and the Biden administration is honoring them. Of the current vacancies in the judiciary, 33 are in states with at least one Republican senator. Only 19 percent of Biden’s judges thus far have been sent to states with one Republican senator. By contrast, 51 percent of Trump’s nominees went to a state with at least one Democratic senator.

    2. The AJC article talks about the 11th circuit vacancy

    ““The president has a great opportunity to confirm someone who will be younger than Wilson is now and serve for decades at least,” Tobias told the AJC. “I expect them to move very expeditiously to fill that vacancy and any other appellate vacancies around the country that arise.”

    Liked by 1 person

    • Dequan's avatar

      I was reading some of the language in The Nations article & immediately scrolled to the bottom to see who wrote it. When I saw it was Elle Mystal I wasn’t surprised… Lol

      I have to find the AJC article. I know some disagreed with me last week but I would not be surprised to see the administration go for a home run for the 11th. Someone in the vain of Ben Crumps if not him himself, despite some saying there is zero percent chance. I have seen some names tossed around on the blog here I wasn’t previously aware of so hopefully they can get one of them nominated quickly if not one of my favorites.

      Like

      • Dequan's avatar

        There’s actually several reasons why I feel we could get a home run pick for the 11th.

        1. Biden thinks he can win Florida. He was here the other day & he needs to energize the base, particularly Black men. I actually feel stronger about Biden going against the home state senators here than I did when he nominated Andre Mathis.

        2. Biden has already gotten push back for not nominating a Black woman to the SDFL. I think he would use a non blue slip seat to try & calm those complaints down.

        3. Rick Scott is running for reelection. He is going to try & delay this pick longer than your traditional senator. I think it would benefit Biden to nominate somebody Scott doesn’t support & make him run on why he opposes a (Fill in the black: Civil rights, woman’s choice, LGBT, Black man) nominee.

        4. Florida is the epicenter of MAGA. Literally Trump’s back yard. The best defense is a good offense.

        Liked by 2 people

      • Dequan's avatar

        Well that was more along my line of thinking when Wilson announced. A lot has changed since then. We are 5 hours & 17 minutes away from breaking the record for longest time it’s taking to send a batch (More than two people) to the senate so I must admit my hardball line of thinking is on much shakier grounds if we can’t even find somebody to lick a stamp & mail 6 nominations across the street… Haaaaaa

        Like

      • Ryan J's avatar

        I think that maybe there shouldn’t be too many more vacancies given how long it takes this WH and Senate to get judges nominated and confirmed.

        Also I hope that red state district judges do NOT take senior status, especially those in states with senators who want to hold the seats open. Not thrilled about Catherine Eagles vacating.

        Like

    • Thomas's avatar

      I know many here are happy about each new vacancy and doing math exercises, how all of them can be filled in theory, but in the reality we can also see now, that not all of them can be filled, even considering that Hawley, Tuberville and Cotton won’t work together with the WH in good faith.
      When you observe the number of vacancies from the US Courts Website, you can see, that the numbers of open vacancies only decrease very slowly, now 50+ and the number of future ones are always at 30.
      So we have 80+ and 11 months remaining, 2 of them the Senate is not in session, and the state work periods are often exceeding from one to two weeks. If they really come back in September is also not granted. I don’t see how that will work, and even less, if the number of circuit vacancies would double, and Sotomayor probably also appear on the sheet.
      The idea to overturn Trump in numbers is nice, but I’d say winning the election and holding the senate majority are more important, if both works, it’s still time to fill all these posts, if not, a repetition of 2017 is possible.

      Liked by 2 people

      • star0garnet's avatar

        33 of those seats are unlikely to be filled, with at least one GOP senator likely to say no. We might get another batch or even two, but most of them will remain open, as similar seats have for decades. The number of future vacancies will plummet towards the end of the congress. Not to the point it was in November 2020 (2), thanks to the TBDs and those coming at the end of the year, but close to it. A repetition of 2017 would require a lack of confirmations the rest of the congress and a flood of vacancies.

        Liked by 1 person

  21. Ryan J's avatar

    Some of the USCIT judges regularly sit with the 9th circuit. I have seen Jennifer Choe-Groves (Obama-conservative), Gary Katzmann (Obama-liberal), M. Miller Baker (Trump-conservative) and Jane Restani (Reagan-moderate) on 9th circuit panels. Out of those 4, only Restani has taken senior status. Hopefully Lisa Wang sits with the 9th as I expect she will be liberal.

    Liked by 1 person

  23. Mitch's avatar

    About Robert White: he’s a stealth candidate. Very little is known about him. I don’t know if he’s donated to any candidates. He seems like a vanilla Democrat.

    As of now, he needs to do well in the confirmation hearing. If he does, than he’s in. White seems to generate no strong reaction from anyone.

    Liked by 1 person

  26. Zack's avatar

    I saw where all the nominees have been transmitted.
    Also gives me hope that next week we’ll see a fresh batch of nominees.
    Sans Gibbons seat, all will be district court ones as I believe the other vacancies are all still new.

    Like

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