Sparkle Sooknanan – Nominee to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

Department of Justice attorney Sparkle Sooknanan is the White House’s second nominee to replace Judge Florence Pan on the D.C. District Court.

Background

A native of Trinidad & Tobago, Sooknanan moved to New York City at age 16 to attend St. Francis College, graduating summa cum laude in 2002. Sooknanan subsequently got an M.B.A. with Distinction from Hofstra College in 2003 and then started work at HIP Health Plan. Sooknanan continued working there while studying in the evenings at Brooklyn Law School, getting a J.D. summa cum laude in 2010.

After graduating, Sooknanan clerked for Judge Eric Vitaliano on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, Judge Guido Calabresi on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and then for Justice Sonia Sotomayor on the U.S. Supreme Court. Sooknanan then joined Jones Day, becoming a Partner in 2020. Sookanan subsequently left Jones Day and joined the U.S. Department of Justice, where she currently serves as Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Rights Division.

History of the Seat

Sooknanan was nominated, based on the recommendation of Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, to replace Judge Florence Pan, who was elevated to the D.C. Circuit on September 28, 2022. President Biden had previously nominated D.C. Superior Judge Todd Edelman to replace Pan, but despite being approved by the Judiciary Committee multiple times, Edelman never received a floor vote and his nomination was not resubmitted to the Senate in 2024.

Legal Experience

Sooknanan started her career in practice with a brief stint at the Department of Justice between her lower court clerkships and her clerkship with Sotomayor. During this time, Sooknanan had the opportunity to argue before the Ninth Circuit on a Federal Tort Claims Act case. See Dichter-Mad Family Partners, LLP v. United States, 709 F.3d 749 (9th Cir. 2013).

Between 2014 and 2020, Sooknanan practiced at the firm Jones Day. At Jones Day, Sooknanan was part of the legal team representing Everytown for Gun Safety as amici in a suit challenging Colorado’s background check laws. See Colorado Outfitters Ass’n v. Hickenlooper, 823 F.3d 537 (10th Cir. 2016). Sooknanan also represented defendants challenging their convictions relating to the illegal smuggling of drugs (now Judge Trevor McFadden was one of the attorneys representing the government on the suit). See United States v. Mosquera-Murillo, 902 F.3d 285 (D.C. Cir. 2018). One of Sooknanan’s most intensive cases from this time was her involvement in a multi-party litigation related to bonds issued by the Employee Retirement System of the Government of Puerto Rico. See In re Financial Oversight & Manage. Bd. of Puerto Rico, 914 F.3d 694 (1st Cir. 2019).

Notably, Sooknanan, alongside fellow former Supreme Court clerks Benjamin Mizer and Parker Rider-Longmaid, filed amicus briefs in support of the City of Charlottesville’s decision to remove Confederate statues. See City of Charlottesville v. Payne, 856 S.E.2d 203 (Va. 2021). The Virginia Supreme Court ultimately reversed a Circuit Court ruling putting the removal on hold. See id. However, due to Jones Day’s challenges to Pennsylvania election accommodations for the pandemic, Sooknanan resigned from Jones Day.

Since 2021, Sooknanan has been with the Department of Justice, most recently working with the Civil Rights Division.

Political Activity

Sooknanan has a limited political history, including donations to Secretary Hillary Clinton and Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul.

Overall Assessment

While Sooknanan doesn’t have experience as a public defender as Edelman did, her nomination is likely to prove fairly controversial as well. Her resignation of Jones Day and her work at the Civil Rights Division is likely to draw strong conservative opposition. With an election approaching, it remains to be seen if Sooknanan will be muscled through while Democrats have the attendance to do so.

928 Comments

  1. Dequan's avatar

    I know some progressives had some concerns about her because she worked at Jones Day but she was a whistleblower there so I’m not concerned. Also I know some do not like her work on the Puerto Rico debt but it was a complexed issue. I’m not sure you can categorize somebody as easily on that issue. I would give this nominee an A & better than who she replaced, albeit I would have still not been upset if Edelman was confirmed because of the way he was treated this time around combined with never getting a vote when Obama nominated him.

    Like

  5. Zack's avatar

    Conservatives will be against her but unlike Edelman, they aren’t going to be able to tag her with the she got a child killed attack line.
    So they’ll go with their usual attacks and Democrats have shown they’ll ignore those.
    Have to wait and see I guess.

    Liked by 1 person

  7. Dequan's avatar

    Does anybody know if VP Harris post her travel schedule anywhere publicly in advance? With the increased campaigning travels, my guess is Schumer is holding off on the party line votes until the VP will be in town. I was wondering if she had any stretch of days in DC over the next two weeks before the Easter recess.

    Like

      • Dequan's avatar

        Ok gotcha. I really wish she would stay in DC on Tuesday & Wednesdays when the senate is in session. She can use the other five days of the week to travel plus all seven any week the senate is out on recess. It’s March, they really need to start maximizing the two full days of the week for confirmations.

        Like

  8. Rick's avatar

    I don’t think the heavy duty campaigning won’t be until summer, then especially after Labor Day when there will probably be events almost every day.

    NOW, is the time to confirm the controversial judges and/or if there are any controversial Executive nominees as well

    Liked by 1 person

    • Jamie's avatar

      As I said above NOW is the time to do the judges because you may not have time to do it during the lame duck. 

      If Biden wins but with a GOP Senate, he will need to get his second term Cabinet nominations done during the lame duck. And Cabinet nominations are like circuit court nominees, 30 hours for debate. 

      Liked by 1 person

  9. tsb1991's avatar

    I think this was alluded to here over the weekend, but if the Senate is focused solely on judges for the next few weeks (outside of next Thursday’s government funding deadline), there’s a real chance that the amount of pending judicial nominees could be reduced to near-zero. The next round of judges to clear the SJC would probably be 4/11 at the earliest (if they are held over next week and then after the next two-week break), and even then that’s only four nominees (two of which are South Dakota nominees and could be fast-tracked after getting out of committee).

    If it does come down to that I hope the next thing on the executive calendar pecking order would be the DC Court nominees.

    There is also the possibility of nominees this week, which could make it to a 4/10 hearing, but the absolute drop dead date for the next Senate working session would be next week, any nominations next week could make a 4/17 hearing, and since the Senate has the following week off, you’d still be fine for a 5/1 hearing (nominees for that hearing would be due on 4/3).

    Liked by 1 person

    • Dequan's avatar

      I was looking at the senate calendar & you are correct, a batch this week or next week would not miss a hearing slot. The key for me is the number of nominees in the next batch. With three or four weeks between batches, we really need more than 4 or 5 nominees. Preferably at least 7 nominees so that if anything comes up with one of them, we don’t have less than the max number of nominees in a hearing like the last two hearings without Kanter.

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    • Dequan's avatar

      I know there was the mention of a package deal for the WDNC last year with a White man in his 60’s (I forgot his name) & a Black woman being discussed. But that was before Wynn announced his senior status. My guess is those two seats are on hold until they settle the nominee for the 4th & I doubt that will be by this or next Wednesday.

      I would hope to see all of the NY vacancies finally get a nominee by now. Same with any or all of the California vacancies.

      I honestly forgot about the Maryland vacancy. If it ain’t Ajmel Quereshi, I’ll probably be disappointed anyway.

      I don’t know if the Pennsylvania nominees will be ready just yet. I could see the EDWA, CDIL or even the third Arizona nominee being ready by now. Maybe even the Massachusetts nominee.

      Like

      • keystone's avatar

        I can almost guarantee the MD nom will not be Quereshi. The opening is in Baltimore and Quereshi is in Greenbelt. We know Cardin cares a lot about making sure that his native Baltimore is represented and isn’t overshadowed by the Greenbelt/DC region.

        Maryland’s application deadline was 11/13 so it’s possible we could get a get nom.. but I could also see Cardin holding off a few months bc he wants to name one of the newer magistrates, i.e. Adam Abelson, Charles Austin, a few more months of experience. They’re currently 7 and 6 months in.

        The application deadline for CDIL was March 4th – so it’s gonna be a while on that one.

        For CA, most of the CDCA vacancies are pretty recent, other than George Wu’s (announced in Sept). Davilla (NDCA) announced in November so it’s possible they have a nom for him provided the Senators kicked off the search and interviews right away and the background check went super smoothly.

        For PA, 2/3 seats had application deadlines of 11/27.

        Everything else, other than NY (which is a mystery) and VT (which has been running a slightly slower than anticipated process) had app deadlines in mid December or later.

        However, if Maine chooses US Attorney Darcie McElwee for the 1st Circuit seat, it’s certainly possible we could get that nom soon given the Maine deadline and fact that she’s presumably had a recent background check.

        Liked by 2 people

    • star0garnet's avatar

      48 judges (38 Art. III) were confirmed from June to December 2020, and the only reason there weren’t more confirmed was that they ran out of nominees that McConnell wanted confirmed. Sure, a few days in December may be taken by cabinet nominations, but y’all are hitting the panic button about eight months too early.

      Liked by 2 people

  14. Zack's avatar

    On the 234 Trump judge mark, it should be noted that judges like Mary S. McElroy of Rhode Island, Jill Otake of Hawaii and Stephanie Davis of Michigan among others were liberal/moderate jurists confirmed under him so that’s something to keep in mind when they talk about his count.
    There were a few good ones among the rotten ones.

    Liked by 2 people

    • Ethan's avatar

      My top pick if Lavenski Smith went senior would be AUSA Cameron McCree (born c. 1980), a Black man and a former clerk to Smith. All of his donations have been to Democrats but all at the state level in Arkansas.

      Other names I’d keep in mind for this seat:

      -Judge Kristine Baker (born 1971): The Obama appointed Chief Judge on the Eastern District of Arkansas. She was confirmed when Arkansas one Democrat (Mark Pryor) and one Republican (Boozman) in the Senate.

      -Judge Waymond Brown (born c. 1968): A Black man who is currently a judge on the Arkansas Court of Appeals. Nothing controversial in his background.

      -Justice Courtney Rae Hudson (born 1973): Has served on the Arkansas Supreme Court since 2011. She has run as a non-partisan candidate and while I doubt she’s left of center (if so, then barely), her name was mentioned in an early 2021 Law.com article speculating who Biden might appoint to the circuit courts.

      -Christopher Thyer (born 1969): Currently a state judge in Arkansas who previously served as US Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas during the Obama administration.

      OR his wife Cindy Thyer (born c. 1970): A judge on the Arkansas Court of Appeals.

      -Christopher Plumlee (born c. 1971): An attorney in private practice. He is a former AUSA (Chief of the Criminal Division) for the Western District of Arkansas. He has donated only to Courtney Rae Hudson (mentioned above) and a Republican candidate for the Arkansas House of Representatives. But he was one of three people recommended by Senators Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor (hard to believe Arkansas ever had two Democrat senators) to be US Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas, but he ultimately wasn’t chosen. But being from the western part of the state may ultimately limit him since Lavenski Smith is from Little Rock (in the eastern part of the state) and the other 8th circuit judge from Arkansas (Bobby Shepherd) is from western Arkansas. I doubt they would want two 8th circuit judges from western Arkansas since the eastern part is a lot busier.

      Liked by 2 people

  16. keystone's avatar

    For Your Consideration…..

    One name to think about for the 4th Circuit NC seats is Glenn Gerding. He’s born c 1972 and he’s the North Carolina Appellate Defender at Office of the Appellate Defender.

    He reminds me a lot of Richard Federico. Both white dudes. Both born in ’70s (so not too young/not too old). They both worked in Appellate defense and as defense attorneys. They were both JAG officers and I think both are still active in the reserves.

    IDK if the NC Senators would go for that background profile, but the Kansas Senators did. And Tillis was the a Yea on Federico in committee.

    Liked by 2 people

    • Jamie's avatar

      Richard Federico got GOP votes because he basically had a non-partisan background. If he leaned to the left it was only slightly and it wasn’t obvious. I don’t know if Gerding is going to be acceptable unless Biden threatens to nominate someone far more liberal. And even if Tillis says yes, Budd may not cooperate.

      Liked by 1 person

  17. tsb1991's avatar

    Whitehouse wrapped up. No cloture motions sent out today. All three judges whose cloture was filed on Friday should all be confirmed tomorrow. In addition, the last vote tomorrow will be to confirm Sean Patrick Maloney to some State Department position, no cloture vote needed here.

    Not sure what the Senate will be doing Wednesday, all that they could vote on right now Wednesday would be the confirmation of the two Texas nominees, unless those get shunted to the two Thursday morning votes.

    Let’s hope for full attendance and cloture filed on an appeals court nominee for tomorrow…

    Liked by 1 person

  18. Dequan's avatar

    Didn’t Schumer send a reconsider motion for the Labor department nominee that Manchin & Menendez voted against earlier his year? I don’t think he has to send a cloture motion for him to get a cloture vote does he? If not, all they need to do is line Menendez pockets with a gold bar or two & I’m sure he would be happy to change his vote… Problem solved

    Like

  19. Zack's avatar

    I know the DC examiner is a right wing rag but yea..this is a self inflicted wound Mangi did that IMO throws a wrench into the WH’s recent defense of him and IMO makes it that much more unlikely he’ll get confirmed, as I can imagine some Democratic senators have to wonder what else he failed to mention at his hearing that could come out.

    Liked by 1 person

  20. Zack's avatar

    Can’t get the link to work but here’s the tweet that talks about the omission from the group Mangi worked with that he failed to talk about.

    Like I said, a self inflicted wound that could hurt him.

    Embattled Biden judicial nominee Adeel Mangi issued an apology to the Senate Judiciary Committee Saturday for failing to disclose his role at a 2022 event w/ anti-Israel activists.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Dequan's avatar

      I don’t think that will be a deal breaker for the WH to pull his nomination. Particularly with Biden’s standing in the Muslim community. If there are more than two Democrat senators refusing to vote for him, they need to find out ASAP so we can move on. But his replacement will likely be one of the bland other recommendations so I hope that is not the case.

      Liked by 1 person

    • Mitch's avatar

      I can see some Democratic Senators wavering now. A Muslim nominee having ties to terrorists (even if minor) and not disclosing it makes him and his supporters look very bad. Even if his involvement in the conference was innocent, the optics are terrible.

      Mangi was voted out of committee on a party-line vote, so don’t look for any Republicans to support him now. He needs every Democrat both supporting him and showing up for the vote. I’m not sure he’ll get that now.

      Liked by 2 people

      • Hank's avatar

        Not to mention, the source of that tweet is a writer for the right-wing trash rag The Washington Examiner. And the claim is that he…moderated an event by the National Association of Muslim Lawyers on Islamophobia? Dropping the first Muslim circuit nominee over that would just add fuel to the fire regarding anti-Biden sentiment Muslim voters.

        Some posters on this forum clearly want the Mangi nomination to fail (perhaps because they’re Islamophobic themselves, who knows). I think it’s possible that it still does (I’m sure Manchin is a no), but giving airtime to every right-wing smear is a waste of all of our time and energy.

        Liked by 4 people

      • Dequan's avatar

        This is why I give Mitch McConnell credit. He knew you don’t leave circuit court nominees pending for too long. You send their cloture motion up within a week or two of them getting voted out of the SJC. The real crime for Mangi (As well as Aframe & Berner) is that we are still talking about them getting a vote today. They should have already been voted on. This story wouldn’t have mattered had that occurred.

        Liked by 1 person

  21. lilee2122's avatar

    I think Mangi facilitated the discussion on Islamophobia in good faith when he was asked to… Kudos to him .. Trump got 7 WDPA judges confirmed. WDNY sits right above that.. I hope NY senators fill that seat soon and not with someone like Jennifer Reardon that Gillibrand suggested… I expect about 205 confirmations by end of June

    ..

    Liked by 3 people

  22. rob's avatar

    Another issue which we need to remember (and I feel will become a bigger problem as the election nears) is Biden’s travel itinerary and the need for senators to travel with him.

    Yesterday he was in New Hampshire so Senators Hassan/Shaheen missed the vote. Tomorrow he goes to Wisconsin and Thursday he is in Michigan I imagine Senators Baldwin/Stabenow and Peters will travel with him on those days.

    That means we cannot have any party line votes this week sadly. As also mentioned previous VP Harris is also travelling around the country this week. Hopefully we can get one party line vote done early part of next week before they turn to the passing the last bit of the budget.

    Liked by 3 people

    • tsb1991's avatar

      I know Peters voted yesterday but not Stabenow. Baldwin did vote but I sure hope she didn’t make the trip down to DC yesterday to cast one vote where she wasn’t needed to head back home.

      Don’t we have Gretchen Whitmer and Tony Evers as messengers in Michigan and Wisconsin? Can’t they coordinate events when the Senate isn’t in session? They’re out for two weeks after the end of next week.

      We’ll see who votes today. In addition to the Republicans who voted for her on the SJC and Collins/Murkowski, Yoon also got the support of Rounds and McConnell.

      Liked by 1 person

  24. Zack's avatar

    Jasmine Yoon has been confirmed.
    Now onto Sunil R. Harjani who when confirmed will fill a judicial emergency in the NDIL before going onto Melissa R. DuBose.
    After Sean Maloney’s confirmation, I imagine we will see the two Texas nominees come up for a vote and after that, Robert White of Michigan.
    Hopefully by Thursday we will see cloture filed on a Circuit court nominee.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Dequan's avatar

      If you go by the day the nomination was announced, no. Jasmine Yoon’s announcement was January 10th, 62 days ago. Roopali Desai’s nomination was announced June 22, 2022 & she was confirmed 50 days later on August 4th. She didn’t get commission until October 3rd however.

      Liked by 1 person

  27. Zack's avatar

    Melissa DuBose will also be the first lesbian on the District Court of Rhode Island which matters as well.
    Shows that being LGBT isn’t a disqualifying factor like it used to be to a degree and that being a judge isn’t closed off for you the way it once was.

    Liked by 2 people

    • Zack's avatar

      @ Dequan I believe this will put their majority at just one Republican.
      Ironic that Ken Buck was once the far right and was so extreme he cost Republicans what should have been a slam dunk Senate pick up in Colorado back in 2010 and is now seen by some to be a moderate.
      Shows you how far the Republican Party has moved to the right.

      Liked by 2 people

    • tsb1991's avatar

      The House is currently 219R-213D with 3 vacancies (2Rs and a D). The D vacancy will be filled first in a late April special election (it’s a solid Democratic district so the Democrat should be favored to hold it). That means following the Buck resignation (which the seat wouldn’t be filled for several months at most) and that special election, there will be a short period with the House at 218R-214D.

      As far as today’s Senate absences, given there’s 2 Ds and 2 Rs out, maybe it’s some bipartisan visit someplace?

      Liked by 2 people

    • tsb1991's avatar

      As I talk about absences Sinema did show up to vote to confirm Harjani. If Shaheen is able to show up or at least tell Schumer she’ll be in at some point we’d have full attendance and could salvage a big vote on Thursday (that’s assuming Stabenow and Peters don’t peace out for a Biden Michigan trip).

      Liked by 1 person

  29. aangren's avatar

    Please can someone knowledgeable on this issue refute this and provide the evidence, ive long said this account is a partisan right wing hack pretending to be on the straight and narrow. What instances can you give where GOP senators refused to issue blue slips and now its all GOP courts? This poster will have you believe its only the democrats that are doing it

    Like

  30. aangren's avatar

    https://twitter.com/fedjudges/status/1767602154888364118

    Apparently my previous comment are awaiting moderation and was not able to be posted, so will try this again.Please who can refute this nonsense by @fedjudges john doe twitter X account, i have long suspected this guy to be a partisan hack masquerading as a fair and balanced individual on the straight and arrow. He lays the feet at the democrats for why blue slips for the district court judges will be strip by the senate

    Please give instances where GOP senators blocked their nominees on the district court seats and now its all GOP court, or ”almost all” I want to refute this nonsense.

    Liked by 1 person

  31. aangren's avatar

    Please dequan can you list several examples to refute this nonsense? Which district court seats where GOP senators blocked obama and now its entirely all GOP bench or ”nearly all GOP” bench in his terms. I will wager the GOP side is even higher than for the democrats.

    The guy isnt credible

    Liked by 1 person

    • Dequan's avatar

      The Republicans left countless seats vacant when Obama was president that Trump got to fill. Just in Texas alone there were numerous. I don’t get how @fedjudges John Doe could come to this conclusion. He’s usually pretty reliable but of course as I said above I haven’t been able to follow him post Musk takeover of Twitter.

      Liked by 1 person

    • Frank's avatar

      If you look at the appointing president, and ignore everything else, the following courts only have active judges nominated by a Democratic president:

      W.D. Ark.

      E.D. Cal.

      N.D. Cal.

      C.D. Ill.

      S.D. Iowa

      M.D. La.

      D. Mont.

      D. Nev

      D.S.D.

      D. Vt.

      E.D. Wash.

      W.D. Wash.

      W.D. Wis.

      The following courts only have active judges nominated by a Republican president:

      M.D. Ala.

      S.D. Ala.

      S.D. Ga.

      E.D. Ky.

      E.D.N.C.

      D.N.D.

      E.D. Okla.

      W.D. Okla.

      It should be noted there there were several other courts with only 1 judge nominated by either a Democratic or Republican president (CT, N.D. Fla, KN, ME, MD, W.D. Mich., N.D. Tex., etc), but these examples were pretty common across party lines with no real edge for either side. Several of the above examples are also courts with only a small number of judgeships, so I advise not taking too much stock into it. All in all, I don’t completely agree with Doe on all of his analysis, but he isn’t completely off base here, even if I don’t share his political views completely. I do think that the issue has the potential to get worse in the coming years.

      Liked by 1 person

  32. rob's avatar

    I have just seen that Senate Republicans are at their annual retreat tomorrow that’s why no votes have been set up.

    Maybe the Dems are having their’s tomorrow as well as it was postponed because of the Ukraine/Israel aid vote.

    Liked by 1 person

  33. Zack's avatar

    John Doe judges does have good info but even before Musk, his partisan bias showed through.
    There were tweets where he barely hid his contempt at Democrats playing by the same rules Republicans did on blue slips on Circuit court seats or laughably suggesting Democrats nominate folks who were basically Republicans to them as a shown of conformity.
    Also, as Dequan pointed out, Republicans left district court seats in TX as well as in FL/AL/NE/KS/SC/NC all open for a Republican to fill.
    And of course, the Circuit court seats.
    Bottom line, John Doe is a right wing hack and he’s only gotten worse since Musk took over.

    Liked by 4 people

      • Frank's avatar

        That is quite the selection bias, no? I don’t agree with him completely, but he is no hack. Some posters here were thinking along the same lines after those comments were made, but that doesn’t make them hacks either. Just because someone is further to the right than you are doesn’t mean they don’t have a fair viewpoint. As someone who follows them on X, I don’t think he’s right on everything but the idea that anyone who speaks a right-espousing opinion is a hack is quite the overuse of the term.

        Liked by 1 person

      • Jamie's avatar

        Hack might be too strong, but there were several tweets that were dripping with partisan or ideological bias. On several occasions he assigned ill motive to someone/people whom he disagreed with. And he’s particularly this way when discussing anything regarding race, diversity, or affirmative action related.
        There are plenty of people to the right of me that are pretty fair. I’m not convinced that he is one of them.

        Liked by 2 people

    • Hank's avatar

      Yeah ignore Frank (who could be John Doe for all we know) – that John Doe account’s definitely run by a Republican hack. Who else whines about Dem senators holding district seats open (which in WA and NJ was in response to the Trump admin going forward with appellate nominees despite the lack of blue slips) while ignoring the all-Republican districts and the antics of the likes of Blackburn.

      Also, his incessant tweets on affirmative action/race indicate he’s some mediocre white (or maybe Asian) guy who didn’t get into whatever college/law school he felt entitled to attend and, instead of working on his own failures, is still blaming people of color for it.

      Liked by 1 person

      • Thomas's avatar

        I can’t praise Murray and Cantwell let the Eastern District of Washington run out of judges and condenming McConnell for doing it on another level.

        Both is wrong and some people here are really apply double standards.

        Warning about John Doe seems also exaggerated to me, I also don’t share some of his opinion, but some people just feel well in the echo chamber – reading something or following somebody who has another option doesn’t make you to a MAGA Republican.

        On the Central District of California, yes, Trump was able to fill four vacancies at the end of his term, but the court still had six vacancies then, and nine judges eligible for senior status, and as we know, most of them are 75+, there was another two years Biden could fill the next posts and the court is still not at a full completement today. So it was necessary to keep the court running.

        So many folks have absolutely no interest in keeping the courts running and just see them as tool to play tactical games. They think it’s fine that other people have to wait for years for their day in court. I don’t so.

        Liked by 2 people

  34. keystone's avatar

    Whoa – Manchin is a no on DuBose

    But Collins is a Yes.. so her track record of supporting LGBT noms continues. I’m still optimistic on her supporting Berner.

    BTW Collins and Warren were surprisingly chumming on the floor ahead of the vote. The New England Senators all seem to be incredibly close. or at leas have really strong rapport with one another.

    Liked by 1 person

  35. tsb1991's avatar

    Interesting vote combo on the DuBose cloture thus far. Manchin and Murkowski a no, Collins and Graham a yes.

    If the parties are having their retreat tomorrow that might also explain the Maloney vote tonight, typically the Senate doesn’t have two 5:30PM votes, no? The vote will be after DuBose is confirmed.

    If the Senate isn’t around tomorrow, the WDTX nominees could be the Thursday morning votes, leaving Thursday afternoon open. Wrap-up tonight probably won’t be until around 8PM to find out what’s going on tomorrow and Thursday.

    On the Harjani vote, it was 53-46, Shaheen being the only absence.

    Liked by 5 people

  36. star0garnet's avatar

    As to why district blue slips might be doomed under the next GOP senate, the GOP currently controls 43% of blue slips, and will control somewhere from 39% to 52% after the election. If only Manchin’s seat changes hands in January, the GOP will still be at 43%, and I get the distinct impression that they’re frustrated by that. It’s also not hard to imagine a scenario in a decade where they control half the senate and only 29% of blue slips.

    Liked by 1 person

  38. Zack's avatar

    On a different note, Harjani fills a judicial emergency from NDIL, an emergency that emerged despite Obama Judge Thomas M. Durkin only taking senior status in late December.
    When we wonder how so people get confirmed faster/leapfrog over others before seats are even open or they were just nominated, this is another reason why in addition to the others mentioned earlier.
    I suspect once she has her hearing, Georgia Alexakis will likely have the same fast track to confirmation given Durbin being the chair and him not wanting to see two possible judicial emergencies pop up in his state in a short amount of time.

    Liked by 1 person

  40. tsb1991's avatar

    Schumer wrapping up. Cloture filed on Berner! I knew it was Berner before the announcement since I know the executive calendar numbers of the pending appeals court nominees (460 is Aframe, 461 Berner, 462 Mangi).

    Didn’t someone here raise the possibility of the Senate voting on LGBT judges on the same week (DuBose and Berner)? Whoever did, come up and claim your prize lol.

    Senate won’t be back Wednesday, looks like another confirmation vote on a nominee without cloture, but not either of the Texas nominees. Berner cloture vote will be the last vote on Thursday.

    Schumer was on his phone before wrapping up, maybe it was an attendance check call lol.

    Liked by 2 people

    • Dequan's avatar

      Haaaaaa… I knew most of the executive numbers before the new year but not as much so now. But I will definitely keep #461 & #462 in mind.

      I’m usually not a fan of non judicial or non cabinet secretaries taking up floor time but the Haiti ambassador is important with everything going on so I’m happy to see Schumer tee that nomination up as well.

      I’m not worried about the Texas nominees not getting a vote this week. As long as they agreed to fast track them without a cloture vote I don’t care when they get confirmed this year. Just saving the time is most important.

      Like

      • tsb1991's avatar

        And while not a judicial nominee, I believe Maloney who was just confirmed before the wrap-up is also LGBT, who was just confirmed, so you could make the case of this being LGBT week in the Senate week lol.

        On the topic of ambassadors, doesn’t Rand Paul have a hold on most of them, or is this a separate hold? I wish there was some site or someone who was keeping track of holds (like Vance’s holds on DOJ nominees). I remember a hold being released right before the August break last summer that got a ton of ambassadors confirmed. I’ve noticed the ambassadors who did get voice voted the past few months were typically one at a time, or voted on when there was an urgent need for an ambassador (like confirming Jack Lew to be the Israel ambassador).

        There’s also the possibility of new nominations tomorrow, but they’re absolutely not needed until next week and the White House likes to give people heartburn on whether or not we’ll get nominees for a hearing slot, so I’d bank on nominees next week and not tomorrow.

        Liked by 2 people

  43. Hank's avatar

    Hopefully the Dems are finally turning their focus to the appellate judges – interesting that they skipped Aframe (for now) and went with Berner first, as I would’ve thought Aframe would be the easier confirmation. Fingers crossed that Mangi is up next and then Aframe after that, if for no other reason than not having to read more Islamophobic BS from that disgusting hag Carrie Severino and her cronies.

    Will Maldonado’s SJC hearing be next week? Ideally the Dems will expedite her confirmation they way they did with Yoon/Harjani/DuBose – I’d like to see a nominee to replace her real soon.

    I’m not sure what the point of prioritizing a Haitian ambassador is when there is essentially no Haitian government for him to work with at this point – and the fact that this isn’t a voice vote is even dumber.

    Liked by 1 person

  45. Zack's avatar

    Happy to see Berner finally get teed up for confirmation but I hope she’s the last late 50’s nominee we get.
    As for next week, all the remaining nominees should get hearings.
    If Rebecca Kanter isn’t at the next hearing, then something’s up.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Dequan's avatar

      100% agree with everything Zack Jones said. I gave Berner an A+ because if she’s not one who is. But that has to be the last over 55 circuit court nominee with a Democrat majority.

      And absolutely right about Kanter. No Biden nominee has missed three hearings & still had one. I can’t imagine what the issue could be with her but there’s no time to wait & find out. Any Wamble-esse nominees need to be pulled & replaced at this point.

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  46. Zack's avatar

    @Dequan, yup and that includes Mangi for the 3rd Circuit.
    The fact he had to apologize for failing to disclose something to the judiciary committee this week is not a good look.
    I’m aware there are folks doing a hatchet job on him which is why he needed to be ahead of the latest stuff and he wasn’t.
    I hope he will still get confirmed but more then ever, I don’t think he will unless it’s in the lame duck period.

    Liked by 1 person

  47. Mike S.'s avatar

    My guess is Berner will be easier to confirm than Aframe and Mangi. I am thinking Berner will draw support in a similar way that Rikelman did when she was confirmed.

    I hope the focus is on appellate court judges for the next three weeks. I believe Aframe and Mangi will both be confirmed in due time, its just a matter of timing the votes right for any absenteeism on the Republican side. Better to get those two tough votes out of the way, along with the party line district court judges, as far ahead of the election as possible, for folks like Tester and Brown.

    Would be nice to see nominees tomorrow… we shall see. Who do we think the next appellate court nominee will be? I am thinking a nominee in Maine could be forthcoming soon. Anyone wanna take a guess who that might be?

    I must be a huge federal courts nerd because there is nothing as exciting as a nomination drop from the White House on a Wednesday morning… haha!

    Liked by 4 people

      • Dequan's avatar

        For the 6th (Strickly my guesses as to who will be picked, not who I personally want to see picked…

        4th – I think it will end up being somebody not on our radar. If I had to pick a known person to the blog, I would go with Dena King with a backup choice of Michael F. Easley Jr.

        6th – Camille McMullen or Kevin Ritz & Henry Leventis, Tricia Herzfeld or J. Gerard Stranch IV.

        11th – Markenzy Lapointe. He isn’t who I would want but with a Black man vacating the seat & all the things going on in Haiti, I could see rubio pushing hard for him & Biden accepting the offer.

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      • Hank's avatar

        Lapointe makes no sense to me – What do events in Haiti (which are barely making the news) have to do with the choice of a circuit judge in Florida? When has Rubio ever shown that he cares even remotely about Haiti? Why would either Republican senator agree to move Central Florida’s only circuit seat to South Florida, which already has the majority of Florida’s circuit seats?

        Nor does Lipez – why would Collins sign off on a 40-year-old when, given her willingness to vote for Biden’s nominees, the WH is likely to sign off on whoever she wants that isn’t a Fed Soc Republican? And for that matter, why would the WH pick a random state-court trial judge whose name would raise questions of nepotism?

        Liked by 2 people

      • Dequan's avatar

        From my understanding, Rubio is high on Lapointe. And a reason Rubio would agree to move a central Florida seat to South Florida is because he’s from South Florida. Lapointe is in his mid 50’s & is already a senate confirmed US Attorney. I doubt Rubio cares about Haiti but if he could use the events their as leverage to get a barely left of center nominee in his mid 50’s versus a liberal in his 40’s, I am sure Biden would go for it.

        Again, he isn’t who I would pick. I am just saying that is my guess. The same thing with Nancy Maldonado. Nico Martinez was who I wanted but I picked her as the most likely to get the nomination.

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      • Gavi's avatar

        I agree, Hank, some of these predictions are quite out there.

        Let’s not forget that Rubio isn’t the only FL senator. The other one won’t so quickly give away a central FL seat. Biden doesn’t have to listen to either, but we know that he will.

        Also, Dequan, it looks like you are dramatically scaling back your prediction for this vacancy by now going with Markenzy Lapointe. Previously, you argued that you think Biden will go all out and name a stellar nominee to this FL circuit seat. I’d love to know what changed. Just vibes?

        On the 6th, as I’ve said before, I highly doubt it’ll be Camille McMullen. Why would it take so long to name her?

        Liked by 1 person

      • keystone's avatar

        An issue with Lipez is that she fairly recently presided over a case involving a mother whose 14-month old child died from fentanyl ingestion. There was a lot of press arguing that the sentence was light. The grandmother in the case did a lot of interviews saying that she wanted her daughter to have a harsher sentence. I understand the ruling, but it’s an upsetting, tragic, and controversial case and is sure to set off fireworks at a judiciary meeting. If Collins backed her, I’m sure the Dems could get her confirmed, but I think it would be tight. I like Lipez, but I was hoping the Maine seat would be an easy confirmation given the rest of the seats they need to fill.

        McElwee is a good candidate who has previously been confirmed and who has hometown/family connections to Collins. I believe McElwee would be the first woman that Maine has sent to the Circuit Court, I could see that getting points in Collins’ book.

        As for the other seats, I think the WH will make an effort to try to get Senator sign off. They may succeed in a few cases, but I think there will be a few where they move forward with out sign off. Due to tight voting numbers, they aren’t going to go with super left candidates. They’ll go with candidates who can get through a hearing fairly unscathed and who they can make an argument to Manchin, Collins, and Murkowski that they are solid and uncontroversial. I think NC has the best shot at a brokered signed off candidate.

        For Florida, I just have a hard time believing they’ll move that seat. I know that Rubio is from Miami but that would put 4 of the 5 Florida seats in southern Florida. I think WH will push Stacie Harris. She was up for MDFL US Attorney. Her career has been spent almost entirely with the Justice Dept. She’s been a bit of a pioneer in combatting trafficking, which we saw in the SOTU response is gonna be an election issue one way or another. She even got an award from then governor Rick Scott commending her for her work on trafficking. That’s a package I think some combo of Manchin, Collins, Murkowski could go for.

        I’m torn on McMullen. Gavi makes a strong point about how if she’s the pick, we’d have prob seen her by now. However, I can still see a scenario where the WH tries to negotiate w the Senators and hits a breaking point where they put forward a candidate they can sell through to a combo of those 3 senators. I think the “the Senators previously said said she was qualified for a Circuit seat and the GOP Governor shortlisted her for a TNSC seat (I realize it was prob a token nom but it still goes on the resume) could be a persuasive argument.

        Liked by 2 people

      • Dequan's avatar

        If the WH was smart they would leverage the four open district court seats to or threaten to nominate a hardline nominee for the 11th. I’m just saying that & the rest are my best guesses for who the nominee will eventually be similar to Maldonado versus who I want similar to Nico Martinez. And this WH has moved situations for circuit court seats before such as in the 2nd in New York which is why I wouldn’t rule it out again. But I would love to be wrong so let’s see.

        Like

    • Jamie's avatar

      “My guess is Berner will be easier to confirm than Aframe and Mangi. I am thinking Berner will draw support in a similar way that Rikelman did when she was confirmed.”

      I agree with you, but this shocks me though. Berner is very possibly a couple shades to the left of Aframe and Mangi. I really expected a 50/50 vote on her, but given that she didn’t get a single question on her Planned Parenthood work, I guess the GOP found targeting others more lucrative.

      Liked by 1 person

      • Ryan J's avatar

        Ok, upon looking it up, I see that the GOP went after him as being “soft on crime” in which he recommended a 30-year sentence for a man convicted of sexually assaulting a minor. Sexual assault goes unpunished way too often, and I think that many sexual assault sentences (such as Brock Turner’s 3 months) are WAYYY too short. But I agree with Aframe’s recommendation; 30 years is a reasonably harsh sentence for sexually assaulting a minor, and not soft-on-crime by any means.

        Liked by 1 person

      • keystone's avatar

        It’s funny bc I think that some of Berner’s biggest “liabilities” are actually some of her biggest “assets” towards getting confirmed. 1) The Planned Parenthood connection, which they didn’t attack but earns points among Collins and Murkowski. 2) I think the committee went after her over some Kavanaugh stuff (Since Murkowski voted against him and Collins has made it clear she regrets that her vote for him, I could see that being a plus in their books).

        Liked by 1 person

    • Hank's avatar

      Yeah even setting aside the fact that Rick Scott has as much/as little input as Rubio in this process, I don’t buy “Rubio’s from South Florida so he’s going to move all the circuit nominees to be from there.” For example, the Indiana nominees were both from Indianapolis/southern Indiana, yet they didn’t push for Kanne’s successor to come from SDIN (which much more populous/economically important to the state). And most Murray/Cantwell were from Seattle but agreed to Mendoza (and EDWA judge) for the WA seat on CA9 because there hadn’t been a circuit judge from Eastern Washington in a long time (if ever).

      If one of the Florida US Attorneys gets the nomination, it’s more likely to be Roger Handberg from MDFL. In addition to the geography making sense, the FL senators will probably assume (whether fairly or not) that Handberg is more moderate because he’s an old white guy.

      I wouldn’t hold the timing against McMullen’s chances – it’s Blackburn, so you know she’s going to try and stall for as long as the WH lets her. I’m just not convinced Blackburn would’ve actually signed off on McMullen and wasn’t just pretending to as a basis to oppose Mathis, and Ritz seems more plausible because Blackburn actually signed off on him for a position (and Ritz is a safer bet to keep Gibbons from retracting)

      Liked by 2 people

  48. Dequan's avatar

    I really hope if the next batch is in the next 8 hours or a week from now, we get some nominees for the local DC courts. The DC court of appeals still has two vacancies & the Superior Court of DC has 4 vacancies without a nominee. These should be low hanging fruit for Biden to fill. The DC court of appeals could be a launching pad for elevation if Biden could fill one or both of those vacancies with young progressives.

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