On July 3, 2024, President Biden announced his intent to nominate Ryan Y. Park, the Solicitor General of North Carolina, to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. If confirmed, Park would become the first Asian American, Native American or Pacific Islander to serve on the court. (1)
Background
Park is the son of Korean immigrants that emigrated from South Korea to North Carolina in the 1970s. His mom attended East Carolina University as an international student, eventually graduating with a degree in library science. The family settled in St. Paul, Minnesota, where Park was raised. He has written about his strict upbringing by his “authoritarian father”, citing examples such as, “marching through the snow, reciting multiplication tables” and having to stand “at attention at the crack of dawn reading the newspaper aloud, with each stumble earning a stinging rebuke. (2)
Park graduated from Amherst College in 2005, receiving his Bachelor of Arts. From 2006 to 2007, he would return to South Korea after he received a Fulbright Scholarship to teach English at a boys’ school. He returned to the United States of America, eventually graduating from Harvard Law School in 2010 with a Juris Doctor, summa cum laude.
Park served as a law clerk for Judge Jed S. Rakoff on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York from 2010 to 2011, Judge Robert A. Katzmann on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from 2011 to 2012, and for both U.S. Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Justice David H. Souter from 2013 to 2014. He worked in the Office of the Legal Adviser at the U.S. Department of State from 2012 to 2013 and then as an associate at Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP from 2014 to 2017. Park served as Deputy Solicitor General of North Carolina from 2017 to 2020. On March 18, 2020, North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein announced that Park would become the Solicitor General of North Carolina on March 31st. (3) After his clerkship ended at the U.S. Supreme Court, Park took a short break from his career to be a stay-at-home dad after the birth of his daughter. (4)
History of the vacancy
On January 5, 2024, Judge James Wynn Jr. notified the White House he will be taking senior status upon the confirmation of his successor. This created a future vacancy for his seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit based in Raleigh, NC. President Biden announced his intent to nominate Park to Wynn’s seat. The court was once considered one of the most conservative of the nation’s 13 circuit courts. President Obama was able to put seven judges on the 15-judge court, including Judge Wynn. If confirmed, Ryan Park would be President Biden’s fourth judge on the court that covers the states of Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia.
Legal Experience
In addition to his position as the Solicitor General of North Carolia, Park lectures at Duke University and teaches at UNC Law School.(5)
In November 2019, Park delivered an argument to the U.S. Supreme Court in Allen v. Cooper. Serving in his capacity as Deputy Solicitor General, Park defended North Carolina’s sovereign immunity from a copyright lawsuit, eventually winning the case. (6)
On October 31, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments for Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina Oral Argument. As Solicitor General, Park represented the state concerning the UNC’s race-conscious admissions policy, among the factors used in UNC’s holistic applicant review. (7) Both Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College and Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina (8) were decided jointly on June 29, 2023, with the Court ruling in a 6-3 decision that race-based admissions adopted by both Harvard University and UNC were unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The U.S. Supreme Court effectively overruled Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978) and Grutter v. Bollinger (2003), which validated some affirmative action in college admissions provided that race had a limited role in decisions.
State v. Oldroyd was a 2022 case which involved the 1996 ambush murder of Jonesville, NC police Sgt. Gregory K. Martin. The case remained unsolved until 2014, when the people responsible for the murder were arrested, charged and convicted. One of the accomplices appealed his conviction, and the state Court of Appeals agreed and vacated the defendant’s conviction. Park appealed the case to the North Carolina Supreme Court, serving as lead counsel, which resulted in the decision being overturned and the accomplice set to serve his full sentence. (9)
Statements and Writings
Park has written numerous articles during his legal career.
- What Ruth Bader Ginsburg Taught Me About Being A Stay-At-Home Dad (10)
- The Supremely Old, Supremely Sharp, Supreme Court (11)
- Why So Many Young Doctors Work Such Awful Hours (12)
- My Friend and Boss, Ruth Bader Ginsburg (13)
Overall Assessment
Ryan Park is the third state Solicitor General that President Biden has nominated to a U.S. circuit court of appeals. Unlike the previous two, Toby Heytens and Anthony Johnstone, both of Park’s home state senators Thom Tillis and Ted Budd announced opposition to his nomination. The same day Park was nominated, Senators Tillis and Budd released the following statement…“This nomination is a non-starter and the White House has already been informed they do not have the votes for confirmation. While the White House has fallen short of engaging the advice and consent process in good faith for North Carolina’s judicial vacancies, we still hope to work together to find a consensus nominee who can earn bipartisan support and be confirmed.” (14) Both senators released an earlier joint statement regarding the vacancy, “While we have not yet been able to reach a consensus choice with the White House for the Fourth Circuit vacancy, we will continue our discussions in good faith to identify and agree upon a nominee.” (15)At a senate judiciary committee hearing earlier in the year, senator Tillis gave more detail into the talks with The White House regarding the vacancy stating, “The White House tried to jam him on a Fourth Circuit nominee.” A White House official disputed that characterization, arguing that the administration sought Tillis’ input on vacancies in North Carolina and the Fourth Circuit, including offering four candidates for the North Carolina senators’ consideration and considering four of their candidates. The administration chose to proceed with one of their candidates. (16)
Park’s confirmation may come down to another statement Senator Tillis has made regarding the nomination. Tillis stated he has two Democrat senators that have informed him they will not vote for the nominee The White House choose. With Democrats having a 51-49 majority in the U.S. senate, if Tillis is correct, that would dramatically reduce the chances of Park being confirmed this term. The White House would either need to convince a Republican senator to vote to confirm Park, schedule the cloture & confirmation votes for Park on days where the senate attendance would have one of the senators voting no to miss the votes or convince one of the two Democrat senators Tillis has gotten commitments from to vote no, to change their minds and vote yes. With Park achieving the law clerk trifecta of clerking on all three levels of the federal judiciary, along with being a Solicitor General who has argued cases at the U.S. Supreme Court, he should be able to hit the ground running on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals if he is confirmed. As the youngest of President Biden’s eight Asian American, Native American or Pacific Islander nominees to the federal circuit courts, Park could find himself on the short list for a Democrat president looking to nominate the first Asian American Justice to the U.S. Supreme Court for decades to come.
References
- https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2024/07/03/president-biden-names-fifty-second-round-of-judicial-nominees/
- https://archive.is/sD5M8
- https://ncdoj.gov/attorney-general-josh-stein-announces-transitions-in-solicitor-generals-office/
- https://archive.is/ssHis
- https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2022/10/28/sffa-meet-the-lawyers/
- https://www.ncbar.org/nc-lawyer/2021-02/ryan-park/
- https://www.c-span.org/video/?523317-1/students-fair-admissions-v-university-north-carolina-oral-argument
- Court will hear affirmative-action challenges separately, allowing Jackson to participate in UNC case – SCOTUSblog
- https://archive.is/jPIGw#selection-1233.91-1233.289
- https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/01/what-ruth-bader-ginsburg-taught-me-about-being-a-stay-at-home-dad/384289/
- https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/02/supreme-court-justices-mental-sharpness/470175/
- https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/02/doctors-long-hours-schedules/516639/
- https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2020/09/ruth-bader-ginsburg-shaped-me-lawyer-and-father/616490/
- https://www.tillis.senate.gov/2024/7/tillis-and-budd-joint-statement-on-4th-circuit-nomination
- https://archive.is/Smi5S#selection-1199.194-1199.393
- https://www.politico.com/news/2024/05/22/biden-judges-trump-election-00159358
The Vetting Room 
Great writeup here as always Dequan. I had no idea about his upbringing, which probably influences judges more than we talk about. Park is certainly a contentious nominee due in part to his youth and connection to the affirmative action cases but he seems well qualified nonetheless. I’m not convinced he’ll be confirmed in this Congress but depending on the result of the election he may be renominated in the next Congress.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I also agree with Frank. Great writeup. I was hoping that he might have a chance this term, but with all that is going on, it probably will be delayed.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Then hearing on Wednesday will be fun.
LikeLiked by 1 person
One thing I will say is that Tillis made those comments several weeks ago when Biden was still in the race. With Harris as the nominee, I think we’re seeing a lot of AAPI organizing this cycle and I think that that community may flex their political muscles more in this election than we’ve seen before. If there are Dem senators who are opposed, I think we need to name them and shame them.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I do wonder how firm those supposed commitments to Tillis were.
If it’s just Manchin/Sinema, I think there may still be a path to confirm Park this cycle. Sinema for one is chronically absent, so they could always schedule a vote in December on a late Thursday when she’ll already be on a flight out of DC. Several Rs may be absent during the dead period too.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I only realized that this was a Dequan writeup when I got to the part with the heavy emphasis on race (list of racial firsts for CA4). I thought it was out of character for Harsh, so I scrolled back up to confirm the author.
I’ll repeat what I’ve said a few times before, as good a nominee as Park is, I don’t see him getting confirmed this congress. You either have to believe that Tillis is an idiot who is grossly overestimating the assurances he got from the 2 Dems or take him at his word. The former would be such an unnecessary own goal for Tillis to repeatedly and publicly make his statements only to be contradicted.
And I wouldn’t assume that the lame duck period would free the 2 Dems from their commitment to Tillis. Like for Mangi, absence is the only way I see Park getting confirmed. Naming the 2 Dems is a double-edged sword. As we’ve seen time and time again, even on here, people don’t like being called out for being wrong or whatever. They tend to double down and dig in.
This is a good nominee and even if he’s not confirmed, I am glad Biden made it. But let’s not kid ourselves about this nomination breaking through into the news. The Mexican/Latino-American orgs have far more power than AAPI orgs. But even so, Saenz advocacy for more Latino appeals court judges went only as far as the legalsphere. As someone who appreciates good strategy, even when it’s against my interests, I have to recognize the NC senators’ effective approach. Dems need to watch and learn.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m sure one of the reasons Republicans are desperate to block this nomination is that he’d be a surefire SCOTUS candidate in a future Democrat administration.
LikeLiked by 1 person
This is the main reason why they oppose Park. Park could have had Embry Kidd’s background in a blue state and they would have still opposed him for this reason.
LikeLiked by 1 person
If Tillis really does have 2 Democrats who have committed to voting against Park, well that is simply pathetic. For 2 Democrats (likely His Holiness Manchin and Ms Fashion Sinema) to come out against a nominee who hasn’t even had a hearing, but have committed to voting no just to be liked by a Republican is once again, pathetic.
LikeLiked by 2 people
This will get a party-line vote in committee. After that, he’ll have a difficult confirmation.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I understand why the GOP wouldn’t love Park in theory, but what is the argument against him?
Going off of the State v. Oldroyd case, I don’t see them making him out to be anti-police. I don’t think he’d be involved in any sort of child abuse case rulings (another favorite line of attack). I see that he’s given speeches at the Constitution Society , but I don’t think he’s a member (could be wrong) and he’s similarly given speeches at the Federalist Society.
Is it really just the fact that he argued the Affirmative Action case?
Also, well put, @Rick. It’s really bad form to say you’ll volte against someone before they’ve even presented their case. At this point, I think pretty much every senator on both sides has voted for at least one judge who didn’t have sign off form a home state senator, so we need a better reason.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I agree. This is a great write-up by Dequan.
…and BTW, for whatever my 2 cents are worth, Dequan I appreciate the ethical code that restrains you from commenting under your own write-ups. But as long as you’re not TRUMPeting how great your own write up is, I don’t think any of us has a problem with you contributing under your own write-ups.
If anything, don’t comment specifically on the judge you wrote up (Park in this case). But feel free to comment on other judges as well as contributing to our general discussions.
Fair enough?
LikeLiked by 1 person
I agree, Ads.
I think it’s strange to limit his engagement on his write ups. We never only discuss the subject of the write up. In fact, we often move on to other topics other than the subject of the write up soon after it’s published. It’s one thing to say he can’t comment on the subject of his write up, it’s quite another thing to say he can’t comment on ANYTHING under his writeup. Maybe it’s just me, but I generally look askance at rules and such that are overly officious for no reason, even voluntary ones.
Anyway, I suppose the next post is only a few days ago.
LikeLike
Can’t the VP choice come from somewhere other than the US Senate. If a President Harris has to deal with the GOP led senate, her first 2 years will looks like Obama’s last 2 years where the GOP controlled both chambers and nothing got done
https://politicalwire.com/2024/07/29/gary-peters-emerges-as-dark-horse-vp-candidate/
LikeLiked by 1 person
If it’s Mark Kelly, the Gov. Katie Hobbs makes the appointment until the next general election. So the earliest a R could flip that seat would be late November 2026.
In Michigan, I am not 100% sure of the law. Gary Peters is up in 2026 anyway, though. You would have the risk of a special election sometime in 2025 most likely plus have to re defend the seat in 2026. That would be a potential land mine in a swing state. 2026 would have no Whitmer on the ballot to help out either (unless of course she is the nominee herself, which is very possible).
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s possible Park’s nomination might play out like Nancy Maldonado’s did, where even though Manchin and Sinema voted against her there were enough Republican absences to get over the line anyway.
If nothing else, I don’t see Manchin sticking around long after he leaves the Senate anyway so it’s possible he won’t be an issue at all in the lame duck.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s my thinking (well my hope, anyway) Zach.
Looks like Schumer filed cloture on Vacca, Sapporito, and a Navy nomination. So we’ll get three judges this week. That’ll likely be it until September
LikeLiked by 2 people
Landy confirmed. Cloture filed on Vacca, Saporito, a State Dept. nominee, and on a Tax Credit bill (might be that tax bill the House passed on a bipartisan vote but Republicans want to block in the Senate).
LikeLiked by 1 person
On the wrap-up, Neumann will be confirmed tomorrow and the Senate will vote to pass that bill that cloture was invoked Thursday. Another note on that tax bill that shouldn’t be surprising is that I believe several Republican Senators are holding out on supporting the bill in hopes that they’ll hold the White House and Congress next year so that they can ditch this bill in favor of a tax bill entirely on their terms (meaning the Child Tax Credit stuff gets axed and more tax cuts go to the super rich).
LikeLiked by 1 person
Surprised they skipped over Abelson, although I guess NY and PA have more vacancies to fill than MD.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Was looking up the District Of Maine and Jon Levy is taking inactive status so while he’s not outright retiring (yet) he won’t be hearing any new cases any time soon.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Am I reading this wrong…Why does the cloture motions 118 list have Neumans pin number twice , once for Neuman and also it’s the Pin next to Vacca?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Senate ready to vote on cloture on Neumann, the first district court nominee to be voted on since May. Susan Collins giving a speech of support before the cloture vote. If I recall only Angus King introduced Neumann at her SJC hearing, right? The support from Collins isn’t surprising as Neumann never would have been giving a hearing if Collins didn’t return a blue slip.
The biggest question would be if Collins supports Lipez. I’d still be surprised if she didn’t, because I’m sure Collins is the one Republican Senator Biden would not do an end-around on when picking a nominee, and Collins has a lower bar for supporting a Democratic president’s judges than pretty much every other Republican Senator.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’d be pretty shocked if Collins hadn’t given at least tepid approval to Lipez. The WH wouldn’t burn a bridge like that unless she was being completely unreasonable and we all know from her history that isn’t the case.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Cloture invoked on Neumann. The only Republican vote outside of the four expected yes votes (Graham, Collins, Murkowski, and Tillis, who did vote for her in the SJC) was Wicker, so we’re good for the vote later on.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Romney didn’t vote. Is he gonna be at the Olympics all week?
Also, looks like Ossoff and Warnock didn’t vote. Guessing they are at the Harris ATL event.
And Just Dance Vance is also out on the campaign trail.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh wow, I didn’t even think about the fact that JD Vance is going to be out on the campaign for most of the next few months…sure wish the Dems had planned around that to take advantage of -1 GOP vote.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Schumer wrapped up. Vacca and Saporito will be confirmed tomorrow, and maybe a cloture vote on the State Dept. nominee as well.
Still waiting to see the nominations posted for tomorrow’s SJC hearing, just to rule out any surprises, with Perry and Conway.
Shouldn’t have any more cloture motions sent out until Thursday, which wouldn’t be voted on until September. The non party-line nominees Schumer could tee up would be Abelson, four Tax Court nominees, and one local DC judge.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I usually dislike Ian Millhiser but he makes some good points about the impacts of court packing and a possible SCOTUS ethics code here: https://www.vox.com/scotus/363557/supreme-court-biden-kamala-harris-reform-term-limits-ethics
LikeLiked by 1 person
No clotures for anyone for a Thursday vote…REALLY! Not even the tax judges?! What a joke.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Mike, those motions were already sent out Monday. They don’t usually send any mid week.
Thursday will confirm the naval nominee, and vote on the child tax bill (which will fail). There might be a package of voice votes for some nominees too (no article III judges of course).
LikeLiked by 2 people
Tomorrow’s nomination will feature Park (4th Cir.), Conway (E.D. Wis.), Hawley (C.D. Ill.), Perry (N.D. Ill.), and Weilheimer (E.D. Pa.)
LikeLiked by 1 person
A couple of things popped into my mind today. I know there’s been some concern about whether or not Democrats would confirm judges in the lame duck session, but didn’t Biden effectively make himself a lame duck by dropping out, making that a moot point?
If Harris wins and Democrats hold the Senate, I wonder if she’d be able to get a headstart on getting judges confirmed. She’d be the first President to take office of the same party as her predecessor since Bush Sr. succeeded Reagan in 1989. If Harris does win with Democrats holding the Senate, Biden could keep churning out nominees for the rest of the year. While they wouldn’t be confirmed or much less get a committee vote by the end of the year, you could hold hearings on 12/4 and 12/18 (there’s also a possibility of an 11/13 or 11/20 hearing, but nominees there could get voted out and confirmed by the end of the year), and they’d be ready for committee votes in the next Congress (not like Harris would nominate judges that are any different than Biden, so I’d think the odds of her withdrawing the nominations at the start of her presidency would be pretty low).
Obviously the Senate would be taking more time confirming cabinet nominations but you could squeeze those judicial votes in and buy Harris some time to get her own judicial commission/legal counsel up (the President’s first judicial nominations typically don’t happen until spring or summer of their first year). The same goes for any pending nominations now that don’t get confirmed by the end of the year, Harris could renominate them and have them confirmed if Democrats hold the Senate.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Firstly, it would be amazing to wake up to find Harris the victor and the Dems retaining the Senate — that’s what my dreams are made of.
In this hypothetical, I love the idea of Harris essentially doing the nominating through Biden before she would be inaugurated by consulting with him on filling vacancies, and Biden could renominate the returned nominees on 1/3/25 to the new Senate to get the ball rolling.
The main hindrance I foresee gumming up the works is the Republicans dragging their feet on finalizing their side of the organizing resolution, which they have done the last two sessions. This meant that the Senate did not have full committee membership until the end of January, and could not really start working to process noms until then. With the three-day-a-week, 30-week-a-year calendar (being generous), losing so much time is a kick in the nuts. So I don’t know how much time this gambit would actually save a President Harris in the end since the committee likely would not be meeting during that time anyway. The exception would be if the numbers of carryover Class 2 and Class 3 senators on the SJC are in Dems’ favor, meaning that if there are more Dems on the committee than Republicans while waiting for new senators to be assigned to it, then Durbin should convene the committee and use the calendar to his benefit. This would obviously be known and could be planned for post-election in November.
Right now, I would much rather Schumer be more ambitious with his scheduling, having a confirmation vote followed by a cloture vote on Monday nights, then having the first Tuesday vote (confirming the prior night’s cloture vote) before morning committee meetings, rather than starting voting at 11:30, and so on. He wastes so much time, and could confirm twice as many nominees in a week if he wanted to.
Schumer should also file cloture votes on iffy nominees, chance the attendance, and see what happens (Mangi, Kasubhai, Russell). Like others have said, there would be a mini-political upside to this of Republicans rejecting certain well-qualified nominees for no reason. But the main reason is to get the process started. Assuming a Mangi cloture vote loses, Schumer would then switch his vote to “no,” so the cloture motion could then linger to be called up on a moment’s notice for “reconsideration,” no forewarning needed. This vote can be announced and immediately taken later one afternoon when attendance is known to be in Dems’ favor. Then cloture could be invoked, and the 30 hours of cloture (circuit noms) or 2 hours (district noms) used up (though Dems should give up some of their time to move it along, since Republicans will never do that in order to drag out the votes). Once cloture has been invoked, the confirmation vote can be brought up whenever, so long as Schumer “consults” with McConnell, a/k/a informs him it is happening. (This is currently the status of the Margaret Taylor nom on the Executive Calendar.) Wait for attendance to be in our favor and go. I wish Schumer had done this ahead of Juneteenth — Mangi could have been confirmed then, or at least cloture could have been invoked. (We also could have confirmed Julie Su as Labor Secretary.)
McConnell used the rules well. Schumer needs to start.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow, there are a lot of letters of support for Park’s nomination, including police groups, so it will be hard to argue the usual soft on crime crap the GOP senators often pull
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s been done before and will be done going forward. I’m sure there are groups that are opposed to his nomination as well, they just aren’t noted there.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Timeline of when the judicial selection process started for each nominee:
Park (4th Cir.): 01/2024 (initiated by WH counsel’s office)
Conway (E.D. Wis.): 04/2023 (application submitted)
Hawley (C.D. Ill.): 02/2024 (application submitted)
Perry (N.D. Ill.): 03/2024 (initiated by Durbin’s office and WH counsel’s office)
Weilheimer (E.D. Pa.): 11/2023 (application submitted)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Park has more bipartisan endorsements than I anticipated. Theres a letter of support from other state solicitior generals and among them Tom Fisher (Trump’s former nominee to the 7th Circuit that Pence didn’t agree with) and Ben Flowers – two very conservative state solicitors
LikeLiked by 2 people
My understanding of the police union structure is that the “Benevolent Association” is the more conservative org. (Not 100% sure on this tbh). So it’s impressive that Park has 2 Benevolent orgs in his recommendations.
The breakout of the former SCOTUS clerk letter is also interesting:
LikeLiked by 2 people
I will note with April Perry that the seat Nancy Maldonado vacated when she was elevated is already a judicial emergency.
Just goes to show how absurd the attack on her that she was slower in resolving cases was.
LikeLiked by 1 person
We got a new batch! This was not on my bingo card. Is the WH just sending these in early or does it mean a possible hearing during the august recess?
NDNY – Anthony Brindisi
ND Ga – Tiffany Johnson
MD Pa – Keli Neary
LikeLiked by 1 person
Nicholas Miranda and Graham Lake for DC Superior Court are very solid picks.
Lake’s wife was special assistant to Ron Klain when he was Biden’s Chief of Staff. I assume she played a part is helping with some of the stellar noms we got at the start on the administration.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Are we getting noms?!?
https://www.syracuse.com/politics/cny/2024/07/biden-to-nominate-former-central-new-york-congressman-for-federal-judge.html?outputType=amp
LikeLiked by 1 person
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2024/07/31/president-biden-names-fifty-third-round-of-judicial-nominees/
LikeLiked by 1 person
At this point I believe we are only currently waiting on nominations for five vacancies that don’t require blue slips:
3rd Circuit
SD Ca
CD Ca
ND NY
Arizona.
There is also the seat in New Mexico that will open up after January 20, as well as the possibility of new nominees to replace Kanter or Netburn.
I guess we will see when SJC schedules the hearing for todays nominees, but there are still 2 and possibly 3 more hearing dates that don’t have nominees so I’m feeling better and better about Biden filling every available seat this term.
LikeLiked by 2 people
There’s also a Senate Homeland Security Committee meeting today to vote out the local DC judges and the two DC Appeals Court judges. Definitely caught me off-guard, since I’m used to getting the one week notice for these meetings from the SJC.
I’ve also noticed how the SHSC records proxy votes, which is that the clerk will announce the votes from Senators voting in-person and then the total of the proxy votes, and I think the official reported vote is just from the Senators who voted in-person. I thought the SJC was the standard for this, where the final vote reported includes every vote, and that proxy votes cannot be a deciding vote for voting something favorably out of committee (where you need a majority of the committee in-person voting yes to get something out of committee).
LikeLiked by 1 person
Tillis is showing a video ahead of Ryan Park’s hearing. The video is basically a political ad against Josh Stein, the NC AG who is running for Governor. The video is trying to paint Stein as a will progressive and linking Park to him. I’ve never seen anything like this. Also surprising, the video includes a part about Stein and Park being pro-choice… which seems like a weird thing to include in this political climate.
I’m kinda shocked
LikeLiked by 1 person
For all his attempts at appearing moderate, Tillis is a partisan hack just like 95% of the senate GOP.
I could never imagine, say, Chris Coons or someone similar doing the same thing during a judiciary hearing but that’s because Democrats are the party of adults.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Park responding to the video casually points out that one of the clips was from an event he id at the Federalist Society and points out that the clip actually cut off the second part of his statement.
Front row filed with NC law enforcement officers who supporting Park.
Tillis spilling some tea on the process. Mentions that one of the names that WH presented was “person who ran against Budd”, i.e Cheri Beasley. Tillis mentions that one of the names they suggested who was rejected was a 13-yr Democrat magistrate.
After Tillis’ rant about the process, Durbin asks, “Noted. So do you want to ask the nominee a question”. And Tillis seems stumped.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Kennedy opens with “Mr. Park (pregnant pause) would you lie to this committee”? Park says no and Kennedy follows with, “You just did”. Please note, Kennedy was the first questioner (aside from Durbin), so weird opener.
Kennedy accusing park of thinking he’s “smarter and more virtuous” than his clients which also feels weird coming from this man.
Kennedy referring to AG Josh Stein (who is way up in the polls for his governorship and not the nominee) as “Your Union boss” also weird.
Sensing a theme.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hawley spent all of his time with Park ranting after cases involving closing churches during Covid. 1) He is such a drama queen 2) Maybe I don’t understand what a Solicitor General does bc he keeps accusing Park of having made the policies… which I think is a few pay grades above Park.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Second panel was short. Only Durbin and Kennedy stuck around. No questions for the EDWI or CDIL nom. Professor Kennedy asked April Perry a bunch of “professor” questions and she nailed them all. Kennedy went after Weilheimer a bit over a case involving a man who worked in a nursing home and molested patient. The case had a negotiated plea and as such had a lighter sentence.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hopefully the disctrict nominees can all get some bipartisan support.
LikeLiked by 1 person
First, time and time again we see the weakness of Dem leadership. Why in the world would Durbin give Tillis the permission to use a video to make the case against Park? Now, stretch your imagination to the breaking point and imagine Grassley or Graham doing this for Kamala Harris to make the case against Patrick Bumatay. This would never be allowed. When will these Dems vacate the scene once and for all? Sheldon Whitehouse wouldn’t have done that. Wish to god he was the chair (yes, Frank, even with his past membership that you’re still stuck on).
Second, like I said a few days ago, it would be so strange for Tillis to be so confidently bluffing. If Tillis got assurance from 2 Dems before the hearing, I highly doubt those 2 Dems would go back on their word *after* the hearing we just had. They made Park out to look like some partisan Dem. Don’t get me wrong, I love that, but I don’t think that’ll make the 2 Dems change.
Can you imagine how old and otherwise unacceptable that 13-year magistrate judge must be for the Biden WH to reject them for both CA4 and the district court?
I want to take a moment to marvel at Ryan Park. He’s truly a stellar A nominee. It would be a shame for Tillis’s maneuvering to be successful. Republicans are salivating at the prospect of naming James Ho, Noel Francisco, or Bumatay as the first Asian-American justice to SCOTUS. If there’s any justice in the world, Ryan Park would be that first Asian-American justice, especially if replacing Thomas or Alito.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Anthony J. Brindisi
Wow. Really disappointed in this nomination. Unsurprisingly, this is a Gillibrand recommendation she already claimed him). This maybe the second NY nominee to die in SJC.
A few years ago when Hurd first announced his intention to assume senior status, some of us were worried that Brindisi would be the nominee. I remember Shawn (whom I miss on here dearly for his no-nonsense approach to some of the more outlandish comments we had on here. Side note for the newer folks on here: Shawn was in poor health, which is probably why he stopped using this blog. I hope he’s doing OK. He and Aagren (and Frank and Zack to a lesser extent) were best of friends. NOT!) led the opposition, so to speak, to a Brindisi nomination.
What’s worse, Republicans will still go after him hard, since he was an elected Dem. So here we have a nominee who’s far from progressive, maybe even right of center, and he’ll still get the same treatment Park just got.
What a waste.
LikeLiked by 3 people
I miss Shawn as well. And completely concur regarding Brindisi as a nom. I’d be surprised if he gets confirmed before the end of the year. As for a potential Harris administration, I’m not sure.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I agree Gavi. I hope Tillis’ campaign to defeat this nominee is unsuccessful. If Democrats cave to Republicans because they whine hard enough that only emboldens them to dig in on every nominee.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Also, with today’s batch, I wonder if we’ll still get two batches over August, as we could get another nominee or two by 8/14 for a 9/11 hearing (ideally a Third Circuit nominee). The absolute latest date we’d need nominees now though would be 8/28, to fill up a hearing for 9/25.
For an update on Neumann’s vote yesterday, Wicker was a yes on cloture but no on confirmation, so she ultimately got the four Republican votes we expected going in.
Vacca’s cloture vote appears on track to get the three baseline Republican votes.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Nomination for worst judicial article for 2024 filled with lies and distortions. And it wasn’t even written by Ed Whealan or Carrie Severino.
https://thehill.com/opinion/4802253-biden-supreme-court-reforms/
LikeLiked by 1 person
I know some folks don’t like Anthony Brindisi because he’s not uber liberal (not a surprise given the area he’s from) but as I said when I first suggested he could be a nominee, he has political connections with many NY Democrats (Gillibrand most of all) and strong ties to the Utica area.
Not a surprise at all he was finally nominated to this seat but given his time in office, I’m sure Republicans will be going after him full bore, as well as for his failed run for State Supreme Court judge (though the woman who beat him will soon be forced off the bench for racism.)
As Gavi said, he’s going to have people going after him full bore and I expect it to be a party line vote.
As for Ryan Park, yea Durbin dropped the ball with the video but Park was able to put Tillis and others in his place on that and other issues.
As for Tillis’s threat, I never take any Republican, even one who has been reasonable to a degree at their word on anything.
I don’t see any Democrats (even though they’re indies now) not named Manchin/Sinema blocking Park but I do think he won’t be getting confirmed until the lame duck period, same with Brindisi and others.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Poetic justice..I love the nomination of Brindisi to fill a Utica judgeship..2018 he ran against GOP Claudia Tenney ny 22 for the House and won..Then In 2020 spoil sport , sincereTenney, like Trump ran against Brindisi again and the outcome ended up in court just like the big trump 2020 election… Tenney won by 100 or so votes hmm. Ny changed the 22 district boundaries so Tenney decides to run in NY 24th where she won.. she lives outside that district…Brindisi nominated to and sitting on a seat where by less then 100 votes went to gop is really ironic..He’s middle of the road Democrat…Quiet I think don’t know much else about him..
LikeLiked by 2 people
Typo…..insincere Tenney
LikeLiked by 1 person
Claudia Tenney ny24 and Brandon Williams ny 22 antics are due to Elise Stefanik and her antics..Any Dem judges to protect us from them is just cool with me
LikeLiked by 1 person
Tiffany Johnson was born the same month as Jamar Walker, making her one of Biden’s two youngest picks. Glad our Georgia senators seem to get it. I’m also happy to see the WH moving forward with the PA seat set to open January 17.
For these new nominees, we learned of the vacancies on April 4, May 17, and June 11. For the seats still needing nominees, we learned of them:
SD CA (Curiel): July 6, 2022 (or January 10, when Kanter was announced, meaning the WH likely rejected a rec)
D AZ: November 9, 2023 (or February 21, when Latham and Martinez were announced, meaning the WH likely rejected a rec)
SD CA (Hayes): February 8 (when Kennedy made his snide remark [presumably] about Kanter)
CD CA: February 21
3rd Cir.: May 9
D NM: June 11 (this WH should get Harris’s blessing and move ahead with any future vacancies)
SD NY: July 11 (when Netburn was voted down)
ND NY: July 23
LikeLiked by 1 person
This batch won’t get voted out of committee until 9/20 most likely. With only one week of senate work before the election, it would be difficult to confirm him even without the Tillis tantrum.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Another thing that popped into my mind under a potential Harris presidency and judicial nominations, while obviously numerous vacancies would open up over the next year or so, she’ll be inheriting mostly red state vacancies, right? Something to look out for on the first nominations she’d be able to make.
I also think for Harris, future vacancies may also depend on Senate control, if she does get a Democratic Senate you’d probably see a bigger exodus of judges and have her share of blue state vacancies to fill. I’m also operating on the thought that the Republican Senate of 2015/2016 is the modern baseline of Democratic judges getting confirmed under a Republican Senate, and that a Republican Senate would empty out the entire federal judiciary than confirm one judge under a Democratic President.
LikeLiked by 1 person
On inheriting heavily-red state vacancies, (while the GOP caucus has gotten crazier under Biden) I believe she’d would a chance to fill a good chunk of those vacancies. GOP senators have basically written off filling vacancies announced this congress, and in some cases, in 2022. The portion of vacancies with two GOP blue slips that Biden has managed to fill, by year of announcement:
2018: 0/1
2019: 1/1
2020: 1/2
2021: 11/15
2022: 9/20
2023: 1/8
2024: 0/5
As the number of red state vacancies will continue to grow, the opportunities for deals would grow as well. She’d enter office with (as it stands now) 49-55/91 senior-eligible district+IT judges and 41-47/110 of those qualifying during her term having two GOP blue slips.
With a Dem senate, her job would mostly be to replace Obama appointees. Among circuit judges, 15/18 of Obama’s senior-eligible appointees went senior under Biden; I’d expect a similar portion of the 19 that would be eligible under Harris to go senior, although 10 of them are from red states so I’d expect plenty of fireworks. Hopefully she’d also replace the 9 remaining Clinton appointees, but they’ve already drug their feet. Kagan will also join Sotomayor in senior eligibility next August. For district+IT judges, she’d be set to enter office with 23 Obama appointees senior eligible and 75 set to qualify in her term. The rate of Obama appointees going senior has dramatically fallen in the second half of Biden’s term, which I assume is largely due to the WH pressing less for vacancies. By the year of qualification:
2021: 10/11
2022: 11/13
2023: 19/26
2024: 17/28
With a Harris presidency and the aforementioned Dem senate, I’d expect the very high rate of going senior to resume. There are also still set to be 16 Clinton district appointees, although 11 of them have at least one GOP senator.
LikeLiked by 2 people
“Very embarrassing “performance” by Republican Senators on the Judiciary Committee in trying to torpedo the nomination of NC Solicitor General Ryan Park to the 4th Circuit COA. Tillis should be ashamed of his rank partisanship, exceeded only by La. Senator Kennedy who’s a buffoon.”
– Judge Bob Orr, former associate Justice on NC SCOTUS and former Republican candidate for NC governor.
I do think the WH is planning on fighting this one. They really went to a lot of effort to build a list of bipartisan references, and kept commenting on that fact. The row of police was quite striking and I think it even threw Tillis for a loop. He comment mid scripted rant that he recognized quite a few of the people and pompously said he didn’t know if they’d be there if they knew that he wasn’t properly consulted. (eye roll).
LikeLiked by 3 people
I’m still baffled as to why Durbin allowed that video to be shown. It was basically a campaign ad for the GOP candiate for governor, Mark Robinson, who is 6 cans short of a 6 pack. Unless Tillis outright lied to him and said the video was going to be one thing, then it was another
LikeLiked by 2 people
Vacca confirmed. Saporito up next, who got the most votes of any nominee from the last batch voted out of the SJC (Graham, Tillis, Kennedy), so we’ll see what the total GOP support for Saporito is.
Oler and Nguyen started on the local DC Court on the 29th, Willoughby has yet to take the bench. Do Presidents sign commissions for this court?
For pending commissions:
-Meriweather has yet to take the bench
-We are awaiting commissions for both Way and Landy to the Tax Court.
-Neumann, Vacca, and Saporito can all take the bench at any time as those are actively vacant seats.
-Starting tomorrow, Alexakis will be eligible to take the bench on the NDIL. For other upcoming commissions in August, Baggio will be able to take the bench on the 21st.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Question. IF Schumer wanted to bring a confirmation vote to the floor on Kashubai does Schumer need to go thru all the steps again to do that?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, he’d have to refile cloture and then wait another two days for the vote. Had the vote failed, Schumer could have switched his vote to No and then enter a motion to reconsider (the motion to reconsider has to come from a Senator on the “winning” side of the vote). The cloture motion would still be on the books and then he’d be able to bring the cloture vote back up at pretty much any time (I believe this was done on that Labor nominee earlier in the year, his cloture vote failed due to attendance and Menendez voting No, and when the vote came up again cloture didn’t need to be re-filed.
LikeLiked by 1 person