Judicial Nominations

It used to be fairly routine for the Senate to confirm handfuls of judicial nominees – especially district court nominees – at a time. Indeed, Senator Patrick Leahy recently recounted that the Senate confirmed 18 of President George W. Bush's judicial nominees in one day. The Senate could have equaled this impressive feat on Monday, when a total of 18 nominees were ready for a vote, and time was scheduled on the calendar for a confirmation vote. But instead, just as it has for the last two weeks, the Senate confirmed one district court nominee. One!

And it's not as though the nomination required extended debate, or that the outcome was seriously in question – Kevin McNulty, nominated to the district court in New Jersey, was confirmed on Monday by a vote of 91-3. So why wouldn't the Senate just vote on all 18 – or 14 (the total number of district court judges ready for votes), or seven (the total number of nominees approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee through April 19, the day now-Judge McNulty was voted out of committee), or six (the number of judicial emergencies among those nominees), or even two (there is another nominee from New Jersey, voted out of committee the same day as Judge McNulty) nominees?

Well, simply stated: obstruction.

It's no secret that unprecedented obstruction in the Senate has slowed the accomplishment of the people's business to a crawl. And the judicial confirmation process has been no exception. Read more »

Yesterday, the Senate confirmed Mary Geiger Lewis to a seat on the District Court of  South Carolina by a vote of 64-27. Upon her confirmation, Judge Lewis becomes the third female judge (of ten judges total) on this court, and the 63rd woman confirmed to a district court seat during the Obama Administration. Her confirmation is good news, coming on the heels of a CRS report that concluded both that the number of district court vacancies has increased rather than decreased since the beginning of President Obama's administration, and that "fewer Obama district court nominees have been confirmed by the Senate than were confirmed during the first terms of the four preceding Presidents." Read more »

Support the Nomination of Caitlin Halligan

Tell your Senators to support the nomination of Caitlin Halligan to the D.C. Circuit.

This week, Caitlin Halligan, one of the most respected appellate lawyers in the country, was renominated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. She was originally nominated in September 2010 and her nomination expired after a filibuster in December 2011. Upon her confirmation, she would become only the sixth female judge in this court's 119-year history.

Women shouldn't have to wait for justice because some senators are determined to obstruct: Tell your Senators to support the nomination of Caitlin Halligan, a highly-qualified nominee for the D.C. Circuit.

Ms. Halligan has a broad range of legal experience, including government service, private practice, and academia. She has honed her practice in state and federal appellate courts, and has argued five cases before the Supreme Court. Her many accomplishments are reflected by the unanimous "Well-Qualified" rating she received from the ABA Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary. She has earned the respect and support of her peers and has been endorsed by a long list of organizations. The National Women's Law Center is proud to support her nomination. Read more »

This week the Senate confirmed Timothy Hillman to the district court in Massachusetts by a vote of 88-1 (with Senator Lee the only no vote, in continued protest of President Obama's recess appointments to the NLRB and consumer protection bureau back in January). In addition, the Senate will vote this afternoon on the nomination of Jeffrey Helmick to a seat on the Northern District of Ohio. After today's vote, there will be 14 nominees, including one female circuit court nominee and two female district court nominees, waiting for a floor vote. (Incidentally, click on the links for news coverage of the investitures of Stephanie Thacker, the first Fourth Circuit female judge from West Virginia, and Morgan Christen, the first Ninth Circuit female judge from Alaska). Read more »

Paul Watford, nominated to an emergency vacancy on the Ninth Circuit, was the first nominee voted out of the Senate Judiciary Committee this year. After almost five months, a cloture vote on his nomination had been scheduled for yesterday afternoon. Prior to the scheduled vote, however, Senate Majority Leader Reid moved to have a yes-or-no confirmation vote instead, and there was no objection. So Mr. Watford was confirmed by a vote of 61-34.

Now-Judge Watford’s confirmation is excellent news, although it’s disappointing that it’s news that was almost five months in the making. Read more »

Last Monday, the last three nominations covered by the deal agreed to by Senate leadership back in March were voted on. The question on court-watchers’ minds was: How will the Senate approach scheduling confirmation votes during the rest of 2012? 

Yesterday, we got the first inklings of an answer. The Senate voted on two district court nominees, George Russell to the District Court of Maryland, and John Tharp, Jr., to the Northern District of Illinois. Both judges were confirmed by overwhelming votes – Judge Tharp by the vote of 86-1 and Judge Russell by voice vote. Read more »

Along with 150 other people from 27 different states, today I attended a briefing on the judicial vacancy crisis. Attorney General Eric Holder, White House Counsel Kathy Ruemmler, and other key Administration staff spoke about the importance of filling vacancies on the federal judiciary, the President's commitment to increasing the diversity of the federal bench, and ways to end the confirmation logjam in the Senate. The audience's passion for this issue was palpable, and there was a spirited dialogue. Read more »

Today, the Senate confirmed two judges to district courts in Texas, Gregg Costa to the Southern District and David Guaderrama to the Western District. These individuals were nominated last September, ready for a Senate vote last December, and were confirmed by votes of 97-2 – hardly nominees that warranted nearly five months of delay, especially considering that one of the nominations was designated a judicial emergency. Especially especially considering that these nominees had the support of their home-state Republican Senators. Not a surprise, given the levels of obstruction by a determined minority in the Senate in recent years, but frustrating all the same.

Under the terms of a deal worked out last month by Senate leadership, two more district court nominees and one circuit court nominee will receive a vote on May 7. And that is where the March deal ends – unfortunately with a lot of ground left to cover. How much ground? I have spent a few evenings this week lightly assisting my third-grade daughter with her math homework, so the following is inspired by our running conversation:

There are 34 individuals nominated to vacancies on federal courts. 22 of them are ready for a Senate vote (extra credit: six of them are women), and at least eight or nine more will be ready for votes by the end of June. The Senate has 11 weeks when it will be in session before it takes its long break in August.  Three nominees will get votes on May 7. How many judges would the Senate have to schedule votes on per week in order to clear this backlog by August? Read more »

The Judicial Crisis Must End

Tell your Senators to vote on all judicial nominees and help end the judicial crisis now.

It's been six weeks since Senate leadership reached a deal to move forward on judicial nominations, and the deal has almost played itself out. And where do we stand? Exactly where we were in March: one in nine federal judgeships sits empty, and nearly half of those vacancies are in courts so overburdened that they have been deemed judicial emergencies. Right now there are 22 nominees ready for a vote on the Senate floor, of whom 6 are women.

We're right back where we were six weeks ago. Tell your Senators to vote on all judicial nominees and help end the judicial crisis now.

Some have argued that we can't expect the Senate to get anything done with partisan gridlock. Some have argued that the confirmation process shuts down as the November elections approach, even though November is months away. But there's too much at stake to give up that easily to such excuses. While judicial seats remain vacant, trial courts' caseloads have increased. When judicial seats remain vacant, it takes longer for civil cases to be resolved. When judicial seats remain vacant, justice is not served for all Americans. Read more »

On Wednesday, the Senate voted to confirm two more judicial nominees and increased the number of female district court judges serving on the federal bench. Miranda Du was confirmed 59-39 to a seat on the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada, and Susie Morgan was confirmed 96-1 to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

Du is the first Asian Pacific American to serve as an Article III judge in Nevada. Her family fled Vietnam when she was nine years old and settled in the United States. Du achieved a successful civil litigation career, becoming one of the Mountain States Rising Stars in 2009 and a partner at her firm, McDonald Carano Wilson. She is a symbol of the American success story for many and is a part of the growing Asian Pacific American population in Nevada, now 9 percent of the state’s population. Read more »