Jordán, Four District Court Nominees Get Committee Hearings

The Senate Judiciary Committee today held hearings on the nominations of Adalberto José Jordán to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and of John M. Gerrard, Mary Elizabeth Phillips, Thomas Owen Rice, and David Nuffer to serve as United States District Judges in the District of Nebraska, the Western District of Missouri, the Eastern District of Washington, and the District of Utah, respectively.

If confirmed, Jordán and Nuffer will both be filling vacancies that have been deemed “judicial emergencies” by the Administrative Office of the U. S. Courts.  During their testimony, both Nuffer and Gerrard spoke of the difficulties people are having accessing justice due to increasing court caseloads and insufficient personnel and other resources.  Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) presided over the hearings; also in attendance were committee members Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Senator Mike Lee (R-UT).

With 113 vacancies in our federal courts, 37 of them judicial emergencies, the Senate should move swiftly to take action to put these nominees on the federal bench. 

For the most up-to-date and comprehensive information on judicial nominations, download the Alliance for Justice’s Judicial Selection Snapshot and The State of the Judiciary June–August 2011: Judicial Nominations in the 112th Congress.