Action on Judicial Nominations

Steps taken this week to address the judicial vacancy crisis that has left 1 in 10 seats on the federal bench empty include the confirmation of one judge, hearings for three nominees, a Senate Judiciary Committee vote on one nominee, and the nomination of new people to become Article III judges.

On Monday, the Senate voted to confirm Margo Kitsy Brodie to be a United States District Court judge in the Eastern District of New York by an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote of 86-2.  Due to obstruction from Senate Republicans, it took 145 days for Judge Brodie to receive her final confirmation vote after being unanimously reported out of the Senate Judiciary Committee on October 6 of last year.

Judiciary Committee Hearings for three nominees were held on Wednesday: Richard Taranto to serve as a United States Circuit Judge for the Federal Circuit, Gershwin Drain to serve as a United States District Court judge for the Eastern District of Michigan, and Robin Rosenbaum to serve as a United States District Court judge of the Southern District of Florida.

That evening, President Obama sent the names of two new judicial nominees to the Senate: Brian Davis, nominated to the Middle District of Florida, and John Dowdell, nominated to the Northern District of Oklahoma.

Thursday, the Judiciary Committee reported Andrew Hurwitz to the Senate floor on a bipartisan vote of 13-5; consideration of four additional nominees was stalled due to Republicans reflexively invoking a Committee rule allowing for a one-week delay without having to give a reason.

During the hearing on Wednesday, committee Chairman Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) spoke about Republican obstruction of the entire nomination process, both in Committee and on the Senate floor.  He said:

I have accommodated Senator Grassley's preferred schedule now for several months, holding a hearing for only one nominee in all of December and moving our last hearing back a week at his request. Regrettably today's hearing is another with less than a full slate of nominees. This is true of both of our February hearings because the minority did not review background paperwork of the nominees I wanted to include. With vacancies on Federal courts across the country remaining extremely high, as they have throughout the term of the Obama administration, we cannot afford to slow down our consideration of nominations in this manner.

Senator Leahy went on to note that with judicial vacancies at historic highs, the crisis on the courts is being exacerbated with every day that Republican senators slow-walk and obstruct the process of giving due consideration to the President’s nominees and allowing them a timely up-or-down confirmation vote by the full Senate.

By the Numbers
2 new nominations
3 nominees who had hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee: 1 circuit court nominee and 2 district court nominees
1 nominee reported out of Committee to the Senate floor
1 nominee confirmed: Margo Kitsy Brodie to the Eastern District of New York

The week comes to a close with:

103 total judicial vacancies, including 34 judicial emergency vacancies
84 current vacancies; 19 future vacancies
17 circuit court vacancies; 86 district court vacancies
43 pending nominees; 60 vacancies without nominees
23 nominees pending in committee; 20 pending in the Senate

For the most comprehensive, up-to-date information on judicial nominations, visit the Judicial Selection Project website.

Senate to Vote Monday on Margo Brodie’s Nomination to the Eastern District of New York

When the Senate returns from its Presidents’ Day recess next Monday it will vote on the nomination of Margo Kitsy Brodie to a seat on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Brodie was nominated to the seat on June 7, 2011. 

A graduate of St. Francis College and of the University of Pennsylvania School of Law, Brodie has served for thirteen years as an Assistant United States Attorney.  She is currently the Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division, with prior service as Counselor to the Criminal Division and as Chief and Deputy Chief of the General Crimes Section.  Her prior experience includes five years in private practice and three years working for the New York City Law Department.

Due to the reflexive obstruction and slow-walking of judicial nominees by Senate Republicans, Brodie will have waited 145 days from the time she was unanimously reported out of the Senate Judiciary Committee on an unopposed voice vote for the full Senate to take action on her confirmation. Meanwhile, the people of the Eastern District of New York will have gone 329 days waiting for a vacant seat to be occupied by a judge who will hear their cases as they seek justice in federal court.

For the most up-to-date and comprehensive information on judicial nominations, see the Alliance for Justice’s Judicial Selection Project webpage.

Wallach, Four District Court Nominees Voted Out of Committee

Today the Senate Judiciary Committee voted five judicial nominees out of committee in a unanimous, en banc vote, moving them forward to the full Senate for confirmation. The nominees are Evan Wallach, nominated to be a United States Circuit Judge for the Federal Circuit, and four United States District Judge nominees: Dana Christensen to the District of Montana, Cathy Bencivengo to the Southern District of California, Gina Marie Groh to the Northern District of West Virginia, and Margo Brodie to the Eastern District of New York.  They now join 21 other pending nominees awaiting confirmation by the Senate.

Consideration of all five had been “held over” by Republicans at the last meeting of the Committee.  Holding over nominees, even when there is no opposition to their appointment, has been a consistent tactic by Republican senators seeking to slow down the judicial confirmation process. This tactic was continued at the Committee today, with Republican ranking member Sen. Grassley (R-IA) automatically holding over the nominations of Adalberto José Jordán to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals and District Judge nominees John M. Gerrard, Mary Elizabeth Phillips, Thomas Owen Rice, and David Nuffer to the District of Nebraska, the Western District of Missouri, the Eastern District of Washington, and the District of Utah, respectively.

Both Jordán and Nuffer have been appointed to fill vacancies designated as “judicial emergencies” by the Administrative Office of the United States Courts.  Also automatically held over was consideration of S.1014, Emergency Judicial Relief Act, a bipartisan bill that would establish ten new judgeships in parts of the country where courts are overloaded because the bench is woefully understaffed.

Rather than playing delaying games in an attempt to keep President Obama’s nominees off the bench, Republicans in the Senate should be moving with all speed to ensure that these vacancies are filled so that people seeking justice in the courts of our nation can be heard.

For the most up-to-date and comprehensive information on judicial nominations, see the Alliance for Justice’s Judicial Selection Project webpage.