8 Article I Judicial Nominations Returned to the President
With the sine die adjournment of the Senate last week, numerous nominations were returned to the White House. Among them were 8 for the Article I courts, which are part of the executive branch and whose judges serve 15-year terms.
Among the nominations returned to the president were 4 for the U.S. Tax Court, which uniquely has oversight by the Senate Finance Committee. 1 nominee, IRS attorney Courtney Jones, was reported by the Finance Committee before the end of the session. 3 other nominees, Covington & Burling partner Emin Toro, Justice Department lawyer Travis Greaves, and Senior Judge Mark Holmes didn't see any progress on their nominations. For Jones, her path to confirmation involves an expected renomination later this month, a vote by the committee, and a final confirmation vote (for the Tax Court, nominations have usually been confirmed by bipartisan voice votes without burning up floor time). The other three nominees require hearings, committee votes, and confirmation votes before the full Senate, which will take a few additional months.
One position before the Senate Armed Services Committee that is on hold pending renomination is the nomination of Lisa Schenck to the Court of Military Commission Review in Guantanamo Bay. Schenck's nomination was reported by the Senate Armed Services Committee without her even receiving a hearing, which may be because she served on the same court while on active duty in the Army back during the Bush administration.
There were also 3 nominees to the Court of Federal Claims put on hiatus. University of Akron School of Law Ryan Holte's nomination lapsed, as did those of former FTC commissioner Maureen Ohlhausen and Covington & Burling attorney Richard Hertling. All three of these nominees had previously received hearings last year, so they will simply require votes in committee and on the floor.
Ohlhausen, however, will not be continuing the time-staking process to become a federal judge. After her FTC term expired in September, she joined Baker Botts, and privately communicated her desire to withdraw to the White House. Her hope was reportedly to be confirmed before she had to leave the commission, but a 11-10 party-line vote out of committee and a host of nominations ahead of her in the queue meant that was not feasible.
This brings me to an important point: the Court of Federal Claims has 11 vacancies out of its 16 judgeships authorized by statute, due to bipartisan stalling of nominations. There are only 2 nominations who can expect to be confirmed anytime soon to the panel (assuming that there are no additional hiccups), and thus this is a dire emergency causing cases to be held up before the court. With more floor time to devote to nominations, perhaps these vacancies will slowly be filled.
Conclusion: We can expect 7 of these 8 nominees to continue on the path to be come a judge later this year. Some aren't controversial, and thus they will join the bench faster, but the more inflammatory nominees will take a little bit longer, and in a 53-47 Republican Senate, should eventually be confirmed.
Among the nominations returned to the president were 4 for the U.S. Tax Court, which uniquely has oversight by the Senate Finance Committee. 1 nominee, IRS attorney Courtney Jones, was reported by the Finance Committee before the end of the session. 3 other nominees, Covington & Burling partner Emin Toro, Justice Department lawyer Travis Greaves, and Senior Judge Mark Holmes didn't see any progress on their nominations. For Jones, her path to confirmation involves an expected renomination later this month, a vote by the committee, and a final confirmation vote (for the Tax Court, nominations have usually been confirmed by bipartisan voice votes without burning up floor time). The other three nominees require hearings, committee votes, and confirmation votes before the full Senate, which will take a few additional months.
One position before the Senate Armed Services Committee that is on hold pending renomination is the nomination of Lisa Schenck to the Court of Military Commission Review in Guantanamo Bay. Schenck's nomination was reported by the Senate Armed Services Committee without her even receiving a hearing, which may be because she served on the same court while on active duty in the Army back during the Bush administration.
There were also 3 nominees to the Court of Federal Claims put on hiatus. University of Akron School of Law Ryan Holte's nomination lapsed, as did those of former FTC commissioner Maureen Ohlhausen and Covington & Burling attorney Richard Hertling. All three of these nominees had previously received hearings last year, so they will simply require votes in committee and on the floor.
Ohlhausen, however, will not be continuing the time-staking process to become a federal judge. After her FTC term expired in September, she joined Baker Botts, and privately communicated her desire to withdraw to the White House. Her hope was reportedly to be confirmed before she had to leave the commission, but a 11-10 party-line vote out of committee and a host of nominations ahead of her in the queue meant that was not feasible.
This brings me to an important point: the Court of Federal Claims has 11 vacancies out of its 16 judgeships authorized by statute, due to bipartisan stalling of nominations. There are only 2 nominations who can expect to be confirmed anytime soon to the panel (assuming that there are no additional hiccups), and thus this is a dire emergency causing cases to be held up before the court. With more floor time to devote to nominations, perhaps these vacancies will slowly be filled.
Conclusion: We can expect 7 of these 8 nominees to continue on the path to be come a judge later this year. Some aren't controversial, and thus they will join the bench faster, but the more inflammatory nominees will take a little bit longer, and in a 53-47 Republican Senate, should eventually be confirmed.
Comments
Post a Comment