The January 29th Markup
Today, the Senate Judiciary Committee is set to hold an executive business meeting to move forward with numerous nominations, including that of William Barr to be the next attorney general, and Donald Washington to direct the U.S. Marshals Service. But this post is focused mainly on the 44 other nominees present on the list.
There are almost four dozen candidates up for judgeships on the list, including 6 to the courts of appeals (Bridget Bade for the Ninth Circuit, Paul Matey for the Third Circuit, Eric Miller for the Ninth Circuit, Eric E. Murphy and Chad Readler for the Sixth Circuit, and Allison Jones Rushing for the Fourth Circuit), 34 district court nominees, 2 nominees to the Court of Federal Claims, and 2 to the Court of International Trade.
Bade was first nominated to the Ninth Circuit late last summer with the support of both Sens. Jeff Flake and Jon Kyl (R-AZ), but now the Grand Canyon State has a split Senate delegation, with Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) and Martha McSally (R-AZ) wielding blue slips. Bade's appearance on the agenda signifies that neither new senator is posing an obstacle to her confirmation.
Other nominees are not so fortunate. Paul Matey had neither of his blue slips returned by Sens. Bob Menendez and Cory Booker (D-NJ), nor did Eric Miller, with opposition from Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell (D-WA). Sixth Circuit nominees Eric Murphy and Chad Readler have support from Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH), but not from Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH). All of these nominees will likely have party-line confirmation votes if they make it to that stage, due to Senate Democrats' blanket opposition to the removal of the blue slip as a de facto veto.
Allison Jones Rushing will also see a near-party line vote, for another reason: her age. Born in 1982, Rushing would be the youngest circuit judge since Judge J. Michael Luttig, also of the Fourth Circuit. At her youth (nonetheless, she received a qualified rating from the American Bar Association) and considering the fact that the clerked for Judge David Sentelle, then-Judge Neil Gorsuch, and Justice Clarence Thomas, she is well on her way to ending up on a Republican president's Supreme Court shortlist, and will see numerous Democratic senators in opposition for just that reason.
All of the judicial nominees, after making it out of the committee, will require floor votes, which will take at least a few months to complete for the whole group unless the Senate undertakes a rumored rule change.
But is anything really important going to happen at the hearing later this morning? Probably not. Committee rules allow for any one senator to request any order of business to be held over for a week (every single nominee was held over at least once in the last Congress) and thus the nominees will likely have to await votes until February 5th. Once a quorum of senators gathers, the nominations will be officially held over, and then after any speeches the senators are willing to give about organizational matters, the hearing will adjourn.
The big blockbuster hearing (complete with actual votes) will be next week, when I expect sparks to fly between the senators over blue slips and the most controversial nominees to all levels of the federal bench.
There are almost four dozen candidates up for judgeships on the list, including 6 to the courts of appeals (Bridget Bade for the Ninth Circuit, Paul Matey for the Third Circuit, Eric Miller for the Ninth Circuit, Eric E. Murphy and Chad Readler for the Sixth Circuit, and Allison Jones Rushing for the Fourth Circuit), 34 district court nominees, 2 nominees to the Court of Federal Claims, and 2 to the Court of International Trade.
Bade was first nominated to the Ninth Circuit late last summer with the support of both Sens. Jeff Flake and Jon Kyl (R-AZ), but now the Grand Canyon State has a split Senate delegation, with Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) and Martha McSally (R-AZ) wielding blue slips. Bade's appearance on the agenda signifies that neither new senator is posing an obstacle to her confirmation.
Other nominees are not so fortunate. Paul Matey had neither of his blue slips returned by Sens. Bob Menendez and Cory Booker (D-NJ), nor did Eric Miller, with opposition from Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell (D-WA). Sixth Circuit nominees Eric Murphy and Chad Readler have support from Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH), but not from Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH). All of these nominees will likely have party-line confirmation votes if they make it to that stage, due to Senate Democrats' blanket opposition to the removal of the blue slip as a de facto veto.
Allison Jones Rushing will also see a near-party line vote, for another reason: her age. Born in 1982, Rushing would be the youngest circuit judge since Judge J. Michael Luttig, also of the Fourth Circuit. At her youth (nonetheless, she received a qualified rating from the American Bar Association) and considering the fact that the clerked for Judge David Sentelle, then-Judge Neil Gorsuch, and Justice Clarence Thomas, she is well on her way to ending up on a Republican president's Supreme Court shortlist, and will see numerous Democratic senators in opposition for just that reason.
All of the judicial nominees, after making it out of the committee, will require floor votes, which will take at least a few months to complete for the whole group unless the Senate undertakes a rumored rule change.
But is anything really important going to happen at the hearing later this morning? Probably not. Committee rules allow for any one senator to request any order of business to be held over for a week (every single nominee was held over at least once in the last Congress) and thus the nominees will likely have to await votes until February 5th. Once a quorum of senators gathers, the nominations will be officially held over, and then after any speeches the senators are willing to give about organizational matters, the hearing will adjourn.
The big blockbuster hearing (complete with actual votes) will be next week, when I expect sparks to fly between the senators over blue slips and the most controversial nominees to all levels of the federal bench.
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