The Judicial Nominations Blog

This week, the Senate is holding votes on a bill and a few nominations, and the Judiciary Committee might meet to vote on Neomi Rao's nomination to the D.C. Circuit and two PCLOB nominees. The latter situation is very fluid, as seen with this Axios report . On the floor, the Senate will vote at 5:30 pm to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to S. 311, the  Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act . Due to the controversial nature of the legislation, the motion will likely not garner the necessary 3/5ths majority needed to proceed to the motion to proceed, so the body will then vote on a cloture motion for the nomination of Perkins Coie partner Eric Miller to a Ninth Circuit seat in Washington. Miller does not enjoy the support of either of his home state senators, who are both Democrats, and thus this vote will likely be along party lines. The Senate is also voting on the nominations of Michael J. Desmond to be Chief Counsel for the IRS, Andrew Wheeler to be Admini...

Vacancies: Courts of Appeals: Current Vacancies: 12 ( ±  0 this week) Future Vacancies: 4 ( ±  0) District Courts: Current Vacancies: 129 ( +  1 ) Delissa A. Ridgway¹, Court of International Trade², senior status, January 31, 2019, 3/9 seats vacant Future Vacancies: 16 ( ±  0) Pending Nominations: Courts of Appeals: Pending before Senate Judiciary Committee without hearing: 3 ( ±  0 this week) Hearings held and still in Committee: 3 ( ±  0) Reported out of Committee/Pending on Executive Calendar: 6 ( ±  0) District Courts: Pending before Senate Judiciary Committee without hearing: 10 ( ±  0) Hearings held and still in Committee: 3 ( ±  0) Reported out of Committee/Pending on Executive Calendar: 36 ( ±  0) Court of Federal Claims: Pending before Senate Judiciary Committee without hearing: 0 ( ±  0) Hearings held and still in Committee: 0 ( ±  0) Reported out of Commit...

This week, the Senate is out of session, with senators back in their home-states for the Washington's Birthday work period. Pro forma sessions (to prevent recess appointments) will be held on February 19th and February 21st. Next week, the Senate will vote on one circuit court nomination on the floor, and the Judiciary Committee will hold an executive business meeting to vote on pending nominees, and also might convene to hear from other nominees to the federal bench.

Vacancies: Courts of Appeals: Current Vacancies: 12 ( ±  0 this week) Future Vacancies: 4 ( ±  0) District Courts: Current Vacancies: 128 ( +  1 ) Michael Ryan Barrett, Southern District of Ohio, senior status, February 15, 2019, 4/8 seats vacant Future Vacancies: 16 ( - 1 ) Pending Nominations: Courts of Appeals: Pending before Senate Judiciary Committee without hearing: 3 ( - 2  this week) Hearings held and still in Committee: 3 ( +  2 ) Joseph F. Bianco, of New York, to be a United States Circuit Judge for the Second Circuit ( hearing held , February 13, 2019) Michael H. Park, of New York, to be a United States Circuit Judge for the Second Circuit  ( hearing held , February 13, 2019) Neomi J. Rao, of the District of Columbia, to be a United States Circuit Judge for the District of Columbia Circuit  ( held over , February 14, 2019) Reported out of Committee/Pending on Executive Calendar: 6 ( ±  0) ...

Although no judicial nominations are making their way forward on the floor right now, the Senate is holding three hearings related to judges this week. First, the Judiciary Committee meets today to hear from five judicial nominees. They are: Court of Appeals: Judge Joseph Bianco, who is currently on the Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn and Long Island) bench, for the Second Circuit Michael Park of Consovoy McCarthy Park for the Second Circuit District Courts: Justice Greg Guidry of the Louisiana Supreme Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana Michael Liburdi , a former counsel to Governor of Arizona Doug Ducey and current partner at Greenberg Traurig, for the District of Arizona Peter D. Welte , a former Grand Forks County State’s Attorney and current partner at the Vogel Law Firm, for the District of North Dakota Some notes: Neither Bianco nor Park have blue slips returned from either Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer or Senator (and pres...

Last Wednesday, the White House announced the renomination of a batch of attorneys and judges to vacant judgeships on both California district courts and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Out of the 8 nominees in the bunch, 6 had previously been nominated to their positions in November 2018. They are: Ninth Circuit: Daniel P. Collins , a partner at Munger, Tolles & Olson Kenneth K. Lee, a partner at Jenner & Block Central District of California: Stanley Blumenfeld, a Judge of the Los Angeles County Superior Court Jeremy B. Rosen , a partner at Horvitz & Levy Mark S. Scarsi , a partner at Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy The history behind the other two nominees is... complicated, to say the least. In the original fall announcement last year,  Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Bumatay was nominated to the Ninth Circuit along with Collins and Lee. But having been sent to the Senate so late in the lame duck, he didn’t receive a hearing (nor di...