This Week in the Senate: 7/8/2019

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This week, the Senate is holding votes on seven nominations, and the Judiciary Committee will convene an executive business meeting.

Floor Action:
Monday:
  • The Senate will vote at 5:30 pm to invoke cloture on the nomination of Kirkland & Ellis partner Daniel Bress to be a judge of the Ninth Circuit. Neither of California's senators returned blue slips for his nomination, due to concerns over his "youth" and because he lives in the Washington, D.C. area. With those issues in mind, this vote will be along party lines.
Tuesday:
  • After burning close to 30 hours of postcloture debate on the Bress nomination, there will be a vote on confirmation, and then there will be cloture votes on three district court nominees: Judge T. Kent Wetherell II of the First District Court of Appeal (Northern District of Florida); Barnes & Thornburg partner Damon Leichty (Northern District of Indiana); and K&L Gates partner Nicholas Ranjan (Western District of Pennsylvania). None of these nominees are that controversial, and they should all receive comfortable margins of bipartisan support.
Wednesday:
  • The Senate will vote to confirm the three district court nominees, and then will proceed to  voting to invoke cloture on the nominations of Robert King (to be an Assistant Secretary of Education), John Pallasch (to be an Assistant Secretary of Labor), and Peter Wright (to be an Assistant Administrator of the EPA).
Thursday:
  • The Senate will vote on confirming the King, Pallasch, and Wright nominations.
On Thursday, the Judiciary Committee will hold an executive session to vote on and/or hold over the following nominations (the number in the parentheses appearing after the nominee's name signifies whether this is the first or second time appearing on the agenda; first-time appearances are typically held over and nominees appearing for the second time usually receive votes):
      District Court:
      1. Douglas Russell Cole, to be a U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Ohio (1)
      2. Matthew Walden McFarland, to be a U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Ohio (1)
      3. Robert Anthony Molloy, to be a Judge for the District Court of the Virgin Islands (1)
      4. Kea Whetzal Riggs, to be a U.S. District Judge for the District of New Mexico (1)

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