The Judicial Nominations Blog

This week, the Senate is out of session, with senators back in their home-states for New Year's Day.  Pro forma  sessions (to prevent recess appointments) will be held on December 30th and January 2nd. The first session of the 116th Congress will end on January 3rd, shortly before noon, and the second session will begin at noon. Senator-designate Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) will likely be sworn in then. Update # 1 (1/3/2020):  Loeffler will be sworn in next week.

Vacancies: Courts of Appeals: Current Vacancies: 1  ( ±  0  this week) Future Vacancies: 1   ( ±  0 ) District Courts: Current Vacancies: 69   ( ±  0 ) Future Vacancies: 14   ( ±  0 ) Pending Nominations: Courts of Appeals: Pending before Senate Judiciary Committee without hearing: 0   ( ±  0  this week) Hearings held and still in Committee: 2   ( ±  0 ) Reported out of Committee/Pending on Executive Calendar: 0   ( ±  0 ) District Courts: Pending before Senate Judiciary Committee without hearing: 18   ( ±  0 ) Hearings held and still in Committee: 8   ( ±  0 ) Reported out of Committee/Pending on Executive Calendar: 6   ( ±  0 ) Court of Federal Claims: Pending before Senate Judiciary Committee without hearing: 3   ( ±  0 ) Hearings held and still in Committee: 2  ( ±  0) Reported out of Committee/Pending on Executive Calendar: 2   ( ±  0) Tax Court: Pending before Senate Finance Committee without hearing: 3   ( ±  0 ) Hea

In 2019, President Donald Trump appointed 108 federal judges to the bench. Thomas Jipping has a post at Bench Memos  providing a perspective regarding the opposition many Trump judicial nominees have faced, but I thought I'd analyze this from another angle. To begin with, the breakdown: 20 circuit judges (with life tenure) 80 district judges (with life tenure) 2 judges to the Court of International Trade (with life tenure) 3 judges to the Court of Federal Claims (an Article I court with 15-year terms) 2 judges to the Tax Court (an Article I court with 15-year terms) 1 judge to the Court of Military Commission Review (an Article I court) As Jipping noted, this is the second most federal judges appointed in a single calendar year (2019 is runner-up to 1979 in this context, when Jimmy Carter appointed 135 Article III judges in the wake of Congress adding more than 100 judgeships to the bench in 1978). Trump appointed more judges in 2019 than in 2017 and 2018 combined. Thi

This week, the Senate is out of session, with senators back in their home-states for Christmas and New Year's Day.  Pro forma  sessions (to prevent recess appointments) will be held on December 23rd and December 26th. Next week, the Senate will remain in recess.

Vacancies: Courts of Appeals: Current Vacancies: 1  ( ±  0  this week) Future Vacancies: 1   ( ±  0 ) District Courts: Current Vacancies: 69   ( - 12 ) Morrison C. England, Jr., Eastern District of California, senior status, December 17, 2019, 1/6 seats vacant Future Vacancies: 14   ( - 1 ) Pending Nominations: Courts of Appeals: Pending before Senate Judiciary Committee without hearing: 0   ( ±  0  this week) Hearings held and still in Committee: 2   ( ±  0 ) Reported out of Committee/Pending on Executive Calendar: 0   ( ±  0 ) District Courts: Pending before Senate Judiciary Committee without hearing: 18   ( ±  0 ) Hearings held and still in Committee: 8   ( ±  0 ) Reported out of Committee/Pending on Executive Calendar: 6   ( - 13 ) Court of Federal Claims: Pending before Senate Judiciary Committee without hearing: 3   ( ±  0 ) Hearings held and still in Committee: 2  ( ±  0) Reported out of Committee/Pending on Executive Calen

This week, the Senate is holding votes on one bill . Floor Action:¹ Monday: The Senate will vote at 5:30 pm to invoke cloture on the conference report for S. 1790 , the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020. Tuesday: The Senate will vote to adopt the conference report. Wednesday: The Senate will vote to invoke cloture on the nomination of Ohio 4th District Court of Appeals Judge Matthew McFarland to serve as a judge of the Southern District of Ohio. McFarland's nomination is opposed by Democrats due to his affiliation with a pro-life group while running for judicial office. If confirmed, he would fill a judicial emergency from 2017. Then, there will be a confirmation vote on his nomination and the Senate will proceed to a series of cloture votes on 12 remaining district court nominees, beginning with the nomination of Broward County Circuit Court Judge Raag Singhal to serve as a judge of the Southern District of Florida. Then, the Senate will

Vacancies: Courts of Appeals: Current Vacancies: 1  ( ±  0  this week) Future Vacancies: 1   ( - 2 ) District Courts: Current Vacancies: 81   ( ±  0 ) Future Vacancies: 15   ( ±  0 ) Pending Nominations: Courts of Appeals: Pending before Senate Judiciary Committee without hearing: 0   ( ±  0  this week) Hearings held and still in Committee: 2   ( ±  0 ) Reported out of Committee/Pending on Executive Calendar: 0   ( - 2 ) District Courts: Pending before Senate Judiciary Committee without hearing: 18   ( ±  0 ) Hearings held and still in Committee: 8   ( ±  0 ) Reported out of Committee/Pending on Executive Calendar: 19   ( ±  0 ) Court of Federal Claims: Pending before Senate Judiciary Committee without hearing: 3   ( ±  0 ) Hearings held and still in Committee: 2  ( ±  0) Reported out of Committee/Pending on Executive Calendar: 2   ( ±  0) Tax Court: Pending before Senate Finance Committee without hearing: 3   ( ±  0 ) Hear

This week, the Senate is holding votes on five nominations, including two to the judiciary . Floor Action:¹ Monday: The Senate will vote at 5:30 pm to invoke cloture on the nomination of Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California Patrick Bumatay to the Ninth Circuit. Bumatay's nomination is opposed by Senate Democrats due to him not having positive blue slips from either of his state's senators. If confirmed, he would succeed Judge Carlos Bea. Tuesday: The Senate will vote to confirm Bumatay, and then will vote to invoke cloture on the nomination of Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division Lawrence VanDyke to the Ninth Circuit. If confirmed, he would succeed Judge Jay Bybee. VanDyke is opposed by Democrats due to positions he took as solicitor general of Montana and Nevada, the fact that he has limited ties to Nevada (yet he's been nominated to fill a seat there), and that neither of Nevada's

Vacancies: Courts of Appeals: Current Vacancies: 1  ( ±  0  this week) Future Vacancies: 3   ( ±  0 ) District Courts: Current Vacancies: 81   ( - 8 ) Future Vacancies: 15   ( ±  0 ) Pending Nominations: Courts of Appeals: Pending before Senate Judiciary Committee without hearing: 0   ( - 1  this week) Hearings held and still in Committee: 2   ( +  1 ) Andrew Lynn Brasher, of Alabama, to be a United States Circuit Judge for the Eleventh Circuit ( hearing held , December 4, 2019) Reported out of Committee/Pending on Executive Calendar: 2   ( ±  0 ) District Courts: Pending before Senate Judiciary Committee without hearing: 18   ( +  2 ) David Cleveland Joseph, of Louisiana, to be a United States District Judge for the Western District of Louisiana ( officially nominated , December 2, 2019) John Peter Cronan, of New York, to be a United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York ( officially nominated , December 2, 2019) Willi

This week, the Senate is holding votes on ten nominations, including eight to the judiciary, and the Judiciary Committee will convene a nominations hearing and  an executive business  meeting . Floor Action:¹ Monday: The Senate will vote at 5:30 pm to confirm Deputy Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette to be Secretary. Then, there will be a cloture vote on the nomination of former Viking Global Investors general counsel Eric Komitee to be a Judge of the Eastern District of New York. His nomination is relatively noncontroversial, and if confirmed, he would fill a judicial emergency from 2017. Tuesday: The Senate will vote to confirm Komitee, and then will vote to invoke cloture on the nomination of Hodgson Russ partner John Sinatra to be a Judge of the Western District of New York, which faces scrutiny from some Senate Democrats over Sinatra's family ties to former Rep. Chris Collins (R-NY) , who resigned in October after pleading guilty to insider trading. If confirme