Weekly Update: 1/3/2020

-
Vacancies:
Courts of Appeals:
  • Current Vacancies: 1 (± 0 this week)
  • Future Vacancies: 1 (± 0)
District Courts:
  • Current Vacancies: 71 (+ 2)
    • William C. Griesbach, Eastern District of Wisconsin, senior status, December 31, 2019, 2/5 seats vacant
    • Benjamin Hale Settle, Western District of Washington, senior status, January 1, 2020, 5/7 seats vacant
  • Future Vacancies: 11 (- 3)
Pending Nominations:
Courts of Appeals:
  • Pending before Senate Judiciary Committee without hearing: 0 (± 0 this week)
  • Hearings held and still in Committee: 1 (- 1)
    • Andrew Lynn Brasher, of Alabama, to be a United States Circuit Judge for the Eleventh Circuit (officially nominated, January 3, 2020)
  • Reported out of Committee/Pending on Executive Calendar: 0 (± 0)
District Courts:
  • Pending before Senate Judiciary Committee without hearing: 0 (- 18)
  • Hearings held and still in Committee: 5 (- 3)
    • Joshua M. Kindred, of Alaska, to be a United States District Judge for the District of Alaska (officially nominated, January 3, 2020)
    • Matthew Thomas Schelp, of Missouri, to be a United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Missouri (officially nominated, January 3, 2020)
    • Stephen A. Vaden, of Tennessee, to be a Judge of the United States Court of International Trade (officially nominated, January 3, 2020)
  • Reported out of Committee/Pending on Executive Calendar: 6 (± 0)
Court of Federal Claims:
  • Pending before Senate Judiciary Committee without hearing: 0 (- 3)
  • Hearings held and still in Committee: 0 (- 2)
  • Reported out of Committee/Pending on Executive Calendar: 2 (± 0)
Tax Court:
  • Pending before Senate Finance Committee without hearing: 2 (- 1)
  • Hearings held and still in Committee: 0 (± 0)
  • Reported out of Committee/Pending on Executive Calendar: 1 (± 0)
Floor Action:
Nominations Confirmed:
  • None
Cloture Motions Filed:
  • None
Other Actions Taken (Nomination rejected, withdrawn by White House, etc.):
  • Halil Suleyman Ozerden, of Mississippi, to be a United States Circuit Judge for the Fifth Circuit (returned to the President, January 3, 2020)
  • Fernando L. Aenlle-Rocha, of California, to be a United States District Judge for the Central District of California (returned to the President, January 3, 2020)
  • Stanley Blumenfeld, of California, to be a United States District Judge for the Central District of California (returned to the President, January 3, 2020)
  • Adam L. Braverman, of California, to be a United States District Judge for the Southern District of California (returned to the President, January 3, 2020)
  • John Peter Cronan, of New York, to be a United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York (returned to the President, January 3, 2020)
  • William Scott Hardy, of Pennsylvania, to be a United States District Judge for the Western District of Pennsylvania (returned to the President, January 3, 2020)
  • John F. Heil III, of Oklahoma, to be a United States District Judge for the Eastern, Northern, and Western Districts of Oklahoma (returned to the President, January 3, 2020)
  • John W. Holcomb, of California, to be a United States District Judge for the Central District of California (returned to the President, January 3, 2020)
  • Knut Sveinbjorn Johnson, of California, to be a United States District Judge for the Southern District of California (returned to the President, January 3, 2020)
  • David Cleveland Joseph, of Louisiana, to be a United States District Judge for the Western District of Louisiana (returned to the President, January 3, 2020)
  • Steve Kim, of California, to be a United States District Judge for the Central District of California (returned to the President, January 3, 2020)
  • Iris Lan, of New York, to be a United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York (returned to the President, January 3, 2020)
  • Sandy Nunes Leal, of California, to be a United States District Judge for the Central District of California (returned to the President, January 3, 2020)
  • R. Shireen Matthews, of California, to be a United States District Judge for the Southern District of California (returned to the President, January 3, 2020)
  • Michelle M. Pettit, of California, to be a United States District Judge for the Southern District of California (returned to the President, January 3, 2020)
  • Rick Lloyd Richmond, of California, to be a United States District Judge for the Central District of California (returned to the President, January 3, 2020)
  • Todd Wallace Robinson, of California, to be a United States District Judge for the Southern District of California (returned to the President, January 3, 2020)
  • Jeremy B. Rosen, of California, to be a United States District Judge for the Central District of California (returned to the President, January 3, 2020)
  • Mark C. Scarsi, of California, to be a United States District Judge for the Central District of California (returned to the President, January 3, 2020)
  • Kevin Ray Sweazea, of New Mexico, to be a United States District Judge for the District of New Mexico (returned to the President, January 3, 2020)
  • Jennifer P. Togliatti, of Nevada, to be a United States District Judge for the District of Nevada (returned to the President, January 3, 2020)
  • Cory T. Wilson, of Mississippi, to be a United States District Judge for the Southern District of Mississippi (returned to the President, January 3, 2020)
  • Kathryn C. Davis, of Maryland, to be a Judge of the United States Court of Federal Claims (returned to the President, January 3, 2020)
  • Daniel Z. Epstein, of Texas, to be a Judge of the United States Court of Federal Claims (returned to the President, January 3, 2020)
  • Edward Hulvey Meyers, of Maryland, to be a Judge of the United States Court of Federal Claims (returned to the President, January 3, 2020)
  • Grace Karaffa Obermann, of Virginia, to be a Judge of the United States Court of Federal Claims (returned to the President, January 3, 2020)
  • Stephen Sidney Schwartz, of Virginia, to be a Judge of the United States Court of Federal Claims (returned to the President, January 3, 2020)
  • Scott J. Laurer, of Virginia, to be a Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (returned to the President, January 3, 2020)
  • Mark Van Dyke Holmes, of New York, to be a Judge of the United States Tax Court (returned to the President, January 3, 2020)
Cumulative Confirmations:
Courts of Appeals: 50 (± 0 this week)
District Courts: 133 (± 0)
Court of International Trade: 2 (± 0)
Court of Federal Claims: 3 (± 0)
Tax Court: 4 (± 0)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Federal Judges Push Back on the Judicial Conference's Advisory Opinion No. 117

-
In May, The New York Times  and The Wall Street Journal  published an article and op-ed , respectively, about opposition to the Judicial Conference Code of Conduct Committee proposal to ban judges from being members of the Federalist Society and the American Constitution Society, along with similar organizations. Circuit Judges Greg Katsas, Andrew Oldham, William H. Pryor Jr., and Amul Thapar wrote in opposition to the proposal , and 206 other federal judges signed on. A brief analysis of the signatories of the letter follows. All numbers are drawn from the given numbers of judges on the bench on March 18, 2020, the date the letter was sent. First, it bears noting that the incumbent chair of the Code of Conduct Committee is Judge Ralph Erickson of the 8th Circuit. He's one of 8 Trump circuit court appointees to not list membership in the Federalist Society in his Senate paperwork, and (for obvious reasons) one of 5 to not sign the letter. Appointees of every president s...
Read more

Will Trump Release a New SCOTUS List this Year? (Part 1)

-
This is the first half of a two-part series detailing the future of Trump's Supreme Court list. Past presidential elections have featured presidents promising to appoint a woman to the Supreme Court, or more general vows to appoint justices who follow a given judicial philosophy. Donald Trump followed up on that in 2016 by promising to appoint a justice in the mold of the recently-deceased Justice Antonin Scalia. To make that guarantee to the voters more concrete, the Trump campaign, in conjunction with the Heritage Foundation and other outside conservative groups, and the Federalist Society's Leonard Leo, released two separate lists in the course of the campaign. While this was certainly an unprecedented step at the time, today the Supreme Court is more visible than ever to the electorate, and the 2020 candidates have reacted accordingly. For instance, former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, has vowed to appoint an African-American woman to the ...
Read more

This Week in the Senate: 4/8/2019

-
This week, the Senate is holding votes on seven nominations, and the Judiciary Committee will convene a nominations hearing. Floor Action: Monday: No votes scheduled. Tuesday: The Senate will vote to invoke cloture on the nomination of former Colorado Solicitor General Daniel Domenico to a district court seat in the state. Due to controversy regarding litigation stances he took while working for the state attorney general, this vote will likely be along party lines, with the exception of a probable yes vote from Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO), who returned a blue slip on the nomination. After two hours, the Senate will then vote to confirm Domenico, and then will vote to invoke cloture on the nomination of Oklahoma Supreme Court Justice Patrick Wyrick to be a district judge in the state's Western District. Wyrick is the youngest person currently on the President's Supreme Court list, so expect vehement opposition from Senate Democrats. If cloture is invoked, a vote on ...
Read more