This Week in the Senate: 9/7/2020

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This week, the Senate is holding votes on five nominations to the judiciary, and the Judiciary Committee will convene a nominations hearing and an executive business meeting.

Floor Action:¹
Monday:
  • The Senate will remain in recess for the Labor Day holiday.
Tuesday:
  • The Senate will vote at 5:30 pm to invoke cloture on the nomination of Bankruptcy Judge Brett H. Ludwig to be a Judge of the Eastern District of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. Ludwig's nomination is noncontroversial, and if confirmed, he would fill a vacancy from 2016.
Wednesday:
  • The Senate will vote to confirm Ludwig, and then will vote to invoke cloture on the nominations of Assistant U.S. Attorney Christy Wiegand and Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Hala Jarbou to be Judges of the Western Districts of Pennsylvania and Michigan, respectively. Both of their nominations are relatively noncontroversial, and if confirmed, they would fill vacancies from 2019 and 2017, respectively. In the afternoon, the Senate will vote to confirm Wiegand and Jarbou, and will then vote to invoke cloture on the nominations of U.S. Attorney Thomas Cullen and Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane Gujarati to be Judges of the Western District of Virginia and Eastern District of New York, respectively. Cullen's nomination is relatively noncontroversial, and Gujarati's is not controversial at all. If confirmed, they would fill a vacancy from 2017 and a judicial emergency from 2016, respectively.
Thursday:
  • The Senate will vote to confirm Cullen and Gujarati. It will also vote to invoke cloture on the motion to concur in the House Amendment to S. 178 with Amendment No. 2652. This is the proposed Republican stimulus package.
On Wednesday, the Judiciary Committee will hold a nominations hearing for the following nominees:
    District Court / Court of Federal Claims:
    1. Benjamin Joel Beaton, to be a U.S. District Judge for the Western District of Kentucky
    2. Kristi Haskins Johnson, to be a U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Mississippi
    3. Taylor B. McNeel, to be a U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Mississippi
    4. Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, to be a U.S. District Judge for the Middle District of Florida
    5. Thompson Michael Dietz, to be a Judge of the United States Court of Federal Claims
    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. J. Philip Calabrese, to be a U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of Ohio (1)
      2. Aileen Mercedes Cannon, to be a U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Florida (1)
      3. Toby Crouse, to be a U.S. District Judge for the District of Kansas (1)
      4. James Ray Knepp II, to be a U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of Ohio (1)
      5. Michael Jay Newman, to be a U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Ohio (1)
            Notes:

            ¹The floor schedule is an approximate guide to when votes may occur. It may not necessarily be completely accurate due to things changing in the Senate during the week.

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