The Judicial Nominations Blog

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 ...

This week, the Senate is holding votes on one nomination and a few legislative measures, and the Judiciary Committee will possibly convene a business meeting. Floor Action: Monday: The Senate will vote at 5:30 pm to invoke cloture on the Shelby substitute Amendment No. 201 to H.R. 268 , the supplemental disaster appropriations bill. Depending on whether or not Democrats revolt regarding the level of Puerto Rico funding in the bill (they see it as too low, and the President believes it is too high) cloture may or may not be invoked. Tuesday: If H.R. 268 isn't wrapped up on Monday, the Senate will complete work on it and then will vote to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to  S.Res. 50 , the resolution changing up postcloture time for various presidential nominations. It's likely this motion will fail due to the 3/5ths requirement, but Democrats might support the initial vote in a demonstration of good faith if they earn guarantees of voting on possible amendm...

This week, the Senate is holding votes on one nomination and a few legislative measures, and the Judiciary Committee will possibly convene an executive business meeting. Floor Action: Monday: The Senate will vote at 5:30 pm to invoke cloture on the nomination of U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona Magistrate Judge Bridget Bade to be a judge of the Ninth Circuit. Originally nominated in August last year, Bade's nomination was supported at that time by Sens. Jeff Flake and Jon Kyl (R-AZ). The Grand Canyon state's Senate delegation experienced 100% turnover over the winter, and new Sen. Martha McSally (R-AZ) has publicly expressed support for her, while Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) has not. Nevertheless, the fact that Bade did not receive a party-line vote (her vote was 17–5 ) in committee signifies that Sinema has returned a blue slip on her nomination, and thus will likely support her (all previous circuit court nominees without blue slips returned had un...

This week, the Senate is holding votes on four nominations, and the Judiciary Committee will convene a nominations hearing and a business meeting. Floor Action: Monday: The Senate will vote at 5:30 pm to invoke cloture on the nomination of Williams & Connolly partner Allison Jones Rushing to be a judge of the Fourth Circuit. Because Rushing is quite young compared to the typical circuit court nominee, and has a prior affiliation with the Alliance Defending Freedom, the vote will likely be along party lines.  Tuesday: The Senate will vote to confirm Rushing and invoke cloture on the nomination of Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division Chad Readler to fill a 6th Circuit vacancy in Ohio. Readler does not have a blue slip returned from Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), and he also was an instrumental figure in the recent litigation relating to the Affordable Care Act's constitutionality, so his vote will be on party-lines, with possible defect...

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...

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...

Today, the Senate Judiciary Committee is set to hold  an executive business meeting to move forward with numerous nominations, including that of William Barr to be the next attorney general, and Donald Washington to direct the U.S. Marshals Service. But this post is focused mainly on the 44 other nominees present on the list. There are almost four dozen candidates up for judgeships on the list, including 6 to the courts of appeals (Bridget Bade for the Ninth Circuit, Paul Matey for the Third Circuit, Eric Miller for the Ninth Circuit, Eric E. Murphy and Chad Readler for the Sixth Circuit, and Allison Jones Rushing for the Fourth Circuit), 34 district court nominees, 2 nominees to the Court of Federal Claims, and 2 to the Court of International Trade. Bade was first nominated to the Ninth Circuit late last summer with the support of both Sens. Jeff Flake and Jon Kyl (R-AZ), but now the Grand Canyon State has a split Senate delegation, with Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) and Mart...