Obama's judicial nominations get so delayed, yet confirmed easily

[Hawaii Hiker]

This is crazy...President Obama's judicial appointments are taking forever to get an up or down vote, yet when the actual vote occurs, the nominees are often confirmed 84-0, 99-0, etc..

Delay & obstruct, that is all the Republican minority knows..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_federal_judges_appointed_by_Barack_Obama

[Jennicut]

1. Just do recess appts...which is what Obama talked about yesterday.

The Rethugs are being impossible.

[merh]

2. The recess appointments don't work.

Go research Charles Pickering. Once congress is back in session the appointments still have to be approved by the senate. Pickering was never confirmed.

Obama needs to stop playing mediator between the two parties. He needs to lead. He needs to be the leader of the party (to lead the dems to vote in unity) and he needs to lead the nation. If the GOP is in the way then he needs to push them out of the way.

[Jennicut]

3. So? It would let the appointees stay there until the next Congress comes in.

It is the very least they can do. Also it is laughable that Baucus, Nelson, Lincoln, etc would listen to Obama over money or their own concerns for reelection. Time to end the filibuster or make Rethugs filibuster for real. That is the only leadership that needs to be done.

[merh]

4. So we could lose even more of the majority we have by then.

Like I said, Obama needs to lead, not negotiate.

[Jennicut]

5. Lead with what? How? Threaten the conservadems and pick off one Repub to break the

filibuster? What details? Threaten the conservadems with what?

[longwinded]

6. Obama judicial recommendations in limbo

Obama and his vetters also share a good portion of the blame for the paucity of confirmed judicial nominees. As discussed earlier (see http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=433&topic_id=10272#10460), there are quite a few potential nominees in the pipeline, but it's taking the White House forever to get these people vetted and nominated.

As the most recent examples, Obama nominated Beth Foote and Mark Goldsmith last week for positions on the Western District of Louisiana and Eastern District of Michigan, respectively. However, Mary Landrieu had publicly recommended Foote back in July, and Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow had publicly recommended Goldsmith back in June. Why it takes 8 months to vet district court nominees, I don't know. And in the case of the Eastern District of Michigan, Levin and Stabenow recommended David Allen at the same time they recommended Goldsmith, yet Allen continues to languish somewhere in the White House.

There's some hope that the pace of judicial nominations will pick up with Bob Bauer replacing Greg Craig as White House Counsel: http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202437380707

Also, keep an eye out for movement on Christopher Schroeder's nomination to head the Office of Legal Policy, which once approved should also speed up the judicial vetting process. Schroeder's been stalled since June of last year and makes a logical candidate for a recess appointment: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0210/32743.html

In any case, here's the most recent list of known/rumored recommendations or forthcoming judicial nominees.

Arkansas
o Recommendations by Sens. Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor: http://lincoln.senate.gov/newsroom/2009-03-12-3.cfm ; http://lincoln.senate.gov/newsroom/USAttorneys-USMarshals.cfm ; http://pryor.senate.gov/newsroom/details.cfm?id=320883
o Eastern District of Arkansas (James M. Moody's old seat): Christopher J. Heller, Denise Reid Hoggard, Amelia Mosley Russell
o Western District of Arkansas (2 vacancies; 3 recs for 1st vacancy, 1 rec for 2nd vacancy): Caroline M. Craven, Susan O. Hickey, Carlton D. Jones (replaces James S. Hudson, Jr., who was initially recommended but died in May 2009); P.K. Holmes III

California
o 9th Circuit Court of Appeals: Goodwin Liu: http://pda-appellateblog.blogspot.com/2010_01_01_archive.html#3259036229308118868

Colorado
o Recommendations by Sens. Michael Bennet and Mark Udall: http://markudall.senate.gov/?p=press_release&id=3
o District of Colorado (2 vacancies): Christina Habas, Morris Ben Hoffman, Richard Brooke Jackson, William Martinez, Lael Montgomery, John F. Walsh

Delaware
o Recommendations by Sen. Tom Carper: http://www.delawaregrapevine.com/5-09fedposts.asp
o District of Delaware (1 vacancy): Andre Bouchard, Mary Graham, Leonard Stark

District of Columbia:
o Recommendations by D.C. House Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton: http://www.mainjustice.com/2010/02/08/white-house-vetting-opr-chief-for-federal-judgeship/
o District Court for D.C. (4 vacancies): Mary Patrice Brown; Robert L. Wilkins; James “Jeb” Boasberg

Illinois
o Recommendations by Sen. Dick Durbin: http://www.chicagoiplitigation.com/2009/08/articles/legal-news/senator-durbin-sends-northern-district-judicial-nominees-list-to-president-obama/
o Northern District of Illinois (4 vacancies): Edmond Chang, Sharon Coleman, Susan Cox, Thomas Durkin, Gary Feinerman, Mary Rowland, Maria Valdez

Florida
o The Florida Federal Judiciary Nominating Commission made recommendations to Sen. Bill Nelson: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/southflorida/story/1150406.html
o Southern District of Florida (1 vacancy): Jerald Bagley, Robert N. Scola, Jr., Kathleen M. Williams

Georgia
o Recommendations by Democratic members of Georgia's congressional delegation (Georgia's two senators and governor are R's): http://www.dailyreportonline.com/Editorial/News/singleEdit.asp?individual_SQL=8/27/2009@34761
o Northern District of Georgia (4 vacancies): J. Antonio DelCampo, Leigh M. May, Albert M. Pearson III, Wayne M. Purdom, Constance C. Russell, Wendy L. Shoob, V. Natasha Perdew Silas, Amy M. Totenberg, Gail S. Tusan, Gerald R. Weber Jr., David J. Worley

Louisiana
o Recommendation by Sen. Mary Landrieu: http://landrieu.senate.gov/releases/09/2009427C07.html
o Eastern District of Louisiana: Michael Bagneris

Maryland
o Recommendations by Sens. Barbara Mikulski and Ben Cardin: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bal-md.nominees12dec12,0,2238772.story
o District of Maryland (3 vacancies, 1 recommendation per vacancy): James K. Bredar, Charles B. Day, Ellen Hollander

Michigan
o Recommendations by Sens. Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow: http://levin.senate.gov/newsroom/release.cfm?id=314560
o Eastern District of Michigan (2 vacancies; Mark Goldsmith nominated for one of the vacancies on Feb 4, 2010): David Allen

Minnesota
o Recommendation by Sen. Amy Klobuchar: http://www.startribune.com/local/68913992.html
o District of Minnesota: Susan R. Nelson

Mississippi
o Recommendations will be made by a committee consisting of Democratic members of Mississippi's congressional delegation (i.e. Bennie Thompson, Travis Childers, Gene Taylor) and local Democratic leaders: http://www.neshobademocrat.com/main.asp?SectionID=7&SubSectionID=302&ArticleID=18487
o Southern District of Mississippi (1 vacancy): Carlton Reeves rumored to be a possible recommendation

New York
o Recommendations by Sen. Chuck Schumer: http://www.brooklyneagle.com/categories/category.php?category_id=4&id=33451 ; http://schumer.senate.gov/record.cfm?id=322146
o 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals (the "New York" seat left vacant by Sonia Sotomayor's Supreme Court appointment): Raymond J. Lohier
o Southern District of New York (2 vacancies): Daniel Alter (if nominated by Obama, Alter would be first openly gay male nominee for a federal judicial post)

North Carolina
o Recommendations by Sen. Kay Hagan: http://hagan.senate.gov/?p=press_release&id=351 ; http://hagan.senate.gov/?p=press_release&id=229
o Western District of North Carolina (1 vacancy): Max Cogburn Jr., Robert Ervin (son of former Senator Sam Ervin), Calvin Murphy (Hagan has since withdrawn this rec)
o Eastern District of North Carolina (1 vacancy): Allen Cobb, Jennifer May-Parker, Quentin Sumner
o Middle District of North Carolina (1 vacancy): Catherine Eagles, Anita Earls, Edwin Wilson

Oregon
o Recommendations by Sen. Ron Wyden: http://blogs.wweek.com/news/2009/07/28/ron-wyden-adds-marco-hernandez-as-the-sixth-name-to-judges-list/
o District Court of Oregon (2 vacancies): Thomas Balmer, Marco Hernandez (nominated by G.W. Bush to same position, but no action taken by Senate), Henry Kantor, Karsten Rasmussen, Michael Simon, Steven Wax

Rhode Island
o Recommendation by Sens. Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse: http://www.projo.com/news/content/JUDICIAL_NOMINATIONS_04-14-09_DAE1A14_v18.393d62e.html
o District Court of Rhode Island: John J. “Jack” McConnell Jr.

Texas
o The recommendation process here is getting ugly. The two Republican senators are trying assert their "right" to make recommendations rather than letting the a Democratic congressional delegation perform the duty (as is customary if there is no senator/governor of the same party; see Alabama and Obama's nomination of Abdul Kallon): http://www.mysanantonio.com/opinion/columnists/gary_martin/Nominations_focus_of_Texas_delegation_wrangling_.html
o In the meantime, let's assume Democratic recommendations take precedence: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/63710137.html
o Eastern District of Texas (1 seat will become vacant Jan 2010): John B. Stevens
o Southern District of Texas (3 vacancies): Marina Garcia Marmolejo, Diana Saldaña
o Western District of Texas (2 vacancies): Javier Alvarez, Catherine Torres-Stahl

Virginia
o Recommendation by Sens. Mark Warner and Jim Webb: http://warner.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=PressReleases&ContentRecord_id=90b8c909-536b-470d-9e11-ed4f6abc31bf&ContentType_id=0956c5f0-ef7c-478d-95e7-f339e775babf

West Virginia
o Recommendation by Sens. Robert Byrd and Jay Rockefeller: http://wvgazette.com/Opinion/Editorials/200911010206
o Northern District of West Virginia: Nick Casey

Wisconsin
o Recommendations by Wisconsin Bar (these go to Sens. Russ Feingold and Herb Kohl, who will then pare down the list and forward names to Obama): http://www.wisbar.org/am/template.cfm?section=press_releases&template=/cm/contentdisplay.cfm&contentid=65784
o 7th Circuit Court of Appeals (a "Wisconsin seat" will become vacant Jan 2010): Lynn S. Adelman, Linda M. Clifford, Anuj C. Desai, Victoria F. Nourse, Richard J. Sankovitz, Dean A. Strang

Federal Circuit
o No congressperson has "jurisdiction", but Reps. Zoe Lofgren, Howard Berman and Rick Boucher sent Obama a letter recommending Northern District of California judge Jeremy Fogel: http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202437343598
o Other people on the short list: Gregory Sleet, Kathleen O'Malley, Patti Saris

[longwinded]

7. Wisconsin Sens. make recommendations for 7th Circuit

Of the 6 names recommended by the Wisconsin Bar for a 7th Circuit seat, Sens. Russ Feingold and Herb Kohl forwarded 4 to Obama: http://www.wisbar.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=News&Template=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=89976
o Judge Lynn S. Adelman, U.S. District Court for Eastern District of Wisconsin: http://www.fjc.gov/servlet/tGetInfo?jid=2717
o Professor Victoria F. Nourse: http://law.wisc.edu/profiles/[e-mail]
o Judge Richard J. Sankovitz, Milwaukee County Circuit Court: http://www.wislawjournal.com/judges_directory.cfm/judge/details/179981/sankovitz_richard_j
o Dean A. Strang: http://www.hbslawfirm.com/profile_page.php?id=11

[vaberella]

8. What are you on about?! Those people are being vetted. That always takes a long time.

It doesn't matter if they are recommended by others. They need to be vetted so that we don't have too much political backlash.

How in the hell are you turning this into Obama's fault?! Your post is out of control. Seriously. The OP was talking about people who were clearly already vetted completly and waiting for confirmation. Yet you come in with people who are still being vetted as being the problem. The Obstructionist Congress held up more than 100 of Obama's COMPLETELY VETTED officials.

Your post is totally misrepresenting the issue and I find it to be utterly full of crap.

[longwinded]

9. I see...

...You mean how their thorough vetting prevented political backlash with David Hamilton, Edward Chen, Louis Butler, or Benita Pearson? Maybe it they had waited another few months to vet and nominate them, those nominees would have had unanimous Republican support...

The Senatorial recommendations surely do matter. By and large, those recommendations will become nominations. If a Senator has not recommended a nominee, then it's fair to say they're the bottleneck for a given judicial seat. But once the recommendation is made, the bottleneck is with the administration.

I'm not following low-level executive confirmations, but there are two reasons there have been so few judicial confirmations to date: an obstructionist congress, and an executive branch that has been nominating judges at the slowest rate in recent history. As Slate termed it, the pace of nominations is "pathetic": http://www.slate.com/id/2243845/

You can fault an obstructionist congress all you want, and you'd be partially right. But Obama's administration is solely to blame for the slow pace of nominations. If you have evidence that the administration's unique approach to judicial nominations is paying dividends, present it. Otherwise, take your whiny cheerleading elsewhere.

[longwinded]

10. Possible front-runner for Mississippi seat on 5th Circuit

Justice James Graves of the Mississippi Supreme Court: http://www.mslitigationreview.com/2010/02/articles/5th-circuit-2/justice-james-graves-remains-5th-circuit-frontrunner/
o Informative interview with Justice Graves: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=860771699262546935#

[longwinded]

11. Recommendations for Central District of Illinois

Senator Durbin recently forwarded four recommendations for 2 vacancies on the Central District of Illinois: http://durbin.senate.gov/showRelease.cfm?releaseId=322611
o Colin Bruce, Assistant U.S. Attorney
o Judge Sue E. Myerscough (previously nominated by Clinton for the same district, but Republicans blocked her)
o Judge James Shadid
o Judge Ronald Spears

Last week, Obama made two nominations for the Northern District of Illinois: Sharon Coleman and Gary Feinerman, both recommended back in August. Obama also nominated William Martinez to the District of Colorado; Senators Udall and Bennet recommended him back in June.

[longwinded]

13. Possible front-runner for Connecticut seat on 2nd Circuit

Obama recently nominated Judge Robert Chatigny for one of the two Connecticut seats currently open on the 2nd Circuit. Susan L. Carney, deputy general counsel at Yale, looks to be the current front-runner for the second Connecticut seat on the 2nd Circuit: http://www.ctlawtribune.com/getarticle.aspx?ID=36483
o Other possibilities for a Connecticut judgeship: Connecticut Supreme Court Justice Joette Katz, acting U.S. Attorney Nora R. Dannehy, Aaron S. Bayer

[longwinded]

14. Recommendations for Eastern District of Missouri

Obama recently nominated Audrey Goldstein Fleissig to one of the two seats currently open on the Eastern District of Missouri. For the second opening, Senator Clair McCaskill has forwarded three names to Obama: http://www.allbusiness.com/government/government-bodies-offices-law-courts/14014362-1.html
o Judge Nannette Baker (52 yo)
o Judge Judge Thomas C. Mummert III (59 yo)
o Judge Angela Turner Quigless (50 yo)

[vaberella]

12. Obama has Senators completely against him both Dem and Repub. Most on DU choose to forget this. n/t