Wednesday
The Senate Judiciary held a confirmation hearing for five nominees: Morgan Christen, to the United States Circuit Court for the Ninth Circuit; Scott W. Skavdahl, to the United States District Court for the District of Wyoming; Sharon L. Gleason, to the United States District Court for the District of Alaska; Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, to the United States District Court for the Northern District of California; and Richard G. Andrews, to the United States District Court for the District of Delaware. Senator Hatch (R-UT) took Senator Grassley’s (R-IA) place for most of the hearing and said that he would support all of the nominees.
Thursday
The Senate Judiciary Committee held an Executive Business Meeting at which five nominees were reported out, five nominees were held over, and one nominee was not voted on. Stephen A. Higginson, nominee to the United States Circuit Court for the Fifth Circuit, Jane M. Triche-Milazzo, nominee to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, and Katherine B. Forrest, nominee to the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York were reported out on voice votes. Alison J. Nathan, nominee to the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York was reported out on a 14-4 roll call vote with Senators Hatch, Kyl, Sessions, and Coburn voting no. Susan O. Hickey, nominee to the United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas was reported out on a 15-3 roll call vote with Senators Hatch, Kyl, and Lee voting no.
The committee held over votes on five nominees: Christopher Droney, nominee to the United States Circuit Court for the Second Circuit; Robert D. Mariani, nominee to the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania; Cathy Bissoon and Mark R. Hornak, nominees to the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania; and Robert N. Scola, Jr., nominee to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, until next Thursday. The committee did not take any action on the nomination of Steve Six to the United States Circuit Court for the Tenth Circuit.
The Senate also approved a unanimous consent request to hold a vote next Monday on the nomination of Paul Oetken to the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Debate on the nomination will begin at 5:00p.m. and a vote will occur around 5:30p.m. If confirmed, Mr. Oetken will become the first openly gay man to be nominated and confirmed to the federal bench.
The vote on Mr. Oetken’s nomination will be the first for a lifetime judicial nominee since June 21st, a span of almost 4 weeks. There are 112 vacant or soon to be vacant seats on the federal bench—nearly 1 in 7 judgeships—and there are 22 nominees awaiting final confirmation votes, 18 of which were reported out of the judiciary committee either unanimously or on voice votes. There is no substantive reason to delay confirming these nominees.
