On Wednesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee held hearings on the nomination of Evan Wallach to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and of Dana Christensen, Cathy Bencivengo, Gina Marie Groh, and Margo Brodie to serve as United States District Judges in the District of Montana, Southern District of California, Northern District of West Virginia, and Eastern District of New York, respectively. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) presided over the hearings; also in attendance were Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Senator Al Franken (D-MN). Following a smooth hearing, the nominees were commended by both Senators Whitehouse and Grassley, with the latter noting that he did not see any reason why their confirmations should be opposed.
With 113 vacancies in our federal courts, 37 of them judicial emergencies, the Senate should move swiftly to take action to put these nominees on the federal bench. For the most up-to-date and comprehensive information on judicial nominations, see the Alliance for Justice’s Judicial Selection Snapshot and The State of the Judicary June–August 2011: Judicial Nominations in the 112th Congress.
