This Week in Judicial Nominations

This week, the Senate incrementally moved forward with its responsibility of confirming appointees to the federal bench in the midst of a judicial vacancy crisis that has left 1 in 10 seats empty. Three District Court nominees had their Senate Judiciary hearings, three were reported out of committee to await their confirmation votes on the Senate floor, and two were confirmed as part of the deal on confirmation votes struck earlier this month between Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).

On Wednesday, the Senate voted to confirm United States District Court nominees Miranda Du to serve the District of Nevada by a vote of 59-39 and Susie Morgan to serve the Eastern District of Louisiana by a vote of 96-1.  It took 147 days for Du, and 140 days for Morgan, to receive their confirmation votes after being reported out of the Judiciary Committee.  Two hundred and forty days passed from the date of Du’s nomination to her confirmation to fill an emergency judicial vacancy; the time was even longer for Morgan, who was in the Senate process for 296 days.

Earlier that day, hearings were held for District Court nominees Michael Shea, Gonzalo Curiel, and Robert Shelby nominated to the District of Connecticut, the Southern District of California, and the District of Utah, respectively.  The hearing was chaired by Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT); Ranking Member Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) were also in attendance.  President Obama appointed Curiel and Shelby on November 10 and November 30 last year, respectively; Shea was appointed on February 2 of this year.  The hearing was non-controversial.  Now, they await consideration by the Committee and a vote to report them to the Senate floor, where the waiting process for a confirmation vote will begin.  While Shea, who was nominated on February 2 of this year, had to wait 56 days from nomination to the time of his hearing, both Curiel and Shelby had to wait twice as long to take the next step forward in the confirmation process.  Curiel, nominated on November 10, 2011, waited 140 days for his hearing.  Shelby, nominated on November 30, waited 120 days.

The Judiciary Committee reported three nominees – Richard Taranto, Robin Rosenbaum, and Gershwin Drain – to the Senate floor on Thursday.  They join 15 other judicial nominees who are awaiting confirmation by the Senate before they can assume their seats and being to serve people by dispensing justice in our nation’s federal court system.  As the Senate is leaving town for a two-week recess, no further action will take place to confirm judges until April 16, when a vote on the nomination of Stephanie Dawn Thacker to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals is scheduled to take place.

By the Numbers
3 District Court nominees had hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee

3 nominees reported out of Committee to the Senate floor: 1 Circuit Court nominee, 2 District Court nominees
2 District Court nominees confirmed

The week comes to a close with:

97 total judicial vacancies, including 33 judicial emergency vacancies
80 current vacancies; 17 future vacancies
17 circuit court vacancies; 80 district court vacancies
34 pending nominees; 63 vacancies without nominees
16 nominees pending in committee; 18 pending in the Senate

For the most comprehensive, up-to-date information on judicial nominations, visit the Judicial Selection Project website.

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Bencivengo confirmed to Southern District of California

The Senate today confirmed Judge Cathy Ann Bencivengo to a seat on the United States District Court for the Southern District of California this afternoon by a vote of 90 to 6.

Judge Bencivengo, who served as a United States Magistrate Judge in San Diego, was nominated to the seat on May 11, 2011. On October 6, 2011, the Senate Judiciary Committee reported her nomination to the full Senate on a unanimous voice vote.

Judge Bencivengo waited 127 days for the full Senate to consider her nomination; 275 days have passed since she was nominated to fill the seat which has been designated a judicial emergency vacancy by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. The seat has been vacant for 614 days. 

Today’s vote is only the second Senate confirmation vote of 2012 on judicial nominees, despite the fact that all but two of the 18 nominees awaiting final votes were forwarded out of committee with unanimous or overwhelming bipartisan support. Nine pending nominees are nominated to fill emergency vacancies.

For the most up-to-date information on judicial vacancies and nominations, see the Alliance for Justice Judicial Selection Project webpage.

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Wallach, Four District Court Nominees Voted Out of Committee

Today the Senate Judiciary Committee voted five judicial nominees out of committee in a unanimous, en banc vote, moving them forward to the full Senate for confirmation. The nominees are Evan Wallach, nominated to be a United States Circuit Judge for the Federal Circuit, and four United States District Judge nominees: Dana Christensen to the District of Montana, Cathy Bencivengo to the Southern District of California, Gina Marie Groh to the Northern District of West Virginia, and Margo Brodie to the Eastern District of New York.  They now join 21 other pending nominees awaiting confirmation by the Senate.

Consideration of all five had been “held over” by Republicans at the last meeting of the Committee.  Holding over nominees, even when there is no opposition to their appointment, has been a consistent tactic by Republican senators seeking to slow down the judicial confirmation process. This tactic was continued at the Committee today, with Republican ranking member Sen. Grassley (R-IA) automatically holding over the nominations of Adalberto José Jordán to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals and District Judge nominees John M. Gerrard, Mary Elizabeth Phillips, Thomas Owen Rice, and David Nuffer to the District of Nebraska, the Western District of Missouri, the Eastern District of Washington, and the District of Utah, respectively.

Both Jordán and Nuffer have been appointed to fill vacancies designated as “judicial emergencies” by the Administrative Office of the United States Courts.  Also automatically held over was consideration of S.1014, Emergency Judicial Relief Act, a bipartisan bill that would establish ten new judgeships in parts of the country where courts are overloaded because the bench is woefully understaffed.

Rather than playing delaying games in an attempt to keep President Obama’s nominees off the bench, Republicans in the Senate should be moving with all speed to ensure that these vacancies are filled so that people seeking justice in the courts of our nation can be heard.

For the most up-to-date and comprehensive information on judicial nominations, see the Alliance for Justice’s Judicial Selection Project webpage.

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