Confirmations for District Court Judges in Utah, New York, and D.C.

This afternoon, the Senate confirmed Judge David Nuffer to a seat on the United States District Court for the District of Utah, and Ronnie Abrams to a seat on the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, both by overwhelmingly bipartisan votes of 96-2.  Additionally, Rudolph Contreras was confirmed to a seat on the United States District Court for the District of Columbia by an unopposed voice vote.

Nuffer, who since 2003 has been serving full time as a United States Magistrate Judge for the District of Utah, was nominated to the District Court on June 29, 2011. On October 13, 2011, the Senate Judiciary Committee reported his nomination to the full Senate on a unanimous voice vote. Utah's junior senator, Mike Lee, expressed no opposition to Nuffer's nomination during the judiciary committee's deliberation or committee vote. Lee nonetheless continued his political campaign against President Obama by voting against his home state's judge on the Senate floor.

Nuffer waited 162 days following his committee vote for the full Senate to consider his nomination; 268 days have passed since he was nominated to fill the seat, which had been declared a "judicial emergency."

Abrams, who has served as Special Counsel for Pro Bono at Davis Polk & Wardwell since 2008, was nominated on July 28, 2011. Abrams was reported out of the Senate Judiciary Committee by a unanimous voice vote on November 3, 2011, but was still forced to wait 141 more days for the Senate to confirm her; her wait time from nomination to confirmation was 239 days.

Contreras, who has served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the past seventeen years, was nominated on July 28, 2011 and reported out of committee on November 3, 2011 on a voice vote without opposition.  Like Abrams, he had to wait 141 days for the Senate to vote on his confirmation, and 239 days passed from the time he was first nominated.

The votes took place as part of a Senate deal to hold confirmation votes on 14 judicial nominees by May 7. Notwithstanding the current trickle of confirmation votes, the Senate is still far behind the pace it needs to maintain to address the 98 current and future vacancies on the federal bench, vacancies that stand in the way of everyday Americans being able to access justice through our federal courts.

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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106 Vacancies

With the resignation of United States District Court Judge Richard Holwell (SD NY) this week, there are now 106 current and future vacancies in the federal court system, 33 of which are considered judicial emergencies. 

Nominees have been named for 41 of those vacancies. Nineteen of these seats could be filled immediately if the Senate would agree to hold simple up or down votes on the nominees who have been voted out of the Senate Judiciary Committee—17 of them either unanimously or with overwhelming bipartisan support.

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Senate Confirms Four Nominees to District Court Seats

Last night, the Senate confirmed the following to be United States District Court judges: Edgardo Ramos in the Southern District of New York; Andrew L. Carter, Jr. in the Southern District of New York; James Rodney Gilstrap in the Eastern District of Texas; and Dana L. Christensen in the District of Montana.

Judge Ramos was confirmed by a bipartisan vote of 89-0. The other three judges were confirmed by unanimous voice vote.

It has taken an average of 205 days for the four nominees to move through the Senate confirmation process, with Judge Gilstrap waiting 201 days to be confirmed to fill his judicial emergency seat in Texas.

The Senate’s action leaves 21 other judicial nominees waiting on the floor for their confirmation votes, 19 of whom were reported out of committee either unanimously or with strong bipartisan support.

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Judiciary Committee Reports Five Judicial Nominees to the Floor

This morning the Senate Judiciary Committee reported five judicial nominees to the Senate floor. Four nominees were reported on a unanimous voice vote: Stephanie Dawn Thacker, Michael Walker Fitzgerald, Ronnie Abrams, and Rudolph Contreras, nominees to the Fourth Circuit, the Central District of California, the Southern District of New York, and the District of Columbia, respectively.

Miranda Du, nominee to the District of Nevada, was reported out on a 10-8 party-line vote.

Fitzgerald and Du have been appointed to vacant seats that have been designated as judicial emergencies by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.

The committee also held over until its next meeting a vote on Susie Morgan, nominee to the Eastern District of Louisiana.

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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Senate Confirms Three District Court Nominees

Today, the Senate confirmed Alison Nathan to the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York by a vote of 48-44; Susan O. Hickey to the United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas by a bipartisan vote of 83-8; and Katherine B. Forrest to the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York by a unanimous voice vote.

The Senate took no action on 27 other judicial nominees currently pending on the Senate floor, 26 of whom were reported out of committee either unanimously or with strong bipartisan support and 9 of whom have been nominated to fill vacancies that are “judicial emergencies” as determined by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. There are now 107 current and future vacancies in the federal judiciary—1 in 8 judgeships— and only 7 fewer than there were at the beginning of the current Congress.

With the confirmation of Alison Nathan, the number of life-tenured openly gay federal judges has increased to three; two of these were appointed by President Obama and one by President Clinton.

For the most accurate, up-to-date information on the judicial selection process, visit the Alliance’s Judicial Selection webpage.

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Hearings on Five Nominees, Two to Fill Judicial Emergencies

The Senate Judiciary Committee today held hearings on the nominations of Stephanie Dawn Thacker to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and of Michael Walter Fitzgerald, Ronnie Abrams, Rudolph Contreras, and Miranda Du to serve as United States District Judges in the Central District of California, the Southern District of New York, the District of Columbia, and the District of Nevada, respectively.

If confirmed, Fitzgerald and Du will both be filling vacancies that have been deemed “judicial emergencies” by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) presided over the hearings; also in attendance were committee members Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) and Senator Chris Coons (D-MD).

With 108 vacancies in our federal courts, 32 of them judicial emergencies, the Senate should move swiftly to put these well-qualified nominees on the federal bench.

For the most up-to-date and comprehensive information on judicial nominations, download the Alliance for Justice’s Judicial Selection Snapshot and The State of the Judiciary May–August 2011: Judicial Nominations in the 112th Congress.

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