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Thread: Federal District Courts

  1. #11
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    May 3, 2018

    McConnell Prepared to Confirm Judges Through New Year’s

    By Niels Lesniewski
    Roll Call

    Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is prepared to work up until New Year’s Day to keep confirming judicial nominations.

    “I can tell you that if we have to stay until December 31, we’re going to do the judges that come out of committee,” the Kentucky Republican said. “They’ll be voted on this year.”

    McConnell made his comments during an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, which aired Thursday morning.

    The Senate has confirmed 33 of Trump’s picks for the federal courts in the 115th Congress, including Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch and 15 appeals court judges, according to the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.

    “We’re going to continue to confirm judges all year,” the majority leader said. “The Congress doesn’t stop with the elections. It goes until the end of the year. We’re going to do six more [circuit nominations] next week, which will bring us to 21. I’m processing them as quickly as they come out of the Judiciary Committee, and the administration is sending them up rapidly.”

    “My goal, Hugh, is to confirm all the circuit and district court judges that come out of committee this calendar year, all of them,” McConnell said.

    That would be a particular challenge, and might require a particularly turbulent lame-duck session, if the Republicans were to lose control of the Senate at the polls in November.

    The Senate has confirmed 33 of President Donald Trump’s picks for the federal courts in the 115th Congress, including Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch and 15 appeals court judges, according to the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.

    McConnell said he wants to see the 2018 midterms in part be a referendum on the judicial picks of Trump.

    “I hope so,” McConnell said. “I think the American people do care about getting a fair shake when you go to court, about having a judge sitting there who is not trying to get an outcome that he may personally prefer.”

    While McConnell said he was hopeful about retaining the Senate Republican majority, particularly given the favorable 2018 map, he did say it would be a challenge with Trump in the Oval Office.

    “It’s going to be a challenging year,” McConnell said. “History tells you it will not be a great year for the party of the president.”

    McConnell said that he would be working to tilt what has been the generally liberal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in a more conservative direction, noting blue slips no longer provide veto power to individual home state senators on appeals court vacancies.

    “My view is, no one senator, ought to be able to stop a circuit court judge,” McConnell said.

    He acknowledged, however, that Judiciary Chairman Charles E. Grassley of Iowa may have to work out the process for California-based Ninth Circuit seats with his ranking member since Sen. Dianne Feinstein represents the Golden State.

    McConnell said blue slips halting Judiciary Committee consideration of district court nominations would continue for the rest of this Congress.

    He also said in the event Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy decided to announce retirement from the bench, a potential Supreme Court battle would move to the front of the judicial confirmation pipeline.

    “If there is a Supreme Court vacancy, it takes priority. No question about it,” McConnell said.

    https://www.rollcall.com/news/politi...dges-new-years

  2. #12
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    August 22, 2018

    Senate Could Be Tied up For Weeks Voting on Trump Nominees

    Senate majority leader moved to limit debate on a slew of nominations Wednesday

    By Niels Lesniewski
    Roll Call

    Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell moved to thwart filibusters of more than a dozen of President Donald Trump’s nominees Wednesday afternoon.

    The move sets up the potential for weeks of virtually continuous sessions of the Senate, although it is more likely that a bipartisan agreement will be reached at least ahead of the long Labor Day weekend.

    The list of 17 nominees is highlighted by Richard Clarida to the Federal Reserve and a slew of Trump nominees to fill federal judgeships in seats across the country.

    If senators were to object to time agreements, the Senate could literally spend weeks doing little other than considering the nominations, a move that complicates much of the legislative agenda for the rest of the year, particularly when it comes to finishing consideration of government spending bills before the end of the fiscal year on September 30.

    Here is the list of nominees:

    Lynn A. Johnson to be assistant secretary for Family Support, Department of Health and Human Services.

    Richard Clarida to be vice chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

    Joseph H. Hunt to be an assistant attorney general.

    Isabel Marie Keenan Patelunas to be assistant secretary for Intelligence and Analysis, Department of Treasury.

    Terry Fitzgerald Moorer to be U.S. District judge for the Southern District of Alabama.

    R. Stan Baker to be U.S. District judge for the Southern District of Georgia.

    Charles Barnes Goodwin to be U.S. District judge for the Western District of Oklahoma.

    Barry W. Ashe to be U.S. District judge for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

    James R. Sweeney II to be U.S. District judge for the Southern District of Indiana.

    Susan Paradise Baxter to be U.S. District judge for the Western District of Pennsylvania.

    Marilyn Jean Horan to be U.S. District judge for the Western District of Pennsylvania.

    William F. Jung to be U.S. District judge for the Middle District of Florida

    Dominic W. Lanza to be U.S. District judge for the District of Arizona.

    Charles J. Williams to be U.S. District judge for the Northern District of Iowa.

    Robert R. Summerhays to be U.S. District judge for the Western District of Louisiana.

    Alan D. Albright to be U.S. District judge for the Western District of Texas.

    https://www.rollcall.com/news/politi...trump-nominees

    I was wishing that they would've done more then 12, they got at least another three dozen waiting to be confirmed.

  3. #13
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    Senate Confirms Seven Trump Picks for the Federal Bench

    Court House News Service

    WASHINGTON (CN) – The Senate on Tuesday confirmed seven of President Donald Trump’s nominees to federal district courts across the country, most by unanimous voice votes.

    The one nominee who received some opposition on Tuesday was U.S. Magistrate Judge Charles Goodwin, whom a majority of the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary rated not qualified due to concerns about his work ethic.

    While a minority of the committee rated Goodwin qualified, a majority found he was not qualified, citing his “frequent absence from the courthouse until mid-afternoon.”

    Goodwin, who will now take a seat on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma, explained he had a habit of working from his home office when he had opinions to write and no hearings scheduled because he found it “extremely beneficial” to “focus in solitude on writing.”

    He said whenever he was working from his home office he had access to email, two different phones and his office schedule and that he noticed “no practical difference in accessibility” between his home office and his chambers.

    Goodwin said he never heard anyone complain about his practice of working from home, but noted he stopped doing so in August 2017 after an ABA investigator asked him about his habits.

    “Although I respect the right of the ABA Standing Committee to express its opinion, I was disappointed in the ABA’s process and did not find it to be thorough or fair,” Goodwin told Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., in response to questions submitted in writing after his confirmation hearing.

    Goodwin has served as a magistrate judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma since 2013, having previously worked at the Oklahoma City firm Crowe & Dunlevy. Goodwin cleared the Senate in a 52-42 vote.

    U.S. Magistrate Judge Terry Moorer will become the first African American judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama after earning confirmation in a unanimous voice vote in the Senate on Tuesday afternoon. Moorer is also the first black judicial nominee confirmed during the Trump administration.

    Moorer worked as a federal prosecutor in Alabama from 1990 to 2007, during which time he also worked as a military judge and judge advocate in the Alabama National Guard. Moorer also served from 1981 to 1986 in the Alabama National Guard.

    Moorer took a seat as a magistrate judge on the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama in 2007 and has served on the court ever since. He told Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., in response to written questions submitted after his nomination hearing that he believes his experience as a magistrate judge will serve him well in his new position.

    “I can say my experience as a magistrate judge has reinforced for me the importance of remembering that at the bottom of all files and cases are people and their stories,” Moorer wrote. “In other words, judges and lawyers provide their greatest service to our society when they remember the humanity of the litigants – even opposing or difficult litigants.”

    U.S. Magistrate Judge Stan Baker received similarly strong support in the Senate, earning confirmation to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia in a unanimous voice vote.

    A former member of the conservative Federalist Society, Baker has served as a magistrate judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia since 2015 after spending a decade in private practice, first at the Athens, Ga., firm Prior Daniel & Wiltshire and later at The Jordan Firm in St. Simons Island, Ga.

    Like Moorer, Baker said he has gained valuable experience during his time as a federal magistrate judge, specifically in learning how to treat poor or disadvantaged litigants.

    “For example, in civil cases filed by pro se plaintiffs, I frequently provide plaintiffs with the opportunity to amend deficient complaints and I construe their claims and motions liberally, so that their claims can be resolved on the merits rather than dismissed out of hand,” Baker wrote to Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I.

    Judge Nancy Brasel, who has served as a district court judge in Minnesota’s Fourth Judicial District since 2011, similarly told senators her experience on the bench will help her in her new job on a federal court.

    “My experience on the state court bench in Hennepin County, which is an extremely busy urban court, includes work in the civil, criminal, juvenile delinquency and child protection arenas,” Brasel wrote to Whitehouse. “In that time, I have handled thousands of cases, the majority of which have involved citizens who are disadvantaged in some way, and I take seriously my obligation to ensure that every person in the courtroom is heard and respected equally.”

    Before taking the state court bench, Brasel worked as a federal prosecutor from 2008 to 2011, having previously worked as a partner at the Minneapolis firm Greene Espel. The Senate confirmed her in a unanimous voice vote.

    Longtime private practice attorney Barry Ashe also cleared the Senate on Tuesday in a unanimous voice vote. Ashe has worked at the New Orleans firm Stone Pigman Walther Wittmann since 1985, having also served in the U.S. Navy from 1978 to 1981.

    A member of the conservative Federalist Society, Ashe faced questions from Democrats about his work representing the Tangipahoa Parish, La., Board of Education from a challenge to a disclaimer teachers had to read before teaching evolution. The disclaimer said teaching evolution in the classroom was not “meant to influence or dissuade the Biblical version of creation or any other concept,” and a federal district court struck it down as unconstitutional.

    Shortly after asking the Supreme Court to hear the case, Ashe gave an interview to a newspaper in which he said there are “many scientists and others who view that evolution isn’t a proven fact.” He defended the interview when asked about it in written questions following his nomination hearing, saying his comments did not reflect his personal views, but rather the position of his client.

    “It would be inconsistent with my obligations as lawyer to client under the Rules of Professional Conduct to offer my personal views on the matter,” Ashe wrote to Feinstein.

    James Sweeney, another nominee the Senate unanimously approved Tuesday, also has military experience, having served in the Marine Corps from 1983 to 1992. Sweeney has worked at the Indianapolis firm Barnes & Thornburg since 1999 and his practice has focused on intellectual property and other business law matters.

    By far the longest wait among the nominees confirmed on Tuesday was that of U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan Baxter, who was initially nominated to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania by President Barack Obama.

    Obama nominated Baxter in 2015 and the Judiciary Committee approved her nomination in January 2016, but she was never confirmed. Trump nominated her again in December and the Senate confirmed her in a unanimous voice vote on Tuesday afternoon.

    Baxter has served as a magistrate judge on the court since 1995, having previously worked as the court solicitor for the Court of Common Pleas of Erie County and as an associate and partner at the Washington D.C. firm Cole, Raywid & Braverman.

    https://www.courthousenews.com/senat...federal-bench/

  4. #14
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    A further 8 are to be voted on next week, three more judges then the original 12 are supposed to be confirmed.

    The new three judges are.

    Kari A Dooley for U.S District Judge of Connecticut.

    Eric C Tostrud U.S District Judge of Minnesota.

    Nancy Brasel U.S District Judge of Minnesota. Brasel was already sworn in.

    https://twitter.com/ToddRuger/status...gh-hearings%2F

  5. #15
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    Federal Judge William Nealon Passed Away

    By Brittany Hayes
    ABC 16

    SCRANTON, Pa. -- Federal Judge William Nealon from Lackawanna County passed away Thursday.

    Judge Nealon was a Senior U.S. District Judge for the Middle District of Pennsylvania and the only judicial appointee from President Kennedy's administration remaining on the federal bench.

    On Tuesday, Judge Nealon became the longest-serving Federal District Judge in history.

    Judge William Nealon was 95 years old.

    https://wnep.com/2018/08/30/federal-...n-passed-away/

    Nealon was appointed in 1962 and went into senior status in 1989.

    There are currently three LBJ's appointees still sitting on courts.
    Last edited by Mike; 08-31-2018 at 12:29 PM.

  6. #16
    Senior Member Frequent Poster Shep3's Avatar
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    Good g-d why do we let this judicial nobility exist 75-80 years old ought to be the maximum we allow these people to sit till.

  7. #17
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    According to Vice 16% of our federal Judiciary is over the age of 80. Term limits and Age limits should be imposed, the judiciary shouldn't be an old folks home.

    https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/v...o-old-to-judge

  8. #18
    Senior Member Frequent Poster Shep3's Avatar
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    That’s just screwed up and old lady Ginsburg is exhibit A for putting age limits. I swear I’m convinced that when she dies the DEMS might try and pull a weekend at Bernie’s just to try and keep the seat.

  9. #19
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    The remaining eight judges have been confirmed today.

    https://twitter.com/SenateMajLdr/sta...75037695229952

  10. #20
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    Mitch McConnell is apparently planning to push through more people in Oct. 27 Federal District nominees and 1 Circuit Court nominee are currently awaiting senate confirmation.

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