Tuesday, August 31, 2021

September 2021 Judiciary News

Remember 9/11.

Nominations, Hearings, Confirmations:

Harsh Voruganti of the Vetting Room assesses judicial vacancies and nominations in the Northeast, Atlantic Coast, Midwest, and South.

Breyer:  President Biden is resisting pressuring Justice Breyer to retire, to the consternation of progressive activists.

Breyer:  In a recent interview, Breyer said "I don’t want somebody appointed who will just reverse everything I’ve done for the last 25 years," quoting Antonin Scalia. 

Graham:  Tucker Carlson slammed Lindsay Graham for failing to vote against a single Biden judicial nominee so far.

2nd Circuit:  Myrna Pérez of the leftist Brennan Center for Justice has been nominated to the 2nd Circuit.  Carrie Severino documents her radical positions, and shows that liberal senators critical of dark money are ignoring her dark money support.

D-ID:  There has been no nomination for the vacancy in the seat of Judge B. Lynn Winmill announced in January.  Senator Crapo has had conversations with the White House.  The article doesn't seem to realize that the blue slip is still in effect for district judges.

WD-VA:  Senators Kaine and Warner have recommended two candidates for a federal judgeship in WD-VA vacated by James Parker Jones on August 30.  They are Magistrate Judge Robert Ballou and Chief Federal Defender Juval Scott.

Nominations:
TBD

The Federal Judiciary:

Supreme Court:  The Supreme Court ended the CDC eviction moratorium by a 6-3 vote.  Justice Kavanaugh had previously written that it should expire without declaring it illegal, and the Biden administration responded by extending it.

District judges:  Senator Todd Young is sponsoring a bill to add 77 district judges, consistent with the report of the US Judicial Conference.  It would add 39 new seats in 2025 and 38 new seats in 2029.  Meanwhile, Rep. Hank Johnson is sponsoring a bill to add 203 judges immediately.

Redistricting:  Ds are worried that courts won't protect them from unfavorable redistricting maps due to a Supreme Court ruling that political gerrymandering is not illegal.  Another issue is the limited time between map-drawing and filing deadlines due to the delayed census data.

4th Circuit:  Leftist judge James Wynn is upset about conservative judges issuing dissenting opinions from denial of en banc.  These dissents often signal cases the Supreme Court should overturn.

ED-MI:  Seven pro-Trump attorneys, including Sidney Powell and Lin Wood, face sanctions for promoting false claims of election fraud in their legal filings.  The judge imposing sanctions is Linda Parker, an Obama appointee.

Vacancy Declarations:  There are now 115 current and future judicial vacancies.  New vacancies over the past month are listed below.
3rd Circuit: Theodore McKee (Clinton) TBD (senior)
SD-IN: Richard Young (Clinton) TBD (senior)
D-NM: Martha Vázquez (Clinton) XX/22 (senior)
4th Circuit: Robert King (Clinton) TBD (senior)

State Supreme Courts:

Maryland:  Chief Judge Mary Ellen Barbera will be forced to retire on September 10.  She was appointed by Martin O'Malley in 2013.  Governor Larry Hogan will get his fifth appointment to the court.  The Maryland Appellate Courts Judicial Nominating Commission nominated Court of Special Appeals Judges Steven Gould and Terrence Zic, Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Sharon Burrell, and attorney J. Bradford McCullough.

Ohio:  Ohio Supreme Court Justice Pat DeWine (R) will run for reelection, not for Chief Justice.  Justices Sharon Kennedy (R) and Jennifer Brunner (D) are running to replace Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor (R) who is age-limited.

Oregon:  Justice Lynn Nakamoto is retiring from the Oregon Supreme Court.  She was appointed to the court by Governor Kate Brown in 2016.  Brown will appoint her replacement.

Numbers and Trivia:

Here are the numbers of senior status declarations/retirements for federal judges (circuit judges) for the past few months.
1 (0) December 2020
20 (3) January 2021
19 (3) February
8 (3) March
7 (1) April
8 (5) May
4 (0) June
5 (2) July
4 (2) August

Clerks:  David Lat has an analysis of Supreme Court clerk hiring for 2017-2021.  Yale Law School and the DC Circuit produce the most Supreme Court clerks.  Top R feeder judges were Sutton, Pryor, and Kavanaugh.  Top D feeder judges were Katzmann, Srinivasan, and Garland, so Sri looks to be the premiere D feeder going forward.  In October Term 2021, only one D appointed judge had more than one clerk hired for this term.

Retirements (George HW Bush):  When did appeals court judges appointed by George HW Bush retire?  By retire, I mean leave active status, that is resign, retire, take senior status, or die in office.  Bush appointed 42 appeals court judges.  Here are the numbers.

5 (12%) resigned early (Thomas, Souter, Alito, Luttig, Lewis)
21 (50%) retired when eligible (within 1st year)
10 (24%) retired later
1 (2%) died in office
5 (12%) still active (Lourie, Henderson, Niemeyer, Loken, Rovner)

21 (50%) retired under R president
16 (38%) retired under D president
5 (12%) still active
5 (12%) retired in first year of R president

The percentage who retired when eligible is similar to that under Reagan (53%) but much higher than that under Carter (29%).  Too many HW appointees gave their seats to Obama appointees.

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