Sunday, December 01, 2024

December 2024 Judiciary News

Nominations, Hearings, Confirmations:

Lame Duck:  Russell Wheeler analyzes the prospects for Biden to confirm judges in the lame duck session.  The article has several tables summarizing confirmations in Biden's term.

Lame Duck:  Senators struck a deal on judicial confirmations in the lame duck session.  R senators agreed not to obstruct votes on 13 district court nominees.  In exchange, the senate will not hold votes on four appeals court nominees.  They are
1st Circuit: Julia Lipez (replacing William Kayatta)
3rd Circuit: Adeel Mangi (replacing Joseph Greenaway)
4th Circuit: Ryan Park (replacing James Wynn)
6th Circuit: Karla Campbell (replacing Jane Stranch)
Mangi and Park definitely didn't have the votes for confirmation, and it isn't clear whether Lipez and Campbell did.  Notably, Wynn (age 70) and Stranch (age 71) can revoke their senior status declarations, so we don't know whether President Trump will be able to fill their seats.

Sotomayor:  Some Ds reportedly tried to encourage Justice Sotomayor to retire before President Trump takes office again.  She did not do so.

Supreme Court:  Ed Whelan summarizes the implications of Trump's victory on the Supreme Court.  He predicts that Justice Alito will retire in 2025 and Justice Thomas will retire in 2026.

Circuit Courts:  Ed Whelan summarizes the potential for vacancies and changes in ideological composition of the circuit courts.  It is unlikely that President Trump will appoint nearly as many judges as he did in his first term, or as Biden did in his term.  Whelan has separate posts on the Federal, DC, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th Circuits.

Second term:  Senator Chuck Grassley is expected to chair the Senate Judiciary Committee.  Trump may seek to appoint more conservative judges, but there will be fewer vacancies to fill than in his first term.

3rd Circuit:  Judge Walter Stapleton passed away on November 23.  He was appointed to D-DE by Nixon in 1970 and appointed to the 3rd Circuit by Reagan in 1985.  He took senior status in 1999.

11th Circuit:  Embry Kidd was confirmed to a Florida seat on the 11th Circuit by a 49-45 vote.  Five R senators, JD Vance, Marco Rubio, Bill Hagerty, Mike Braun, and Steve Daines missed the vote.  This generated a backlash from the right, including from Governor Ron DeSantis.

The Federal Judiciary:

Judgeships:  Judges Timothy Corrigan (MD-FL), Troy Nunley (ED-CA), and Randy Crane (SD-TX) visited Capital Hill to advocate for a bill to create 66 more federal judgeships.  The bill previously passed the Senate, and House Judiciary Committee chairman Jim Jordan hopes to pass the bill soon.  However, some Ds who previously supported the bill may not now that President Trump won the election.  A breakdown of where and when the judgeships would be created is in this table.

Revocations:  Judges Algenon Marbley (SD-OH) and Max Cogburn (WD-NC) have withdrawn their senior status declarations.  Marbley is a Clinton appointee and Cogburn is an Obama appointee.  They presumably don't want their seats filled by Trump.

Vacancy Declarations:  There are now 59 current and future judicial vacancies.  New vacancies over the past two months are listed below.
SD-NY: Valerie Caproni (Obama) 1/??/25 (senior)
WD-NC: Frank Whitney (W) 12/1/24 (senior)

State Supreme Courts:

Alaska:  The Alaska Judicial Council nominated three candidates for the seat on the Alaska Supreme Court to be vacated by Chief Justice Peter Maassen on January 14, 2025.  They are assistant attorney general Kate Demarest, Anchorage judge Josie Garton, and lawyer Aimee Oravec.  The next justice will be selected by Governor Mike Dunleavy.

Arizona:  The Arizona Commission on Appellate Court Appointments will interview 8 of 17 applicants  for the Arizona Supreme Court seat vacated by Justice Robert Brutinel.  The 8 candidates include 6 Ds and 2 independents.  The commission will advance 3-5 candidates to Governor Katie Hobbs (D), who will appoint his replacement.

Louisiana:  Louisiana Supreme Court Justice James Genovese retired on August 4 to become president of Northwestern State University.  He was first elected to the court in 2016.  Governor Jeff Landry (R) will appoint his replacement.

Nebraska:  Governor Jim Pillen (R) appointed Justice Jeffrey Funke as Chief Justice of the Nebraska Supreme Court.  He was one of four applicants to replace Michael Heavican, who retired on October 31.  Funke was appointed by Pete Ricketts in 2016.  Pillen will need to appoint a justice to district 5 (rural southeast), Funke's former seat.

New Hampshire:  Justice Hantz Marconi has been indicted for attempting to influence Governor Sununu to drop an investigation into her husband.  Geno Marconi has been on leave from the New Hampshire Port Authority since April, and was later indicted for witness tampering and illegally accessing motor vehicle records.  The legislature does not appear likely to initiate impeachment proceedings against Hantz Marconi this year.

History:

On Ed Whelan's Substack, "Confirmation Tales", recent posts deal with nominations of lower court judges.

Resources:
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