Nominations, Hearings, Confirmations:
Blue Slip: The Congressional Black Caucus is pushing Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) to eliminate the blue slip for district court judges. They called it a "Jim Crow practice", despite defending the practice when Trump was president. Many D Senators seem reluctant, as they realize it could be used against them under an R president.
Feinstein: Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA) finally returned to the Senate long enough to cast votes in the Senate Judiciary Committee. Three controversial nominees, Charnelle Bjelkengren, Kato Crews, and Marian Gaston were passed out of committee.
1st Circuit: Michael Delaney, the nominee for the NH seat on the 1st Circuit, withdrew his nomination. He faced opposition from some leftist groups due to signing a brief defending a parental notification law on abortion and opposition from both the right and left due to his advocacy as an attorney for publicly disclosing the identity of a minor victim of sexual assault.
9th Circuit: Judge Ana de Alba (ED-CA) was unable to explain the Dormant Commerce Clause under questioning by Senator John Kennedy (R-LA).
11th Circuit: The Senate confirmed Nancy Abudu to the 11th Circuit by a 49-47 vote. Notably, Joe Manchin (D-WV) voted no, his first vote against a Biden judicial nominee. This may explain the 16-month gap between Abudu's nomination and confirmation.
ND-MS: Nominee Scott Colom wrote a letter to Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, disputing the reasons she has refused to return a blue slip. These include "opposition to legislation to protect female athletes" and support from George Soros.
D-KS: Jabari Wamble withdrew his nomination to D-KS. He was previously nominated to the 10th Circuit in August 2022, but never received an ABA rating, and the nomination expired in January. He was then nominated to D-KS, but he was expected to receive a 'not qualified' rating from the ABA. Wamble is the son-in-law of Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO).
Nominations:
TBA
The Federal Judiciary:
Ethics: The D majority on the Senate Judiciary Committee held
two hearings to attack the Supreme Court over ethics issues. However, R senators refuted their attacks.
Ethics: Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) introduced a bill to force recusal of Supreme Court justices who supposedly have conflicts. This would result in numerous complaints trying to recuse justices the complainants don't like.
Thomas: Ann Coulter argues that praise from left-controlled establishment institutions is more valuable than the free vacations that Justice Thomas took with Harlan Crow.
Sotomayor: Justice Sotomayor received over 3 million dollars from publisher Penguin Random House and did not recuse herself from voting on whether to hear a case involving it.
Fortas: Ilya Shapiro explains that
the corruption that led to Abe Fortas' resignation in 1969 is not comparable to anything alleged against current justices.
Fix the Court: The leftist group Fix the Court accidentally revealed its donors, showing that almost all of its funding comes from three leftist foundations.
Federal Circuit: The complaint against Judge Pauline Newman claims that Newman is paranoid and unable to remember basic facts. The Federal Circuit panel hearing the claim denied a transfer to another circuit, despite what would seem to be an
obvious conflict of interest.
Vacancy Declarations: There are now 95 current and future judicial vacancies. New vacancies over the past month are listed below.
D-HI: Leslie Kobayshi (Obama) 10/9/24 (senior)
ED-MI: Paul Borman (Clinton) 8/1/23 (senior)
State Supreme Courts:
Connecticut: Governor Ned Lamont
nominated Sandra Slack Glover to the Connecticut Supreme Court. She is an attorney for D-CT who clerked for Richard Posner (7th Circuit) and Justice Sandra Day O’Connor of the U.S. Supreme Court. After being attacked by the left for signing a letter supporting the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett, who she clerked with at the Supreme Court, Glover withdrew her nomination.
Florida: Governor Ron DeSantis appointed Meredith Sasso to the Florida Supreme Court. She was Chief Deputy General Counsel to Governor Rick Scott, who appointed her to the Fifth District Court of Appeal in 2019. She was transferred to the recently created Sixth District Court of Appeal, where she was chief judge. Sasso, age 40, is Cuban. She fills the seat of retired Justice Ricky Polston. She was one of the original three applicants for the seat, and
one of six finalists after applications were reopened.
Idaho: Idaho Supreme Court Justice John R. Stegner will retire on October 31. He was appointed to the court by Butch Otter in 2018. Governor Brad Little will get his second appointment to the court.
New Jersey: Governor Phil Murphy nominated Michael Noriega, an ACLU lawyer specializing in immigration. He would replace Barry Albin, who was age-limited in 2022. The seat is currently held by Jack Sabatino, a temporary appointee. The previous vacancy on the court lasted for 10 months due to an
extended dispute with the state senate.
North Carolina: North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Michael Morgan (D) will not seek reelection in 2024. He was first elected in 2016. He would only have been able to serve three years, as he would have been age-limited in 2027. Appeals Court Judge Jefferson Griffin (R) is running for the seat.
Pennsylvania: The primary election for Pennsylvania Supreme Court was held on May 16. Pennsylvania Superior Court judge Daniel McCaffery (D) of Philadelphia defeated Deborah Kunselman 60-40. Carolyn Carluccio (R), the president judge of Montgomery County Court, defeated Patricia McCullough 54-46. The general election is on November 8, 2023.
Resources:
No comments:
Post a Comment