Monthly Archives: December 2010

So, the Senate has absconded for the holidays having confirmed 19 of the 38 judges awaiting a final vote.

Of those who made the cut, five were circuit court nominees.

Those who didn’t make it include Goodwin Liu, the Berkeley law professor who Republicans love to hate, although the word is that the White House will renominate him next year. It remains unclear how his nomination will make it through with fewer Democrats in the Senate.

The final five confirmed yesterday were:

• Mary Murguia, 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
• Kathleen O’Malley, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
• Scott Matheson Jr. 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
• Beryl Howell, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
• Robert Wilkins, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

There were also two confirmed on Dec. 21 that came after your blogger’s earlier post:

• William Martinez, U.S. District Judge for the District of Colorado
• Benita Pearson, U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of Ohio

One final note about Murguia, who has been serving as a federal district judge in Arizona. From your blogger’s news story on the confirmations:

By coincidence, just this week the 9th Circuit reversed one of Murguia’s rulings over a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decision to build water tanks in the Arizona desert. Murguia said the decision was reasonable, but the appeals court disagreed (Greenwire, Dec. 22).

 

 

The Senate confirmed another six judicial nominees this weekend, including two appeals court nominees.  That means 12 judicial nominees have been confirmed since Thursday, leaving 26 awaiting a vote.

The six confirmed this weekend are:

• Albert Diaz to be U.S. circuit judge for the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
• Raymond Lohier to U.S. circuit judge for the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
• Edmond E-Min Chang to be U.S. district judge for the Northern District of Illinois
• Leslie Kobayashi to be U.S. district judge for the District of Hawaii
• Carlton Reeves to be be U.S. district judge for the Southern District of Mississippi
• Ellen Hollander to be U.S. District Judge for the District of Maryland

The four confirmed Thursday were:

• Catherine Eagles to be U.S. district judge for the Middle District of North Carolina
• Kimberly Mueller to be U.S. district judge for the Eastern District of California
• John Gibney to be U.S. district judge for the Eastern District of Virginia
• James Bredar to be U.S. district judge for the District of Maryland

These two were confirmed Friday:

• Denise J. Casper to be U.S. District Judge for the District of Massachusetts
• Susan R. Nelson to be U.S. District Judge for the District of Minnesota

The Senate Judiciary Committee approved another four judicial nominees yesterday, meaning there are now 38 awaiting a floor vote in the Senate.

Democrats and Republicans continue to talk about a possible deal that would allow at least some of them to be confirmed before the end of the current lame duck session.

The nominees approved Wednesday were:

• Max O. Cogburn, to be United States District Judge for the Western District of North Carolina.
• Marco A. Hernandez, to be United States District Judge for the District of Oregon.
• Michael H. Simon, to be United States District Judge for the District of Oregon.
• Steve Jones, to be United States District Judge for the Northern District of Georgia.