The Enlightenment

Image courtesy of Sora Shimazaki/Pexels

Welcome to The Judiciary at Noon! Take a break from work to get an update on the oft-neglected third branch of the United States government, the judicial branch.

The series covers any updates to the federal judiciary, including any new judges confirmed, any deaths, resignations, or retirements from the courts, and any new vacancies that have occurred. It includes political analysis at the very end. All information spans the previous week.

Confirmations

• May 15, 2024: Sanket Jayshukh Bulsara was confirmed to the Eastern District of New York.
• May 15, 2024: Eric Claude Schulte was confirmed for the District of South Dakota.
• May 16, 2024: Camela Catherine Theeler was confirmed for the District of South Dakota.

With the confirmation of Judge Theeler, all vacancies in the District of South Dakota have now been filled. The District of South Dakota has been further strengthened as the most Democratic court in the country: six judges, all appointed by Democratic Presidents, now serve in the District.

Vacancies

• May 16, 2024: Judge Steven CarMichael Jones of the Northern District of Georgia announced he would be taking senior status on January 1st, 2025.

72 vacancies remain on the federal judiciary, down from 74 a week ago.

Retirements, Deaths, and Resignations

No retirements, deaths, or resignations occurred on the federal judiciary for the week of May 10 to 16, 2024.

Analysis

I predicted it perfectly.

Last week, I wrote that the Senate would consider two judicial nominees, one of them being holdover nominee for the First Circuit Seth Robert Aframe, with a vote likely being held, in my words, “[on] Wednesday.”

That is exactly what happened. The first nominee I was referring to, Sanket Jayshukh Bulsara, was confirmed on Wednesday the 15th. A second cloture vote was in fact scheduled that same day, only for a different Judge, Eric Claude Schulte.

I thought Seth Robert Aframe would be voted on after Bulsara’s confirmation. Instead, the Aframe vote occurred on Thursday the 16th. As I said last week, Aframe is a “holdover” nominee from October of last year, unable to get a vote in the Senate because, I suspect, of private Democratic opposition.

To my immense surprise, cloture was effortlessly invoked on the Aframe nomination. The vote was 52 in favor to 43 against, with 5 senators not voting. Aframe not only garnered the support of every Democrat, but even the support of two Republicans.

I wonder, however, why Democrats didn’t finish the job by holding a confirmation vote after invoking cloture on Aframe on Thursday.

As I said in last week’s post, this is a good sign that the Democratic coalition is united behind confirming President Joe Biden’s judges. I had speculated about private Democratic opposition to certain judges, but I believe those fears can be put to rest, at least for now.

A notable absence in the Senate this week was Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey. He did not vote concerning any of the judges this week, perhaps because he was busy defending himself at his corruption trial this week after gold bars and wads of cash were found stashed throughout his home.

With a razor-thin 51-49 Senate split favoring Democrats, the ongoing embarrassment with Senator Menendez can turn into another roadblock for Democrats in their effort to confirm judges and is a stark reminder of the need for political parties to hold corrupt members accountable.

Menendez refuses to resign, and Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has not called on him to resign, either. If Menendez did resign, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, a Democrat, could appoint a replacement who could be present for these votes.

The Democratic Party needs to oust Menendez, but not just because it will help them confirm judicial nominees. The Party needs to do it for the good of the country to demonstrate that political corruption will not be tolerated.

BONUS: Cloture Votes

It’s been a long time since I’ve done a bonus section. Usually I would put fun information about the courts here. Well, as fun as you can get with this topic, anyways. In today’s bonus, I want to talk about cloture votes, a Senate mechanism important to the work of confirming federal judges.

In the United States Senate, Senators are granted an unlimited amount of time to debate an issue. Historically, what this meant in practice is that Senators who wished to stall a piece of legislation would simply talk on the Senate floor endlessly to prevent the legislation from being voted on, a practice you may have heard being referred to as a “filibuster.”

In 1917, the Senate adopted Senate Rule 22, which enabled the Senate to end debate on legislation should a 2/3rds majority of the Senate agree to end debate. This motion to end debate was termed a “motion of cloture”, a French word that literally translates to a “motion of termination.”

In 1975, the Senate lowered the required amount of Senators needed to invoke cloture from 2/3rds of the Senate to 60. At the same time, it became easier to filibuster legislation; a Senator no longer needs to speak at length on the Senate floor, but simply register their wish to filibuster with their Party Leader and say “I object” on the Senate floor.

Judicial nominations could also be filibustered. I say “could”, because it blew up in 2013. Then-President Barack Obama was having trouble confirming judges, as Republicans were filibustering nearly all of his appointments.

Lacking 60 Democratic votes in the Senate, then Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada adopted a controversial rules change on the Senate floor. He made it so that a simple majority of Senators, not 60, could invoke cloture on judicial nominees.

Since 2013, all judges must go through two rounds of voting before being appointed. First, they must pass a cloture vote, where they need a simple majority of Senators to invoke cloture. Then, there is a confirmation vote, which, again, simply requires a simple majority.

You could say one vote is to end debate, while another is on the candidate themselves. I think it’s an inefficient system, but when you see me referring to “invoking cloture”, now you know what I mean.

SIGN-OFF

That’s it for this week’s The Judiciary at Noon. This has been Anthony Myrlados. I’ll see you next noon and until then I wish you all an enjoyable weekend.