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 and fun information about the United States judiciary at the very end. All information spans the previous week.

Confirmations

March 7, 2024: Kelly Harrison Rankin was confirmed as a judge for the District of Wyoming.

3 out of 4 judges in the District of Wyoming have now been appointed by Democrats.

Vacancies

No new vacancies occurred for the week of March 1 to 7, 2024. 82 vacancies remain on the federal judiciary, down from 83 a week ago.

Retirements, Deaths, and Resignations

No new retirements, deaths, or resignations occurred on the federal judiciary for the week of March 1 to 7, 2024.

Other

• March 5, 2024: Judge Mitchell S. Goldberg, a George W. Bush appointee, becomes the Chief Judge of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
• March 6, 2024: The Senate Judiciary Committee held hearings on 4 district court nominees to New York, California, and South Dakota.
• March 7, 2024: The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced 5 district court nominees to the Senate.
• March 7: Though not a federal judgeship, Adrienne Jennings Noti, a Biden appointee, was confirmed as a judge to the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.

Analysis

With the State of the Union address on March 7 and a number of major spending bills, judicial appointments are taking a back seat for now, but recent activity indicates the Senate is going to kick it up a notch on confirmations.

The Senate Judiciary Committee has seen an unprecedented level of activity. They’ve held two hearings on judges in a month, and next week will be the third week in the row that the Committee holds an Executive Business Meeting to vote to advance nominees to the Senate.

The Senate Finance Committee, which considers nominees to the United States Tax Court, will hold hearings on Biden’s three nominees to that Court in March.

It has been more than two weeks since Biden’s last announcement of judicial nominees. If he wishes to keep pace with the Senate Judiciary Committee and Senate, I think he ought to announce some more nominations.

What has puzzled me is the Senate Democratic Caucus’ focus on confirming district court judges. There are 8 current and future vacancies on the far more influential circuit courts that Biden can appoint, and it would make sense to fill those rather than focusing on district courts.

BONUS: Who was John Marshall?

Today, serving as the Chief Justice of the United States is considered a highly prestigious and influential role. Not so in the early days of the Supreme Court: in the first 12 years of the Supreme Court, there were three Chief Justices.

That changed after the appointment of John Marshall. As the fourth Chief Justice, he was eagerly ambitious to expand the role of the Supreme Court and the federal judiciary at large in American politics.

He is most famous for writing the decision in a case entitled Marbury v. Madison in 1803. This case established the principle of “judicial review”, or the ability of U.S. courts to declare laws unconstitutional. This power was claimed by Marshall; nothing in the Constitution gives courts this power!

John Marshall extended the power of judicial review from federal laws to state laws as well in 1816 with Martin v. Hunter’s Lessee and allowed the establishment of a federal bank in 1819 with McCulloch v. Maryland.

John Marshall was the longest-serving Chief Justice, serving for over 34 years. He altered the course of U.S. law forever and greatly centralized power in the federal government during his tenure on the Supreme Court.

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!