The Enlightenment

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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

No judges were confirmed for the week of May 24 to 30, 2024.

Vacancies

No vacancies occurred for the week of May 24 to 30, 2024. 69 vacancies remain in the federal judiciary, unchanged from a week ago.

Retirements, Deaths, and Resignations

• May 29, 2024: Senior Judge Larry R. Hicks, of the District of Nevada, died at the age of 80. He was appointed to the court on November 7, 2001 by former President George W. Bush.

Analysis

The Judiciary at Noon celebrates its 6 month Birthday today! I’m proud of the series and the warm reception it has gotten. I believe I am providing a good service reporting on the federal judiciary that you can’t find anywhere else.

Little Senate action this week, as the Senate took the week off. Senate Democrats round out the month of May, 2024 with 8 judges confirmed.

It’s a good number, but in light of the fact that Election Day is just 5 months away and there are 11 other nominees eligible for a vote, May could have been a better month for Democrats.

I am frustrated that the Senate Judiciary Committee did not hold a nominations hearing three weeks ago. It could have pushed some more of these nominees up.

There seems to always be some issue of coordination. 6 months into The Judiciary at Noon and either the President is not nominating enough new judges, the Senate Judiciary Committee isn’t advancing nominations, or the Senate is not voting on new judges.

This is why elections matter, because when you as the Democratic Party have 51 out of 100 votes in the Senate, but one of your party members is no longer a reliable vote (Joe Manchin, West Virginia) and another isn’t able to vote due to being indicted for corruption (Bob Menendez, New Jersey), you suddenly don’t have a working majority anymore.

Democrats lost three key Senate races in 2022 and 2020. They lost one seat in North Carolina in 2022 by 3.2%, the other North Carolina seat in 2020 by 1.8%, and the 2022 Senate race in Wisconsin by just 1%. Had those victories shaped up, Democrats would lead Republicans in the Senate 54 to 46.

Nevertheless, break time is over for the Democrats next week. No votes are scheduled for federal judges, but the Senate Judiciary Committee will be holding hearings on nominees and approving the ones they heard last week. Importantly, the Senate Finance Committee will also be holding hearings on nominees to the U.S. Tax Court in the coming days.

In the first 6 months of 2024 alone, we’ve had an additional 20 vacancies open up on the federal bench. Democrats are under pressure to fill those vacancies, as well as existing ones, before a potential second Trump presidency. Let’s see if Democrats can handle the pressure.

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.