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 federal judges were confirmed for the week of May 31 to June 6, 2024 (more later in the “Other” section).

Vacancies

• May 31, 2024: Judge Cormac Joseph Carney of the Central District of California took senior status.
• Jun. 04, 2024: Judge Robert Brian Harwell of the District of South Carolina took senior status.

In addition, the official website of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, uscourts.gov (which I use to track vacancies) has finally listed a vacancy that was announced back on January 22nd, 2024. It is the following:

• Jan. 22, 2024: Kathy Jane Branstetter Stranch, known professionally as Jane Branstetter Stranch, a judge of the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, announced she would be taking senior status upon the confirmation of a successor.

70 vacancies remain on the federal judiciary, unchanged from a week ago.

Retirements, Deaths, and Resignations

• May 31, 2024: Senior Judge Robert Byron Kugler, of the District of New Jersey, retired at the age of 73. He was appointed to the court on December 4, 2002 by former President George W. Bush.

Other

• Jun. 1, 2024: Judge Leslie Abrams Gardner, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, became Chief Judge of the Middle District of Georgia. She is succeeding Judge Marc Thomas Treadwell, also an Obama appointee.
• Jun. 4, 2024: The Senate Finance Committee held hearings on three nominees to the United States Tax Court.
• Jun. 4, 2024: Tanya Monique Jones Bosier was confirmed to the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.
• Jun. 5, 2024: The Senate Judiciary Committee held hearings on four judicial nominees; one circuit nominee and three nominees to district courts.
• Jun. 5, 2024: Judith Emily Pipe was confirmed to the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.

Analysis

An uneventful week. I was predicting the Senate would confirm at least one judge, and that the Senate Judiciary Committee would advance nominees to the Senate. Neither events happened; the Committee cancelled its scheduled meeting to vote on advancing nominees.

I think Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is really feeling the absence of New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez, who is currently unable to vote for judges because of his ongoing corruption trial.

The Senate is set to go on break in the next few weeks and months. At this proximity to the election, I think that Chuck Schumer is planning to save up as many nominees as possible, and then have a voting spree after the election.

I want to discuss an interesting piece of legislation that the Senate Judiciary Committee is considering, called the JUDGES Act of 2024. This bipartisan piece of legislation would create 66 new judgeships across the country, half of which would be authorized on January 21, 2025, and the other half to be authorized on January 21, 2029.

You can read more about the proposed law here.

This would be the first major expansion of the courts since 1990, the last time the federal judiciary was expanded. It’s about time, too, considering federal courts all over the country are overworked.

Under the structure of the law, 33 new judgeships would be authorized the day after the swearing in of the President in 2025, be that Biden or Trump (or anyone else for that matter. Who knows at this point?)

Such an opportunity rarely appears for a President, and whoever gets to capitalize on this court expansion in 2025 will have a profound effect on shaping the judiciary.

Let’s how Senate Democrats react to the bill. If it gets out of committee, and Democrats vote for it, I take it as a sign that they are confident that Biden will win in November and be able to appoint 33 new judges.

But if the bill stalls in committee, or fails to get passed in the Senate? Then I think we’ll know what Senate Democrats really think of Biden’s re-election chances. After all, I don’t think Democrats want to hand 33 judgeships to Trump!

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.