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 new judges were confirmed for the week spanning August 16 to 22, 2024.

Vacancies

• Aug. 21, 2024: Judge Marco Antonio Hernandez of the District of Oregon assumed senior status, opening up a vacancy on that court. He is succeeded as an active judge by Amy Margaret Baggio, who was confirmed as his successor on February 6, 2024.

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

Retirements, Deaths, and Resignations

No federal judges retired, died, or resigned in the week of August 16 to 22, 2024.

Other

Judges Seated

• Aug. 19, 2024: Charles James Willoughby Jr. assumed his duties as a judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.
• Aug. 22, 2024: Stacey Diane Neumann assumed her duties as a judge of the District of Maine.
• Aug. 22, 2024: Amy Margaret Baggio assumed her duties as a judge of the District of Oregon.

Analysis

The Senate is on recess until September 9th, so don’t expect anything big to happen until then pending a sudden vacancy on the Supreme Court.

When the Senate reconvenes, the Democrats will immediately move to confirm two more judges. This week, they gained some headwinds which may help in their fight to match the number of judges confirmed under Donald Trump.

On August 20th, Democratic Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey officially resigned. The former Senator had been perpetually absent from the Senate to attend his own trial over the past six months, missing many crucial votes on judges. In a Senate split so evenly, there is no doubt that the Democrats would have confirmed more judges had Menendez been present.

Menendez will be succeeded by George Helmy, a former Chief of Staff to Governor Phil Murphy. There is no indication that Helmy intends to run in the 2024 Senate election in New Jersey, so there is no indication that Helmy would be anything other than a reliable, party-line vote on judges.

Though Vice President Harris is busy campaigning for President and unable to cast tie-breaking votes, the replacement of Menendez and the absence of Republican Senator J.D. Vance, who is making his own respective pitch to the nation to be Vice President, means that Democrats have a working 50 – 49 edge over Republicans assuming that Senator Joe Manchin continues to oppose most judicial nominees.

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.