The Judiciary at Noon, #48: November 8 to 14, 2024

Keep up-to-date on the US federal judiciary, November 8 to 14, 2024.

November 15, 2024

3–4 minutes

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

Nov. 12, 2024: April Michelle Perry was confirmed as a judge of the Northern District of Illinois by a vote of 51 to 44.
Nov. 13, 2024: Jonathan Eugene Hawley was confirmed as a judge of the Central District of Illinois by a vote of 50 to 46.
Nov. 14, 2024: Cathy Fung was confirmed as a judge of the United States Tax Court by a vote of 59 to 37.

Every vacancy in the Northern District of Illinois, Central District of Illinois, and United States Tax Court has now been filled.

Vacancies

Nov. 8, 2024: Judge Algenon Lamont Marbley of the Southern District of Ohio rescinded his decision to move to senior status upon the confirmation of a successor, closing a vacancy on that court.

63 vacancies remain on the federal judiciary, a decline from 67 a week ago.

Retirements, Deaths, and Resignations

No judges retired, died, or resigned for the week of November 8 to 14, 2024.

Other

Nominations

Nov. 8, 2024: President Biden nominated two new judges to serve on the federal judiciary, one to the Southern District of New York and another to the District of Guam.

Analysis

It has been one week since the 2024 election. Democrats have made signals that they intend to make the judiciary a priority the rest of the recess period before Trump is inaugurated and the new Republican majority is seated.

So far, three judges were confirmed this week, and the first step in confirming an appellate judge to the 11th Circuit was taken. That 11th Circuit judge, Embry Kidd, will be confirmed next week, as well as at least three other district judges.

The district judges that are set to receive a vote next week are some of the toughest judges to confirm. Mustafa Kasubhai, to Oregon; Sarah French Russell, to Connecticut; and Rebecca Pennell, to Eastern Washington. Both Kasubhai and Russell have been waiting over a year to become judges.

Kasubhai and Russell have been very controversial, for their own separate reasons. The fact that they will be voted on next week is a bold move by Senate Democrats. It signals confidence, and that Democrats are taking confirming judges seriously.

On the other hand, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has not cut into days reserved for the Senate’s recess, even after we received news of the disastrous defeat that Democrats were handed on November 5. Schumer is either confident about being able to confirm all of the remaining nominees in the current parameters of time or does not intend on confirming all available nominees.

Democrats are in a good position to confirm their judges. Vice President-elect J.D. Vance was absent most of the week, casting just one vote when he was in Washington to vote on the next Republican Majority Leader in his capacity as a Senator. Kamala Harris, having been defeated, is back to break ties in the Senate; Vance, on the other hand, is absent.

Out of nowhere, we got another nominee batch. No one saw this coming this late in the game. It’s a valiant move, but desperate. One of the two judges, Chief Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood, has been renominated as a judge of the District of Guam.

I am left wondering, then: why Biden didn’t also renominate Judge Wilma Lewis of the District of the Virgin Islands? Both Lewis and Tydingco-Gatewood are judges of territorial courts whose terms have expired, creating vacancies on their respective courts. If we are going to renominate Tydingco-Gatewood, why not Lewis? I genuinely think that in their rush to make nominations, the Biden administration may have just forgotten about this one.

SIGN-OFF

That’s it for this week’s The Judiciary at Noon. This has been Anthony Myrlados.

One response to “The Judiciary at Noon, #48: November 8 to 14, 2024”

Anonymous

November 15, 2024 at 3:32 pm

I assume, that Frances Tydingco-Gatewood wants to stay in office, although she’s eligible for retirement and has so far served almost 8 years without reappointment, but Trump has nominated Guam Superior Court Judge Maria Teresa Cenzon as successor in November 2020, when it was surely much too late. But now that could be different. I just don’t know if the second term would start then in 2016, when the first term has ended, or will start again with the re-newed confirmation date.

On the other subject, as I have already said, we don’t know how many judicial nominees have really chances to be confirmed under what conditions. We actually have the focus on Park and Mangi, who are seriously in doubt to have the necessary votes, but we don’t know how many Democrats are maybe put the thumb down, if there are 5 or more, it would be wasted time and keeping the Senate in session for longer hours and weekends, would not change the outcome of no confirmation.

Filing cloture gives the GOP advance warning to bring Vance back to DC for a short stay and if there are not enough votes two days later, cloture has to be withdrawn and everything was wasted time. For district court nominees, that seems to be much effort, but not for circuit nominees. As I have already said, with one circuit court confirmation every two months now confirming five in five weeks seems not that realistic, three of them are from States with two Republican senators, none of them has support from even one of them, one from a State with an Independent and a Repubilcan senator, and the last one from a State with two Democratic senators, but not enough votes in the own Caucus. The Delaware seat has no nominee and won’t be counted here.

Checking the district court seats I’m very happy tha the three nominees who are the ones waiting the longest time, will have a chance to get their vote, and I hope they will all make it and bringing each of their courts to a full strength, all of them have more exciting backgrounds than most of the mainstream nominees are still waiting for a floor vote, and two of them are backfilling elevations done long before.

Though legislative work, I won’t forget the two nominees for the DC Court of Appeals and the 8 for the DC Superior Court. They are also important, because if they won’t be confirmed now, under Trump I don’t expect any movement in the first half of his second term.

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