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 at the very end. All information spans the previous week.

Confirmations

• Nov. 19, 2024: Magistrate Judge Mustafa Taher Kasubhai was confirmed as a judge of the District of Oregon by a vote of 51 to 44.
• Nov. 19, 2024: Sarah French Russell was confirmed as a judge of the District of Connecticut by a vote of 50 to 44.
• Nov. 20, 2024: Rebecca Louise Pennell was confirmed as a judge of the Eastern District of Washington by a vote of 50 to 48.
• Nov. 20, 2024: Amir Hatem Mahdy Ali was confirmed as a judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by a vote of 50 to 49.
• Nov. 21, 2024: Sharad Harshad Desai was confirmed as a judge of the District of Arizona by a vote of 82 to 12.

Every vacancy in the District of Oregon, District of Connecticut, Eastern District of Washington, and District of Arizona has now been filled.

Vacancies

No new vacancies occurred in the week spanning November 15 to 21, 2024. 58 vacancies remain on the federal judiciary, a decline from 63 a week ago.

Retirements, Deaths, and Resignations

• Nov. 15, 2024: Senior Judge Helen Georgena Roberts Berrigan of the Eastern District of Louisiana died at the age of 76. She had been a Clinton appointee.

Other

Judges Seated

• Nov. 15, 2024: Jonathan Eugene Hawley received his commission to be a judge of the Central District of Illinois.
• Nov. 20, 2024: April Michelle Perry received her commission to be a judge of the Northern District of Illinois.

Senate Judiciary Committee

• Nov. 20, 2024: The Senate Judiciary Committee held hearings to consider two nominees to federal district courts, one each to the Southern and Central Districts of California.
• Nov. 21, 2024: The Senate Judiciary Committee voted to advance five nominees to federal district courts for full Senate consideration.

Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee

• Nov. 20, 2024: The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee voted to advance two nominees to the Superior Court of the District of Columbia for full Senate consideration.

Senate Intrigue

• Nov. 21, 2024: It is being reported that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer struck a deal with Republican Majority Leader-elect John Thune regarding late on Wednesday, November 20. The deal is that John Thune will not delay the remaining district court nominees in consideration, and in return, Chuck Schumer will not bring up votes on any of the four remaining circuit court nominees in consideration. This came after Monday’s session, when Thune initiated a series of delaying tactics regarding voting procedure, leading to votes that lasted hours longer than usual.

Analysis

This week was a vote-o-rama. The Senate adjourned in the early morning hours on Tuesday and around 12 AM on Thursday. Cloture was invoked on every single district judge available. Five judges were confirmed outright. The Senate also voted for three hours on Tuesday on whether to disapprove the sale of weapons to Israel.

The most important confirmation this week was that of Amir Ali, to the United States District Court of Columbia. This is the most important district court in the country. His confirmation means that Biden has now appointed as many judges (four) as Trump did to this court.

The confirmation of Sharad Desai means another seat once held by a Republican judge is now held by a Democratic judge. With the confirmation of Desai, there is an 8 to 5 Democratic majority on the district court for the conservative state of Arizona.

This week appeared to show that Democrats were indeed serious about confirming judges. The deck on district judge was cleared; all that remains are confirmation votes. Another five nominees were voted out of committee. Five judges were confirmed in one week. Even the local District of Columbia judiciary received two nominees.

And yet, I couldn’t help but notice that Senate Majority Leader Schumer was still starting late on Monday. The Senate wrapped up on Thursday, and is headed for recess (read: vacation) until December 2nd. And as time went on, no action was made on circuit judges.

That’s when yesterday we received reports that a deal had been made between Chuck Schumer and John Thune, the top Republican Senator. On Monday, voting lasted hours longer than usual because Thune caused delays in parliamentary procedures, adding hours to otherwise routine votes.

Thune promised there would be no more such delays on the remaining district court nominees. In return, Schumer will not hold any votes to confirm the four circuit court nominees available for a Senate vote.

I feel very strongly a certain way about this deal, but I will try to remain objective. I would simply suggest that many court watchers and interested citizens, myself included, feel…puzzled, confused, perplexed, etc. as to why Schumer would give up four circuit court nominees.

District court judges are important, yes, but circuit judges are far more influential. Their precedent is binding for all district courts in their circuit. Circuits cover far larger geographical areas than districts. And there are far fewer circuit judgeships, giving each individual circuit judge an outsized influence on judicial policymaking.

Why abandon those seats, especially knowing that Donald Trump is going to get to fill them? Let Thune slow down voting. All it means is a few extra sleepless nights to go through voting procedure. Besides, Thune isn’t going to stop instructing Republicans to vote in unison against all nominees. Thune is merely promising not to slow down procedural votes.

In the Bloomberg article, a spokesperson for Schumer claimed that the four circuit judges just didn’t have the votes to be confirmed, anyways. I say that’s a lie. If there weren’t enough votes, why did Thune feel he could craft a deal on these circuit judges? If they really had no chance to pass, Thune could continue slowing down votes and sink the nomination of four circuit judges.

It’s simple: these circuit judges can be confirmed, Thune is worried about that, and so, in my estimation, he executed his Monday delaying tactics to successfully pressure Schumer into backing off of the nominees.

Why not at least ask for more? No circuit nominees, but you have to let us confirm all nominees to the District of Columbia judiciary. Or we want a few more district court nominees from red states. Or we want you to grant unanimous consent to these judges.

Fight for the circuit judges, if not simply to validate the efforts of your Democratic colleagues in vetting, reporting on, asking questions of, interviewing, selecting, finding, and scheduling hearings for these nominees. This move is a slap in the face to the work of the Senate Judiciary Committee and the members of the Biden administration responsible for identifying these four nominees.

I want to say this. One of the biggest parts of the Harris campaign, and Democrats’ rhetoric in general leading up to the 2024 election, was talking about how Donald Trump is a “threat to democracy”.

Democrats just revealed how phony they are. They don’t think Trump is a threat to democracy. They just wanted a campaign slogan to run on. Democrats just gifted “the gravest threat to American democracy” four circuit judges.

And Trump is indeed a threat to democracy. It’s too bad Democrats don’t think so. When we talk about voters thinking Democrats are “elitist”, “fake”, “weak”, and so forth, we mean things like these deals. And though most people aren’t following this deal, Democrats have been oozing signs of how phony and vapid they really are in their “resistance” to Trump, so much so that it is impossible not to pick up on the aura of deceit.

Something to think about, when we wonder why Democrats lost in 2024.

SIGN-OFF

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