The Enlightenment

,

The Judiciary at Noon, #50: November 22 to 28, 2024

Keep up-to-date on the US federal judiciary, November 22 to 28, 2024.

Anthony Myrlados
2–3 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

No judges were confirmed for the week spanning November 22 to 28, 2024.

Vacancies

  • Nov. 22, 2024: Judge Frank DeArmon Whitney of the Western District of North Carolina announced he would be taking senior status on December 01, 2024, opening up a vacancy on the court.
  • Nov. 27, 2024: Judge Max Oliver Cogburn Jr. of the Western District of North Carolina rescinded his decision to move to senior status upon the confirmation of a successor, closing a vacancy on that court.

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

Retirements, Deaths, and Resignations

  • Nov. 23, 2024: Senior Judge Walter King Stapleton of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals died at the age of 90. He had been a Reagan appointee.

Other

Judges Seated

  • Nov. 22, 2024: Amir Hatem Mahdy Ali received his commission to be a judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.
  • Nov. 22, 2024: Mustafa Taher Kasubhai received his commission to be a judge of the District of Oregon.
  • Nov. 26, 2024: Sarah French Russell received her commission to be a judge of the District of Connecticut.

Analysis

Another Democrat-appointed judge has rescinded their plans to move to senior status following the election of Donald Trump. The same number of judges have rescinded their vacancies in the past month as had rescinded in the previous four years.

This may be the beginning of a cascade. Following the announcement that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer will not move to confirm the remaining four circuit judges nominated by Biden, there is talk if two of those nominees, who take senior status upon the confirmation of a successor, will rescind their own vacancies as well.

It’s sad to see that the judiciary is becoming even further politicized than it already is. It seems this may be the beginning of a trend where judges, both liberal and conservative, take senior status and then rescind it at the whim of presidential elections. I think it may be worth it to outlaw rescinding plans to move to senior status once they have been submitted.

The Senate reconvenes next week. I hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving.

SIGN-OFF

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

3 responses to “The Judiciary at Noon, #50: November 22 to 28, 2024”

  1. Avatar
    Anonymous

    I agree to that. Although I dislike the idea that Donald Trump can appoint many more hacks at all levels of federal courts in the next four years, I’m also convinced, that when judges just decide to take senior status or retirement when the President is of the same party from whom he had been appointed, the whole system is cemented, and the only way, the ideological composition of a court is changing, is when a sitting judge is dying or has to leave due to health reasons. We had four federal judges, who died in active service during Biden’s term, hence then is nothing moving in the one or other direction. And according to that, there will never be a liberal majority ever on SCOTUS, that’s the reason why I prefer term limits and mandatory retirement ages to prevent political games and tricks.

    Another point is the Blue Slip. As we have recently seen, under it’s current rule there is no chance to place moderate judges on the bench at several, mostly Southern States, who have large Black or Latin communities, with civil rights on serious stake. With the experiences of the last four years it will be interesting, if openings at states with two Democratic senators will also try to block them completely or if the Blue Slip will be abolished at some time, I doubt it will happen because both parties want have a word in this matter, in the case that there is nobody conservative enough in the state, Trump might appoint a Kacsmaryk clone from Texas to the District Court of Wyoming without it, and that’s nothing the homestate senators could be looking forward to. But a complete blocking by bad faith senators as it has be done in Arkansas, Alabama, Missouri or Alaska is also not acceptable, even nor US Marshals or US Attorneys have been appointed in most of these states.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  2. Avatar
    Anonymous

    Sarah French Russell has also be seated at the District Court of Connecticut at November 26, 2024

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. Anthony Myrlados Avatar
      Anthony Myrlados

      Thank you. I’ve added her commission

      Like

      Reply

Leave a comment

Trending