Judiciary Watch

White Houses announces 17 nominees to federal bench

The White House today announced 17 judicial nominations to the federal bench, among them 11 nominees who did not receive an up or down vote in the 113th Congress. 

The nominees are:  Ann Donnelly and LaShann Moutique DeArcy Hall, for the Eastern District of New York; George C. Hanks, Alfred H. Bennett, Jose Rolando Olvera, Jr., for the Southern District of Texas; Travis Randall McDonough, for the Eastern District of Tennessee; Roseann A. Ketchmark, for the Western District of Missouri; Dale A. Drozd, for the Eastern District of California;, Jill N. Parrish, for the District of Utah; Hon. Luis Felipe Restrepo, for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit; Kara Farnandez Stoll, for the Federal Circuit; Jeanne E. Davidson, for the U.S. Court of International Trade; Armando Omar Bonilla, Thomas L. Halkowski, Patricia M. McCarthy, Jeri Kaylene Somers, and  Hon. Nancy Firestone (for reappointment) for the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.

Obama has 89 federal judges confirmed in 2014

After six years in office, President Obama has had more than 300 federal judges confirmed, more than either of his last two predecessors.  Eighty-nine of these confirmations came in 2014, after Senate Democrats instituted a rule change which did away with the filibuster for most judicial nominations.  According to the Brookings Institution, 27 of Obama’s nominees were confirmed during the lame-duck session, which is the most ever in lame-duck history.

When Obama first took office, 10 of the 13 appeals courts had a majority of judges appointed by Republican presidents. Now, Democratic appointees form the majority in nine of the appeals courts, and currently only seven of 179 appeals court seats are vacant.

Senate confirms 13 to federal courts

The Senate confirmed the following 13 judges in November:  Leigh M. May, Mark H. Cohen and Eleanor L. Ross, Northern District of Georgia;  Leslie J. Abrams, Middle District of Georgia;  Randolph Moss, District of Maryland; Madeline Cox Arleo, District of New Jersey; Victor Bolden, District of Connecticut; Wendy Beetlestone, Eastern District of Pennsylvania; Brenda K. Sannes, Northern District of New York; Pamela Pepper, Eastern District of Wisconsin, and; Tamara Ashford, L. Paige Marvel and Cary Pugh, U.S. Tax Court.

Grassley to chair Judiciary Committee

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, earlier this week announced his intention to chair the Senate Judiciary Committee.  In a statement to the press, he said that the committee “should not be a rubber stamp” for the president’s nominations, but promised to “work to confirm consensus nominees.”  Grassley outlined attributes he considers important in nominees, including “intellectual ability, respect for the Constitution, fidelity to the law, personal integrity, appropriate judicial temperament, and professional competence.”  He will be the first non-lawyer to chair the Judiciary Committee. 

Sixth Circuit upholds ban on same-sex marriage

A divided panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit last week reversed lower court rulings that struck down laws banning same-sex marriage.  Hon. Jeffrey Sutton, writing for the majority, said the question should not be decided by the courts.  He wrote that such a profound decision should be decided by “the less expedient, but usually reliable, work of the state democratic processes.”  The ruling upheld laws in Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee.

Hon. Martha Daughtrey dissented, writing that the decision treated “both the issues and the litigants here as mere abstractions.”  Last month the Supreme Court declined to hear same-sex marriage cases from five states in the Fourth, Seventh and Tenth Circuits. Same-sex marriage cases from Texas and Florida are pending before the Fifth and Eleventh Circuits.

Sutton, a George W. Bush appointee, is considered “conservative but fair” by lawyers interviewed for the Almanac of the Federal Judiciary.

Syracuse University releases data on federal court caseloads

Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) released a report last week on case-management trends in the federal district courts based on data from June 2013 to June 2014.  The report shows that the heaviest caseloads involve multidistrict litigation, prisoner petitions, and patent cases.  Hon. Bill Wilson, E.D. Ark., closed more than 3,000 cases  - more than any other federal judge – most of which were part of a multidistrict litigation over the hormone replacement drug Prempro.  Hon.  Raner Collins of Arizona closed the most non-MDL cases, at 1,368, over 95 percent of which were prisoner petitions.  According to the report, which also factored in the complexity of the cases, the Eastern District of Texas was the busiest court with an average of 1,510 criminal and civil filings per judge.  More information on caseload data for infividual judges can be found here http://tracfed.syr.edu/judges/interp/civjdglist.html. 

Pryor confirmed to 11th Circuit

The Senate this week confirmed Jill A. Pryor to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit by a 97 to 0 vote.  Pryor was first nominated by President Obama in 2012 but her nomination was returned to the President due to the adjournment of the Senate.  She was renominated in January 2013 and in July 2014 Majority Leader Harry Reid invoked cloture on Pryor's nomination.

Pryor received her J.D. from Yale School of Law in 1988 and went on to clerk for Hon. J.J. Edmondson of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.  She has been with Bondurant, Misxon & Elmore in Atlanta since 1989, where she has been a partner since 1997.  The general character of Pryor’s practice was business or commercial litigation, both at trial and on appeal, representing corporations, partnerships or other business organizations or high net worth individuals.

Pamela Harris confirmed to Fourth Circuit

The Senate on Monday confirmed Pamela Harris to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals with a 50-43 vote.  Last year’s Senate rules change, allowing a simple majority to end a filibuster, allowed Harris’ nomination to come to vote.  Harris, a 1990 graduate of Yale Law School, was a partner with O’Melveny and Meyers.

Earlier this month, the Senate confirmed the following judges:  John W. deGravelles, Middle District of Louisiana; Robin L. Rosenberg, Southern District of Florida; Andre Birotte, Jr., Central District of California; Julie E. Carnes, Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals; Ronnie L. White, Eastern District of Missouri; Cheryl Ann Krause, Third Circuit Court of Appeals.

Senate confirms four to federal courts in Florida and Vermont

The Senate this week confirmed four judges to federal courts in Florida and Vermont.  Geoffrey Crawford was confirmed to the U.S. District Court in Vermont.  He received his J.D. from Harvard in 1980 and was an Assocaite Justice on the Vermont Supreme Court prior to his appointment. Carlos Eduardo Mendoza and Paul G. Byron were confirmed to the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.  Mendoza graduated West Virginia Univ. College of Law in 1997 and has been a Judge with the Seventh Judicial Circuit in Palatka, Florida since 2011.  Byron is a graudate of the Louisiana State Univ. Paul M. Hebert Law Center and has been in private practice in Orlando since 2005 with Overchuck & Byron.  Beth Bloom was confirmed to the U.S. Dsitrict Court for the Southern District of Florida.  She is a 1988 graduate of the Univ. of Miami School of Law and has been a Circuit Court Judge for the Eleventh Judicial Circuit in Miami since 2010.

Gayles, Yandle, and Mendoza confirmed to district courts

The Senate yesterday confirmed Salvador Mendoza, Jr., to be a U.S. District Judge in the Eastern District of Washington,  Staci Michelle Yandle, to the District Court for the Southern District of Illinois and Darrin P. Gayles  to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Gayles is a 1993 graduate of the George Washington Univ. Law School and has been a Circuit Judge in Miami Beach, Florida since 2011.  He is the first openly gay, black man to be confirmed to the federal bench.

Yandle received her J.D. from Vanderbilt Univ. School of Law in 1987 and has been litigating primarily personal injury, medical malpractice, nursing home abuse, and neglect and civil rights cases as a solo practitioner since 2007.

Mendoza received his J.D. from U.C.L.A. School of Law in 1997 and has been a Superior Court Judge in Kennewick, Washington since 2013.  Prior to taking the bench, he was President and Managing Attorney at Mendoza and Johnson, P.S.  He litigated approximately 75 criminal cases in state and federal court in his years in private practice.