Judiciary Watch

Obama nominates two to Federal Claims Court

President Obama named two nominees to the U.S. Court of Federal Claims last week.   Thomas Halkowski is a partner with Fish & Richardson, where he handles federal patent litigation. He was also a trial attorney in the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the U.S. Department of Justice for eight years.  Lydia Griggsby is a lawyer for the Senate Judiciary Committee working on issues related to privacy, technology and civil liberties.  She was an assistant U.S. attorney in Washington from 1998 to 2004.  Obama also nominated Hon. Nancy Firestone for another 15-year term.  She has been a judge on the Federal Claims court since 1998.

Senate fills longstanding vacancy on 9th Circuit Court of Appeals

The Senate yesterday confirmed John B. Owens, by a 56 to 43 vote, to be United States Circuit Judge for the Ninth Circuit, filling the oldest judicial vacancy in the federal courts.  The seat had been vacant since 2004 when Hon. Stephen Trott took Senior Status.  Owens received his J.D. from Stanford Law School in 1996.  He clerked for Hon. J. Clifford Wallace on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.  Owens served as a federal prosecutor for more than 11 years, serving as Chief of the Criminal Division in the Southern District of California.   Most recently, he was a litigation partner with Munger, Tolles & Olsen, focusing his practice on representing individuals and corporations in government investigations, and conducting internal investigations into allegations of corporate misconduct.

Senate confirms three to district courts

Last week the Senate confirmed Gerald Austin McHugh, Jr. to the Eastern District of Pennsylvania by a 59 to 41 vote.  McHugh, a 1979 graduate of the Univ. of Pennsylvania Law School, clerked for Hon. Alfred L. Luongo of the U.S. District Court for the E.D. Pennsylvania.  From 1981 to 2004 he was a shareholder at Litvin, Blumberg, Matusow and Young and prior to his confirmation was a partner at Raynes McCarty, where he handled complex civil litigation involving tort, insurance and civil rights claims.

Edward G. Smith was confirmed to the Eastern District of Pennsylvania by a 69 to 31 vote. Smith received his J.D. from Dickinson School of Law in 1986.  He is a veteran of the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General’s Corp and most recently served on the Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas in Northampton County.

The Senate also confirmed M. Douglas Harpool to the Western District of Missouri by a 93 to 5 vote.  Harpool, a 1980 graduate of the Univ. of Missouri-Columbia Law, was a five-term Missouri State Representative and since 2006 was a shareholder at Baird, Lightner, Millsap & Harpool, P.C. where he represented public entities in litigation pertaining to employment, civil rights, storm water flooding, road design, open meetings and records, economic development, dangerous condition property, law enforcement, and other actions under 42 U.S.C § 1983. 

 

Senate confirms Casey Cooper to D.C. District Court

The Senate Wednesday unanimously confirmed Christopher "Casey" Cooper to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.  Cooper, a 1993 graduate of Stanford Law School, has been a partner at Covington & Burling LLP since 2012.  He clerked for Hon. Abner J. Mikva of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, served as a Special Assistant to the Deputy Attorney General in the D.O.J.,  and was a member of the Obama Administration‘s transition team with responsibility for Department of Justice policy and operations.  From 1996 until 2012 Cooper was with Miller, Cassidy, Larroca & Lewin, which merged with Baker Botts in 2001, where his practice focused on defending criminal and civil investigations; conducting internal corporate investigations; and litigating contested proceedings in anti-corruption, fraud, securities and related matters.

Seante confirms 4 nominees to district courts

The Senate this week confirmed four district court nominees, James Donato (90-5) and Beth Freeman (91-7) for the Northern District of California, Jeffrey Meyer (91-2) for the District of Connecticut and James Moody, Jr. (95-4) for the Eastern District of Arkansas.  Democrats had to force a vote on the Senate floor to overcome Republican opposition to the nominations, which were subsequently approved with vast majorities. 

Donato is a 1988 graduate of Stanford Law School and was a partner with Shearman & Sterling prior to taking the bench.  Freeman is a 1979 graduate of Harvard Law School and was Presiding Judge for the San Mateo County Superior Court from 2001 to 2014.  Meyer is a 1989 graduate of Yale Law School and was a professor at Quinnipiac Univ. School of Law and Yale Law School Supreme Court Advocacy Clinic.  Moody is a 1989 graduate of the Univ. of Arkansas Bowen School of Law and was a Circuit Judge for the Sixth Judicial District of Arkansas. 

There are currently 28 nominees who have been approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee awaiting votes by the full Senate. 

Wilkins confirmed to D.C. Circuit

The Senate yesterday, by a 55-43 vote,  confirmed Hon. Robert Wilkins to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.  Wilkins was appointed to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in 2010. Prior to taking the bench he was a partner with the Venerable law firm for 10 years.  After a tough battle in the Senate, Wilkins became the fourth Obama nominee confirmed to the influential D.C. Circuit.

Judiciary Committee vote on nominees delayed

Hon. Robert Wilkins is the only of President Obama’s judicial nominations held over from 2013.  The other 54, who were re-nominated by the White House earlier this week, will have to begin the confirmation process with a new vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee.  Committee Republicans delayed the first vote scheduled on 29 nominees, taking advantage of a rule giving the minority party the right to “hold over” a nominee the first time they appear on the agenda for a vote without citing any reason.  Nine of the nominees who were held over were approved by the Committee last year.

President Obama’s judicial nominees after five years

According to a Brookings Institution report, the federal courts had more judicial vacancies at the end of 2013 than at the beginning of President Obama’s first term.  The report found that in 2009 seven courts of appeals had a majority of Republican appointed active judges, whereas today, seven courts have a majority of Democratic appointees.  Five-year rates of appellate confirmations were almost the same as those of the Bush and Clinton administrations, but district confirmation rates well below the Bush administration’s and slightly lower than Clinton’s.  Obama has a 76 percent success rate in getting circuit nominees confirmed— almost the same as Bush’s and Clinton’s.  He has an 80 percent success rate for district nominees, much lower than Bush’s 97 percent rate.

Senate confirms two to D.C. Circuit

The Senate this week confirmed two of President Obama’s nominees to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.  Georgetown Univ. Law professor Nina Pillard was confirmed by a 51-44 vote early Thursday morning, with no Republican voting in her favor. Earlier, the Senate confirmed Akin Gump partner Patricia Millett by a 56-38 vote, with two Republicans joining the Democrats.  Senate Republicans’ objections to adding more judges to the D.C. Circuit prompted Democrats to change the Senate's filibuster rules, stripping the minority party's right to block almost all judicial nominations and allowing both votes to go through.

Ninth Circuit to stream en banc hearings

As reported by the L.A. Times, the 9th Circuit announced this week that it would become the first U.S. Appeals Court to provide live video coverage of hearings on important cases.  While the court previously permitted media outlets to broadcast live coverage in some cases, the new policy allows all en banc hearings to be live streamed on the court’s website beginning December 9.  Chief Judge Alex Kozinski said, “Video streaming is a way to open the court's doors even wider so that more people can see and hear what transpires in the courtroom, particularly in regard to some of our most important cases.”