Senate confirms 19 before adjourning

The Senate confirmed 19 nominees before adjourning, and more than twice that were returned to the President.  Many of the nominees denied a Senate vote were considered uncontroversial and passed through the Senate Judiciary Committee easily.  Four of those denied a vote passed through committee on party lines, including the law professor Goodwin Liu and U.S. District Judge Robert Neil Chatigny.  This Senate confirmed just 60 district and circuit court judges, which according to the New York Times is the smallest number for the first 2 years of a presidency in more than three decades.

The confirmed Circuit Court judges include:  Mary H. Murguia, 9th Circuit; Kathleen M. O’Malley, Federal Circuit; Raymond J. Lohier, Jr., 2d Circuit; Scott M. Matheson, Jr., 10th Circuit; Albert Diaz, 4th Circuit.

The confirmed District Court judges are:  Beryl A. Howell, D.C.; Robert L. Wilkins, D.C.; Carlton W. Reeves, S.D. Miss.; Denis J. Casper, D. Mass.; Susan Richard Nelson, D. Minn.; Leslie E. Kobayashi, D. Hawaii; Ellen Lipton Hollander, D. Md.; Edmond Chang, N.D. Ill.; James K. Bredar, D. Md.; John A. Gibney, Jr., E.D. Va.; Kimberly J. Mueller, E.D. Cal.; Catherine C. Eagles, M.D. N.C.; William J. Martinez, D. Colo.; Benita Y. Pearson, N.D. Oh.