Judiciary Watch

Senate confirms Barron to First Circuit

The Senate yesterday confirmed David H. Barron to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.  After graduating magna cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1994, Barron clerked for Hon. Stephen Reinhardt of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens.  Barron spent most of his legal career at Harvard Law School, as a professor and Chair of the Electronic Communications Policy Task Force.  He was also with the D.O.J.’s Office of Legal Counsel, as an Attorney Advisor from 1996 to 1999 and Assistant Attorney General from 2009 to 2010.

Costa elevated to circuit court

The Senate this week confirmed Hon. Gregg J. Costa to the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.  Costa was appointed to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas in 2012.  Prior to taking the bench, he was an Assistant U.S. Attorney from 2005 to 2012.  Costa is a 1999 graduate of the Univ. of Texas School of Law and clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice William H. Rehnquist from 2001 to 2002.

Senate confirms 3 more to Arizona district court

The Senate confirmed three judges to the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona on May 15, bringing the court to full capacity for the first time in three years.  The court, which has 13 authorized judgeships and had been operating with six vacancies, reported 9,777 new case filings in 2013 and has a large criminal caseload as a result of illegal immigration and drug smuggling along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Rosemary Márquez, who was confirmed by a vote of 81-15, fills a judgeship vacant since Hon. Frank R. Zapata took senior status in 2010.  Márquez  has been in a private practice since 2000 in Tucson. From 1996 to 2000, she served as an assistant federal public defender for  Arizona.  She received her B.A. from the Univ. of Arizona in 1990 and her J.D. from the Univ. of Arizona, James E. Rogers College of Law, in 1993.

Hon. Douglas L. Rayes is currently a judge of the Maricopa County Superior Court and was confirmed by a vote of 77-19. He was in private practice in Scottsdale from 1982 to 2000. Rayes received his B.S.E., summa cum laude, from Arizona State Univ. in 1975 and his J.D., cum laude, from ASU College of Law in 1978.

James A. Soto, presiding judge of the Santa Cruz County Superior Court, was confirmed by a vote of 95-1.  Soto was president and a shareholder of Soto, Coogan and Martin, P.C., in Nogales, Arizona, from 1992 to 2001.  He received his B.S. from Arizona State Univ. in 1971 and his J.D. from ASU College of Law in 1975.

Three confirmed to federal bench in Arizona

The Senate yesterday confirmed three nominees for the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona.   Hon. Steven P. Logan has served as a U.S. Magistrate Judge on the Arizona federal court since 2012.  John J. Tuchi is a Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona.  Diane J. Humetewa, a member of the Hopi Indian Tribe, is the first female and only the third Native American to sit on the federal bench.  Humetewa is a former assistant U.S. Attorney and served as a special advisor on tribal relations to the president of Arizona State University at the time of her confirmation. 

Senate confirms Rosenbaum to 11th Circuit

The Senate Monday  confirmed Hon. Robin S. Rosenbaum to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.  Rosenbaum was appointed to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida in 2012 and prior to that served as a U.S. Magistrate Judge for 5 years.  Rosenbaum clerked for Hon. Stanley Marcus of the 11th Circuit and was an Assistant U.S. Attorney from 1998 to 2007.

Senate confirms three to district courts

The Senate last week confirmed three judges to the U.S. District Courts.  Indira Talwani was confirmed by a 94 to 0 vote to the District of Massachusetts;  Nancy J. Rosenstengel was confirmed to the Southern District of Illinois by a 95 to 0 vote; James D. Peterson was confirmed to the Western District of Wisconsin by a 56 to 40 vote. 

Talwani is a 1988 graduate of U.S. Berkeley School of Law and was with the firm Segal Roitman in Boston from 1999 to 2014, first as Of Counsel and then as Partner. Rosenstengel received her J.D. cum laude from Southern Illinois Univ. School of Law in 1993 and most recently served as the Clerk of Court for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois.  Peterson is a 1998 graduate of the Univ. of Wisconsin School of Law.  He had been with the firm Godfrey & Kahn in Madison since 1999, where his focus was litigation and intellectual property.

 

Nancy Moritz confirmed to 10th Circuit Court of Appeals

The Senate on Monday confirmed Nancy Moritz to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit by a 90 to 3 vote.  Moritz received her J.D. from Washburn University School of Law in 1985 and went on to clerk for Hon. Patrick F. Kelly of the U.S. District Court in Kansas.  She was in private practice for 6 years where she specialized in employment litigation defense.  After 9 years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney, Moritz was a Judge on the Kansas Court of Appeals from 2004 to 2011 and a Kansas Supreme Court Justice from 2011 to 2014.

Senate confirms 9 judges

The Senate confirmed 8 district judges last week: Jon Levy for the District of Maine; Sheryl Lipman for the Western District of Tennessee; Manish Shah for the Northern District of Illinois; Cynthia Bashant for the Southern District of California; Stanley Bastian for the Eastern District of Washington; Daniel Crabtree for the District of Kansas; and two  judges to the District of Maryland, Theodore Chuang and George Hazel. Michelle Friedland was also confirmed for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.