112th Congress: Senate Judicial Confirmations

bob · **Posted:** Sat May 21, 2011 12:40 pm

A Legal Lohengrin wrote:

"Accidentally" or not, Apprendi is good law, and has reduced thousands of unjustly excessive sentences.

I wonder if Scalia foresaw the tossing the (mandatory nature of the) sentencing guidelines.

A Legal Lohengrin · **Joined:** Tue Oct 26, 2010 9:56 pm **Posts:** 9411

bob wrote:

A Legal Lohengrin wrote:

"Accidentally" or not, Apprendi is good law, and has reduced thousands of unjustly excessive sentences.

I wonder if Scalia foresaw the tossing the (mandatory nature of the) sentencing guidelines.

I am pretty sure he intended it. Read his dissent in Mistretta, in which he strongly criticizes what he considers the improper delegation of legislative authority to the Sentencing Commission, which he sneeringly described as a "junior varsity Congress." Also note that he was in the 5-4 majority in Booker, which actually struck down the mandatory nature of the Sentencing Guidelines.

While I think Scalia is terrible about long-standing precedent-based law like the exclusionary rule and Miranda, he has done good work relating to the Confrontation Clause (Crawford), the Establishment Clause in relation to neutral laws of general applicability (Employment Division v. Smith), and other such areas.

I also often enjoy reading his dissents, even when I usually don't agree with him (although I do in his one-person dissent in Mistretta). I wish he had to write more dissents.

esseff44 · **Posted:** Wed May 25, 2011 9:59 pm

Goodwin Liu withdraws from confirmation process. He did not see any hope of being confirmed by this Senate.

http://www.npr.org/2011/05/25/136658372 ... -withdraws

Joseph Robidoux III · **Posted:** Wed May 25, 2011 10:17 pm

It's disappointing, but not unexpected. Senate Democrats and the White House all knew that Liu's confirmation would be just as difficult as David Hamilton's, if not more. Liu's confirmation battle was lost when the 111th Congress adjourned sine die.

Joseph Robidoux III · **Posted:** Wed Jun 08, 2011 4:09 pm

The White House announced yesterday it had sent the Senate four Art III judicial nominations. The nominations were for judges on district courts (ED of NY, SD of NY, ED of LA and WD of MO).

Joseph Robidoux III · **Posted:** Thu Jun 23, 2011 11:02 pm

Poutine: The White House announced today it sent the Senate two Article III judicial nominations. Both nominations were for judges for the District Court of Arizona.

Edit: Judge Jennifer Guerin Zipps: Nominee for the United States District Court for the District of Arizona:
Judge Jennifer Guerin Zipps is a United States Magistrate Judge for the District of Arizona, a position she has held since 2005. From 1999 until her appointment to the bench, Judge Guerin Zipps was an Assistant United States Attorney in Arizona, serving as the Chief of the Civil Division in 2002 and the Chief Assistant United States Attorney from 2002 until 2005. Prior to entering government service, Judge Guerin Zipps was a litigation associate at Molloy, Jones & Donahue in Tucson from 1991 until 1995. From 1990 to1991, she served as a law clerk to the Honorable William C. Canby of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Judge Guerin Zipps received her B.A. with honors in 1986 from the University of Arizona and her J.D. cum laude in 1990 from the Georgetown University Law Center.

Rosemary Márquez: Nominee for the United States District Court for the District of Arizona:
Rosemary Márquez has been engaged in the private practice of law in Tucson, Arizona, since 2000, focusing her practice on federal criminal defense. Previously, she served as an Assistant Federal Public Defender from 1996 to 2000, representing indigent defendants in federal district court and on appeal before the Ninth Circuit. For two years beginning in 1994, Márquez served as a public defender for the Pima County Office of the Legal Defender. Márquez began her legal practice as a Deputy County Attorney in the Pima County Attorney’s Office, where she prosecuted a variety of matters, including domestic violence cases. Márquez received both her B.A. in 1990 and her J.D. in 1993 from the University of Arizona.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-off ... ourt-bench

poutine · **Posted:** Fri Jul 08, 2011 5:43 pm

Apologies to Joseph for not responding to the update below, as I'm trying to limit my Fogbow hours these days and needed to take a hiatus in order to do so.

Both of these judges are from the Tucson division of the District of Arizona. That's the division to which the late Judge Roll belonged before he was killed by Jared Loughner. I don't know all the Tucson judges as well as I do Phoenix judges, though I've heard of Magistrate Judge Guerin before by name.

This was desperately overdue, of course. But it would still be great to have some new judges appointed to the Phoenix division, which is also hurting quite badly. Of the cases I currently have pending in federal court, a handful have been assigned to visiting judges from other jurisdictions, which I assume is because our judicial shortage has reached crisis proportions. We even have a judge from Hawaii handling Arizona cases at the moment. To participate in scheduling conferences, we dial an 808 area code and have to account for bizarre time zone differences!

Adelante · **Posted:** Fri Jul 08, 2011 5:54 pm

I've been wondering what became of you. Missed you :hug:

poutine wrote:

I'm trying to limit my Fogbow hours these days and needed to take a hiatus in order to do so.

poutine · **Posted:** Fri Jul 08, 2011 5:57 pm

Aww shucks :hug:

realist · **Joined:** Fri Jan 23, 2009 1:33 pm **Posts:** 23597

Adelante wrote:

I've been wondering what became of you. Missed you :hug:

poutine wrote:

I'm trying to limit my Fogbow hours these days and needed to take a hiatus in order to do so.

I didn't.

I thought I did, but... I didn't.

poutine · **Posted:** Fri Jul 08, 2011 6:04 pm

realist wrote:

Adelante wrote:

I've been wondering what became of you. Missed you :hug:

poutine wrote:

I'm trying to limit my Fogbow hours these days and needed to take a hiatus in order to do so.

I didn't.

I thought I did, but... I didn't.

Liar.

Sterngard Friegen · **Posted:** Fri Jul 08, 2011 6:15 pm

I suspect Realist and Poutine have been swapping PMs or eMails and Realist didn't notice that Poutine was MIA.

poutine · **Posted:** Fri Jul 08, 2011 6:17 pm

Sterngard Friegen wrote:

I suspect Realist and Poutine have been swapping PMs or eMails and Realist didn't notice that Poutine was MIA.

A big smoochie for you too Sternie. :-*

Sterngard Friegen · **Posted:** Fri Jul 08, 2011 6:22 pm

poutine wrote:

Sterngard Friegen wrote:

I suspect Realist and Poutine have been swapping PMs or eMails and Realist didn't notice that Poutine was MIA.

A big smoochie for you too Sternie. :-*

Joseph Robidoux III · **Posted:** Fri Jul 08, 2011 7:21 pm

poutine wrote:

Apologies to Joseph for not responding to the update below, as I'm trying to limit my Fogbow hours these days and needed to take a hiatus in order to do so.

Both of these judges are from the Tucson division of the District of Arizona. That's the division to which the late Judge Roll belonged before he was killed by Jared Loughner. I don't know all the Tucson judges as well as I do Phoenix judges, though I've heard of Magistrate Judge Guerin before by name.

This was desperately overdue, of course. But it would still be great to have some new judges appointed to the Phoenix division, which is also hurting quite badly. Of the cases I currently have pending in federal court, a handful have been assigned to visiting judges from other jurisdictions, which I assume is because our judicial shortage has reached crisis proportions. We even have a judge from Hawaii handling Arizona cases at the moment. To participate in scheduling conferences, we dial an 808 area code and have to account for bizarre time zone differences!

The White House has yet to nominate a replacement for former District Court Judge Mary Murguia. Senate bill S.1014 is still in committee so one additional judge may be all you get for a while.
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/thomas

Joseph Robidoux III · **Posted:** Fri Jul 15, 2011 5:59 pm

The RWNJs aren't going to be very happy Monday, July 18. The Senate has scheduled 30 minutes for debate, then a confirmation vote for an openly gay man (J. Paul Oetken) to be a federal district court judge (SD of NY). There will be no filibuster, just 30 minutes or less of debate, then a confirmation vote.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/28/nyregion/28judge.html
http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/e ... /xcalv.pdf
Note: The Senate executive calendar updates regularly and will change by July 19.

The other openly gay nominee mentioned in the article, Edward C. DuMont has not even had a committee hearing despite being nominated Jan 5.

Joseph Robidoux III · **Posted:** Mon Jul 18, 2011 8:33 pm

J. Paul Oetken was confirmed today by an 80-13 vote. The RWNJs will be upset to know that the following Republican senators voted for confirmation:

Alexander (R-TN)
Ayotte (R-NH)
Barrasso (R-WY)
Brown (R-MA)
Burr (R-NC)
Chambliss (R-GA)
Coats (R-IN)
Coburn (R-OK)
Collins (R-ME)
Corker (R-TN)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Enzi (R-WY)
Graham (R-SC)
Grassley (R-IA)

Heller (R-NV)
Hoeven (R-ND)
Isakson (R-GA)
Johanns (R-NE)
Johnson (R-WI)
Kirk (R-IL)
Kyl (R-AZ)
Lugar (R-IN)
McCain (R-AZ)
Portman (R-OH)
Sessions (R-AL)
Shelby (R-AL)
Snowe (R-ME)
Thune (R-SD)

http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/r ... vote=00112

Joseph Robidoux III · **Posted:** Thu Jul 28, 2011 4:18 am

Poutine:
Magistrate Judge Jennifer Guerin Zipps was one of five judicial nominees who had their Senate Judiciary Committee hearing yesterday. All five nominations seem to be on a fast track. Zipps and another were nominated in June, the other three were nominated in May. Senators McCain and Kyl appeared as her sponsors. A webcast of the hearing is available at the link. There were no big gotcha questions. Towards the end of the hearing Sen Kyl expressed his desire that the committee would favorably report all 5 nominations to the full Senate shortly after the August break.
http://judiciary.senate.gov/hearings/he ... eba62d1b34

FWIW: Those nominees still waiting for their committee hearing include 5 nominated in January, 1 in February, 1 in March, 5 in May, 6 in June and 1 in July.

Adelante · **Posted:** Thu Jul 28, 2011 8:16 am

Thanks for keeping this thread up, Joseph.

Joseph Robidoux III · **Posted:** Fri Jul 29, 2011 10:41 pm

Your welcome. The topic is one I enjoy following.

Joseph Robidoux III · **Posted:** Sun Sep 11, 2011 10:26 am

Joseph Robidoux III wrote:

Poutine:
Magistrate Judge Jennifer Guerin Zipps was one of five judicial nominees who had their Senate Judiciary Committee hearing yesterday. All five nominations seem to be on a fast track. Zipps and another were nominated in June, the other three were nominated in May. Senators McCain and Kyl appeared as her sponsors. A webcast of the hearing is available at the link. There were no big gotcha questions. Towards the end of the hearing Sen Kyl expressed his desire that the committee would favorably report all 5 nominations to the full Senate shortly after the August break.
http://judiciary.senate.gov/hearings/he ... eba62d1b34

FWIW: Those nominees still waiting for their committee hearing include 5 nominated in January, 1 in February, 1 in March, 5 in May, 6 in June and 1 in July.

UPDATE:
The Senate Judiciary Committee ordered the nomination of Magistrate Judge Zipps be favorably reported to the full Senate in an Executive Business meeting Sept 8. The committee approved her nomination (and that of 5 others) via a voice vote. The nominations of the four others who appeared at the same hearing with Zipps were held over and scheduled for Sept 15.

Quote:

Edgardo Ramos, to be United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York
Held Over
Andrew L. Carter, Jr., to be United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York
Held Over
Jesse M. Furman, to be United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York
Held Over
James Rodney Gilstrap, to be United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Texas
Held Over
Jennifer Guerin Zipps, to be United States District Judge for the District of Arizona
Ordered Reported By Voice Vote

http://judiciary.senate.gov/

Joseph Robidoux III · **Posted:** Sat Sep 24, 2011 3:30 am

This nomination caught my attention today. What captured it was not who was nominated, but rather what he was nominated for.

Quote:

Today, President Obama nominated Judge Brian C. Wimes to the United States District Court bench for the Eastern and Western District of Missouri.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-off ... tes-distri

If this was a typo, it appeared again on the White House site.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-off ... ent-senate
The Senate Judiciary Committee site notes that Wimes is nominated to the USDC for both the Eastern and Western Districts of Missouri.
http://www.judiciary.senate.gov/nominat ... ngress.cfm

Question for the lawyers here.
Is this a typo? I checked the confirmations for the 107th through the 112th Congress and cannot find a similar occurrence.
http://www.judiciary.senate.gov/nominat ... dicial.cfm

Sterngard Friegen · **Posted:** Sat Sep 24, 2011 10:40 am

He's going to sit in both districts. It's happened before.

Joseph Robidoux III · **Posted:** Sat Sep 24, 2011 10:03 pm

Thanks Stern. It's just something I had not heard/read about before.

Joseph Robidoux III · **Posted:** Sun Sep 25, 2011 10:48 am

Sterngard Friegen wrote:

He's going to sit in both districts. It's happened before.

I'm somewhat embarrassed to say that with a minimal amount of research I could have gotten the answer to my question.

Quote:

Brian C. Wimes, of Missouri, to be United States District Judge for the Eastern and Western Districts of Missouri, vice Nanette K. Laughrey, retired.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-off ... ent-senate

Quote:

Nanette Kay Laughrey is an Article III Federal Judge serving on senior status for the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri and the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri. She joined both Courts in 1996 after being nominated by President Bill Clinton. She assumed senior status on August 27, 2011.

http://judgepedia.org/index.php/Nanette_Laughrey

The nomination is a straight-up 1 for 1 replacement.

Falsehoods unchallenged only fester and grow.

112th Congress: Senate Judicial Confirmations

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