In response to mounting pressure to end obstruction of judicial nominations, the Senate announced an agreement this week to schedule votes on ten nominees. The deal leaves 17 pending nominees behind, seven of which are considered judicial emergencies, and four of which have been waiting since the 111th Congress. As part of the deal, the Senate will vote Oct. 3 on Fourth Circuit nominee Henry Floyd, and will confirm by unanimous consent district court nominees Nannette Jolivette Brown, Nandy Torresen, William Francis Kuntz, Marina Garcia Marmolejo and Jennifer Guerin Zipps. Sometime on or after Oct. 11, the Senate will vote on another four district court nominees: Alison Nathan, Katherine Forrest, Jane Margaret Triche-Milazzo and Susan Owens Hickey.
The Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled a hearing with U.S. Supreme Court Justices Stephen Breyer and Antonin Scalia entitled “Considering the Role of Judges Under the Constitution of the United States” for Wednesday, October 5 at 2:30 p.m. The hearing will be webcast live online on the Senate Judiciary Committee’s website.
An Issue Brief released by the Center for American Progress reveals that two-thirds of the country’s population are living in a jurisdiction that has been declared a judicial emergency “meaning that in courtrooms across the country there aren’t enough judges to hear the cases that are piling up.” Authors Andrew Blotky and April Carson explain:
The nation’s federal courts—where Social Security appeals are heard, employment cases decided, immigration issues settled, and where Americans vindicate their constitutional rights—are in a crisis because there simply aren’t enough judges on the bench.
- “Senators Reach Deal on 10 Judicial Nominees,” from The Blog of Legal Times
- “Gay Judicial Nominee to Face Senate Hearing Tuesday,” fromtheWashington Blade
The Latest from “Recommended Readings”
- “The Feeblest Branch: An Underfunded Court System Weakens the Economy As Well as Access to Justice,” from The Economist
- “Obama Strength? Reshaping the Judiciary,” from USA Today
- “Federal Judicial Crisis Affects Two-Thirds of the Nation,” from Daily Kos
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