Nine years after first being nominated to the U.S. Court of Appeal for the Fourth Circuit, and seven months after being re-nominated by President Obama, Judge Andre M. Davis (pictured below) may be on the verge of packing his bags for Richmond, Va.

Yesterday, on the Senate floor, Sen. Bob Casey procured a unanimous consent agreement advancing Davis's nomination to the Senate floor sans filibuster. Judge Davis's nomination to the Fourth Circuit has languished since the Senate Judiciary Committee heartily voiced its approval by a bi-partisan vote of 16-3 on June 4, 2009.

"Senate debate on Davis' nomination is scheduled to begin late Monday afternoon, with a confirmation vote expected the same day," reports The Baltimore Sun. "The exact timing could still slip--we're talking about the Senate here--but not the result: his confirmation is a foregone conclusion, once senators finally get to vote." 

Davis is one of President Obama's four nominations to the Fourth Circuit currently pending Senate confirmation. There are five vacancies on the historically conservative, 15-judge Fourth Circuit.