March 11, 2011
Private: Senate Confirms Cogburn; Halligan Confirmation Imperiled by NRA Opposition
judicial nominations, The Courts
The Senate deviated from its pattern of considering judicial nominees on Mondays today, confirming Max Oliver Cogburn, Jr., to the District Court for the Western District of North Carolina, Senatus reports.
This is the fourth nominee confirmed by the Senate this week, and the Senate has scheduled a vote for Monday on James Emanuel Boasberg, to be a U.S. District Court judge for the District of Columbia.
Also this week, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved six more nominees, who will now await a vote by the full Senate. Five district court nominees were reported without controversy by voice vote, but Caitlin Joan Halligan, the former New York solicitor general appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, encountered opposition, and was moved forward by a vote of 10 to 8.
Sen. Charles Grassley, the ranking Republican on the committee, criticized Halligan's record, citing opposition by gun rights groups, The Blog of Legal Times reports.
"The opposition of the NRA and the Gun Owners of America could pose a major challenge for Halligan's nomination if moderate Democrats are tempted to side with those organizations over their own party's leadership," The BLT explains. "Gun-rights groups also opposed the confirmation of justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor, and they have been credited with adding to the ‘no' votes those two received."
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy countered that Halligan was obligated during her time as New York Solicitor General to act on behalf of her clients, including then-New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, in filing suit against gun manufacturers.
Yesterday, President Obama made two more judicial nominations: Steve Six, former Kansas Attorney General, for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, and commercial litigator William Francis Kuntz, II, for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
There are now 96 vacant federal court seats subject to Senate confirmation, and news reports continue to document the strain of the judicial nominations crisis.
To learn more about the judicial nominations crisis and follow developments, visit JudicialNominations.org.