Tag Archives: Topic: Nominations

CNSNews: “Chai Feldblum, the Georgetown University law professor nominated by President Obama to serve on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, has written that society should ‘not tolerate’ any ‘private beliefs,’ including religious beliefs, that may negatively affect homosexual ‘equality.’”

On Top Magazine: “Protect Marriage Washington, the sponsor of Referendum 71, is being represented by the Christian-based legal group Alliance Defense Fund (ADF). The ADF earlier set up a Referendum 71 webpage to collect data from people who “have been threatened or suffered retaliation after signing an R-71 petition” or were prevented from signing a petition.”

LifeNews: “In a flip-flop that could provide her the 60th and final vote she needs to overcome a pro-life filibuster, pro-abortion Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter has changed his mind and decided to support Dawn Johnsen.”

Law.com (The National Law Journal): “Judge Susan Coleman, Sidley Austin partner Gary Feinerman and Hughes Socol Piers Resnick & Dym partner Mary Rowland all made the short list and are being screened by the American Bar Association, said James Holderman, chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.”

LifeNews: “President Barack Obama’s nominee to head the agency charged with keeping American travelers safe from terrorism thinks pro-life advocates are terrorists.”

Catholic League: “Dawn Johnsen is not someone who simply takes issue with the Catholic Church’s pro-life position: she wants to punish the Church. In the late 1980s, she joined a cadre of anti-Catholics to strip the Catholic Church of its tax exempt status.”

LifeNews: “With another session of Congress starting shortly, President Barack Obama will reportedly renominate Louis Butler Jr. and Edward Chen.”

Wisconsin State Journal: “‘Voters across the state decided not to elect him to continue serving on the Supreme Court because they thought he was a radical judge who was legislating from the bench,’ Kristin Ruesch, communications director for the Republican Party of Wisconsin, said.”

Blog of the Legal Times: “President Barack Obama plans to renominate six people whose names the Senate returned to the White House last month, a White House official said today. The six include Dawn Johnsen, picked to head the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, two other Justice Department nominees, and two nominees for district court seats.”

Law.com (The National Law Journal): “The U.S. Senate ended the year having confirmed three nominees to federal circuit courts, half as many as were confirmed during President George W. Bush’s first year. Among nominees for district court judgeships, the difference is even more stark — nine won confirmation during 2009 compared with 22 during 2001. Six circuit nominees and four district nominees have passed through committee but not received a vote in the full Senate.”

Jake Tapper, writing at ABC News: “President Obama recently named Amanda Simpson to be a Senior Technical Advisor to the Commerce Department. In a statement, Simpson, a member of the National Center for Transgender Equality’s board of directors, said that ‘as one of the first transgender presidential appointees to the federal government, I hope that I will soon be one of hundreds, and that this appointment opens future opportunities for many others.’”

MyWay (AP): DeMint also said, “What I want is a few hours of debate on Mr. Southers to fix the nation back on security and get politics, especially union politics, out of our security apparatus.”

Carl Tobias, Williams Professor at the University of Richmond Law School, writing at My San Antonio: “[T]he judiciary has 99 openings out of the 858 appeals and district court judgeships. These vacancies, which are 11 percent of the positions, erode the delivery of justice. When the 111th Senate’s second session returns in January, President Barack Obama should promptly nominate, and the Senate must expeditiously confirm, lower court judges, so that the bench will be at full strength.”

LA Times: “Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) objected, temporarily halting the confirmation, as part of his opposition to unionizing the TSA, which he believes Obama will push. ”

LifeNews: “. . . this time it is Edward Chen. President Barack Obama nominated the U.S. Magistrate for a federal judgeship in San Francisco. Chen is a former attorney for the pro-abortion legal group ACLU . . . ”

Chicago Tribune: “Minneapolis assistant police Chief Sharon Lubinski has become the first openly gay U.S. marshal. The U.S. Senate last week confirmed the Green Bay, Wis. native . . . ”

LifeNews: “Dawn Johnsen, a law professor at Indiana University who is a former legal counsel for the pro-abortion group NARAL, is Obama’s selection to head the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel.”

David Limbaugh writes at Townhall: “I’m wondering whether there’s anyone out there with the guts to pretend that it’s insignificant that President Barack Obama keeps appointing radical after radical to his czar positions. Can anyone honestly say Obama’s appointments don’t tell us a great deal about Obama himself — as if we needed any further proof he is a left-wing extremist?”

David Fontana writing in The New Republic: “The lesson here for Obama is simple: If Republicans are going to obstruct even moderate nominees, and if Senate Democrats are sometimes going to have to break filibusters to stop them, then why keep appointing generally moderate judges meant to appeal to Republicans? Why not try to put your own philosophical stamp on the courts?”

The Providence Journal: “The Senate Judiciary Committee has held over until the new year a vote on President Obama’s nomination of Rhode Island Superior Superior Court Judge O. Rogeriee Thompson to a vacant seat on the Boston-based First Circuit U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.”

Mario Diaz writes at Townhall: “No matter what your political party, no matter your religion or if you have none at all, we should all be concerned about loosing our most cherished liberties. It is those liberties that lie at the foundation of everything we believe as a nation. That is what is at stake with the nomination of Chai Feldblum to the EEOC. And every senator should approach it with that type of urgency. But it is up to us to make sure senators know we are watching and that we will remember how much they value our religious freedoms.”

LifeNews: “The Senate Judiciary Committee voted along party lines 12-7 today for yet another pro-abortion judicial nominee from President Barack Obama.”

The Providence Journal: “The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee will consider President Obama’s nomination of Rhode Island Superior Court Judge O. Rogeriee Thompson to the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday.”

The Hill: “Retired Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Clifford Stanley held back from saying what his recommendations would be to Defense Secretary Robert Gates on the Clinton-era policy known as ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell.’”

“The Senate voted today 59-39 to confirm a pro-abortion federal judge President Barack Obama appointed to become a new appeals court justice.”

The FRC Action Cloakroom Blog provides this report on today’s Congressional calendar and activities.

Catholic League: “In 2006, Feldblum signed a statement, ‘Beyond Same-Sex Marriage,’ that was the most radical, irresponsible assault on marriage and the family ever written . . . Feldblum, however, sensing that her nomination is in trouble, announced just days ago that she wants her name taken off the anti-marriage and anti-family document.”

The Family Research Council Blog has a roundup piece on the same-sex “marriage” / religious liberty conflict as interpreted by President Obama’s nominee to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commision, Chai Feldblum. The post includes video and excerpts of coverage from around the internet, including the ADF Alliance Alert.

Religion Clause Blog: “Yesterday, the U.S. Senate voted 70-29 to invoke cloture and thus end debate on the nomination of Indiana federal district judge David Hamilton to the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.”

“. . . The 70-29 vote limited debate over the qualifications of U.S. District Judge David Hamilton of Indiana, and assured his elevation to the Chicago-based appeals court . . . ”

AP: “Democrats, with a bit of Republican help, are expected to exceed the 60 votes needed to limit debate on U.S. District Judge David Hamilton, assuring his confirmation to the Chicago-based appeals court by a simple majority of the 100-member Senate.”

Law.coma: “The White House said late Monday that President Barack Obama has made two choices for the Federal Trade Commission: a business litigator from Los Angeles who worked on his presidential campaign and a consumer protection regulator who spent most of her career in Vermont.”

OneNewsNow: “Some congressional Republicans are threatening a filibuster to block confirmation of a federal appeals court nominee because of his religious rulings. But they won’t get the support of Indiana GOP Senator, Richard Lugar.”

Rutherford Institute: “The time has surely come for an independent judicial appointments commission to be established … to take Supreme Court appointments out of the hands of politicians and beyond the reach of the political process…”–John W. Whitehead & John M. Beckett

Christian Newswire: “Concerned Women for America (CWA) President Wendy Wright said, ‘David Hamilton’s litany of left-wing activist decisions makes him a dangerous choice to sit on a federal appellate court. Judge Hamilton has earned the opposition against his nomination to a higher court.’”

“Twenty four leading conservatives have signed a memo urging Republican senators to filibuster . . . ”

Findlaw: “Professor Carl Tobias recently argued that Senate Republicans are keeping President Obama from appointing federal judges. He is wrong on both his facts and his conclusions. As a reminder, the Democratic majority is 60-40 in the Senate and 12-7 on the Judiciary Committee. This is their largest majority in more than 30 years. It is time for Democrats and their defenders to stop making excuses and trying to blame everyone else. Those who want to achieve power, and who have been given power by the American people, should take responsibility for their own political actions.”

NY Times: “President Obama has sent the Senate far fewer judicial nominations than former President George W. Bush did in his first 10 months in office, deflating the hopes of liberals that the White House would move quickly to reshape the federal judiciary after eight years of Republican appointments.”

CNSNews: “The Senate gave President Barack Obama a major victory Monday in his efforts to remake the federal courts, confirming a judge who will tip the political balance on the once-conservative appeals court based in Richmond.”

Orin Kerr writes at Volokh Conspiracy: “Congratulations to Judge Andre Davis, who was confirmed by the United States Senate today for a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.”

Boston Globe (AP): “Vermont Judge Christina Reiss (“Rice”), whom President Barack Obama has nominated to the federal bench, is up for a confirmation hearing on Wednesday.”

NewsMax: “Senate Republicans are gearing up to block the appeals-court nomination of U.S. District Judge David Hamilton, whose resume includes a stint as a fundraiser for ACORN, the community-organizing group recently tripped up by a series of embarrassing undercover videos. Conservative legal groups have described Hamilton as ‘ultra-liberal.’”

Citizen Link: “Judge David Hamilton says lawmakers can pray to Allah – but not to Jesus. Federal District Judge David Hamilton has been nominated for a seat on the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.”

Washington Times: “Senate Democrats are proving once again that no judicial nominee is too extreme for them to stomach. A move seems to be afoot to open debate on the Senate floor this week on the nomination of David Hamilton of Indiana to the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. This judge is a radical’s radical.”

Washington Post: “Obama nominated Judge Albert Diaz, a North Carolina superior court judge who handles complex business cases, and Judge James Wynn, of North Carolina’s state Court of Appeals, to serve on the federal appeals court.”

McClatchyDC.com: “Hiring a federal judge requires an act of Congress, but Congress hasn’t been in much of a hiring mode lately.”

Google News (AP): “But as a daughter of privilege — her dad was a powerful Democratic state senator, and she had all the benefits of a comfortable upbringing and a good education — Jenny Durkan also recalls what someone once told her: ‘You’re the most non-diverse diverse person I know.’”

Blog of the Legal Times: “The Senate Judiciary Committee today gave its blessing to Barbara Keenan, nominated for a vacancy on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit.”

Slate: “But the larger issue is a new form of obstructionism in the Senate. It seems clear that Senate Republicans are prepared to take the partisan war over the courts into uncharted territory—delaying up-or-down votes on the Senate floor for even the most qualified and uncontroversial of the president’s judicial nominees.”

Washington Times: “In this case, the nominee is Northern California federal district court nominee Edward Chen, forwarded by the Senate Judiciary Committee to the full Senate last Friday on a party-line vote. Mr. Chen is currently a federal magistrate in San Francisco, and a lawyer long active with the American Civil Liberties Union before that.”

This AP report from October 2nd lists the pending nominees.

Tennessean.com: “Nashville attorney Jane Branstetter Stranch easily made it through her confirmation hearing on Wednesday on her nomination to become a U.S. Circuit Court Judge for the Sixth Circuit . . . She has specialized in labor law . . . ”

CNSNews: “Chai R. Feldblum, nominated by President Barack Obama to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), has argued that homosexual sex is “morally good” and that government should foster all types of domestic partnerships, including ‘non-sexual’ ones.”

ADF attorney Austin R. Nimocks appeared on Super Talk Mississippi to discuss this story: GLSEN founder overseeing safety of nation’s schools?

The MP3 runs just over 23 minutes.

Rep. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee, to comment, ‘I think we’re seeing a common DNA run through the Obama nominees, and that’s the ACLU chromosome.’

Google News (AP): “President Barack Obama has nominated a Minnesota policewoman to become the first openly gay person to serve as a U.S. marshal.”

Associated Press: “President Barack Obama has nominated a Minnesota policewoman to become the first openly gay person to serve as a U.S. marshal.”

Boston Globe (AP): “Judge Denny Chin, a district court judge for the Southern District of New York, and Rhode Island Superior Court Justice O. Rogeriee Thompson were tapped for positions. If confirmed by the Senate, Chin would serve as a judge in the 2nd Circuit, based in New York, and Thompson would serve in the Boston-based 1st Circuit.”

Catholic News Agency: “A law professor [Chai Feldblum] nominated by President Obama to become a commissioner for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was a signatory to a radical 2006 manifesto which endorsed polygamous households and argued traditional marriage should not be privileged ‘above all others.’”

AP: “The Senate’s top Republicans said Thursday they wouldn’t allow President Barack Obama to fill health posts until his administration stops barring insurers from telling the elderly how Democrats’ health overhaul could affect their benefits.”

Related: GOP raps Dems for hushing insurers on Medicare

Kevin M. Scott and Wendy L. Martinek, Judicial Selection and Judicial Choice (2009). APSA 2009 Toronto Meeting Paper. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1450863

“[W]e have no rigorous, systematic evidence as to whether controversial nominees do, in fact, behave differently than other nominees once they don the black robe. Using data from 1977-2002 on nominations to the U.S. Courts of Appeals and the voting behavior of court of appeals jurists for the same period, here we empirically investigate whether judges who were considered more controversial during their confirmation process are more ideologically-driven in their voting behavior than other (less controversial) judges.”

Law.com (AP): “The Senate on Thursday confirmed Gerard Lynch . . . The 94-3 vote means that Democratic nominees now hold four of 10 currently filled seats on the appellate court that serves New York, Connecticut and Vermont. The court has three vacancies, giving President Barack Obama the opportunity to give the circuit a Democratic tilt.”

How Appealing links to numerous reports about the nomination of Virginia Supreme Court Justice Barbara Milano Keenan to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

Sherry F. Colb writes at Findlaw: “In this column, I will consider the “organ removal” position that Sunstein has articulated and then evaluate the views of those who would challenge his suitability for public office on the basis of the position.”

Washington Independent: “Cass Sunstein, President Obama’s pick to head the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, was confirmed handily by the Senate just now by a vote of 57 ayes to 40 nays.”

Washington Post: “Obama nominated New York State Labor Commissioner M. Patricia Smith in March to the third-ranking job at the Labor Department. If confirmed, she will serve as general counsel to Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis after more than 30 years of work on labor issues.”

The Blog of the Legal Times: “Dawn Johnsen is making a tentative return to the classroom . . . The seminar, which Johnsen has taught before, is aimed at 2Ls and 3Ls. It’s titled ‘Sexuality, Reproduction and the Law.’

National Law Journal: “D.C. Court of Appeals Judge Vanessa Ruiz, who has been aggressively pushed by a number of well-connected Democratic lawyers for promotion to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, is being taken to task for having an excessive backlog of undecided cases.”

Tennessean.com: “Nashville attorney Jane Branstetter Stranch has been nominated by President Barack Obama to become a federal judge on the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals . . . She has taught labor law at Belmont University and served on the AFL-CIO Lawyers Coordinating Committee.”

CNSNews: “Republican senators who decided to support the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court said their job was to examine whether she was qualified and not whether they agree with every decision she has made and will make.”

ABA Journal: “President Obama has nominated a lawyer known for her ERISA expertise and a federal judge from Pennsylvania for spots on two federal appeals courts.”

Religion Clause Blog: “Martha L. Minow, who earlier this year was named Dean of the Harvard Law School, has now also been nominated by President Barack Obama to be a board member of the Legal Services Corporation.”

AP: “According to the Court’s Public Information Office, Sonia Sotomayor will be sworn in as an Associate Justice on Saturday, August 8, at 11 a.m. at the Supreme Court of the United States.”

“Members of the Senate voted 68-31 today to approve appeals court judge Sonia Sotomayor for a seat on the Supreme Court . . . ”

AP: “Republican Sen. Judd Gregg says he’ll vote for Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, breaking with most of his fellow Republicans.”