Legal News

Vanaskie Tapped for Final 3rd Circuit Seat

By Brian Harris

By Shannon P. Duffy
U.S. Courthouse Correspondent

The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals may soon have its full compliment of 14 active judges now that President Obama has nominated U.S. District Judge Thomas I. Vanaskie, a 15-year veteran of the Middle District of Pennsylvania bench who served as its chief judge from 1999 to 2006.

If confirmed, Vanaskie would fill the vacancy created nearly three years ago when U.S. Circuit Judge Franklin S. Van Antwerpen took senior status. Earlier this year, Obama nominated U.S. District Judge Joseph A. Greenaway Jr. of the District of New Jersey to fill the 3rd Circuit vacancy that was created when Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. was elevated to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Vanaskie, 55, has strong ties to Sen. Robert P. Casey Jr. and has long been rumored to be in line for an appellate post.

A 1978 graduate of the Dickinson School of Law, Vanaskie worked for Casey's father, the late Robert P. Casey Sr., in the Scranton office of the Philadelphia law firm then known as Dilworth Paxson Kalish & Kauffman.

Vanaskie has reportedly described the elder Casey, who later became governor, as a ?mentor.?

In 1992, Vanaskie left the Dilworth firm to join Elliott Vanaskie & Riley, but soon after was nominated by President Clinton to a seat on the Middle District.

If confirmed, Vanaskie's departure would leave three vacancies on Middle District bench. Two other openings were created earlier this year when Judges Richard A. Caputo and James M. Munley announced that they were taking senior status.

Full post as published by The Legal Intelligencer Blog on August 07, 2009 (boomark / email).