Legal News

Judicial Commission Seeks Comment on Superior Court Applicants

By Mike Scarcella

The District's Judicial Nomination Commission is seeking public comment on the 31 lawyers and judges who are vying to fill two vacancies on the D.C. Superior Court bench.

The group includes judges, prosecutors, private practitioners, government and public interest lawyers. Click here (PDF) for a full list of applicants who want one of two slots created by the retirements of judges John Bayly Jr. and Stephanie Duncan-Peters. The commission will submit the names of six applicants to the White House.

Applicants include Superior Court magistrate judges Joseph Beshouri, Diane Brenneman, Karen Howze, John McCabe, Aida Melendez, William Nooter and Elizabeth Wingo. District administrative law judges Sharon Goody, Paul Handy, Arabella Teal and Steven Wellner also applied.

Assistant U.S. attorneys Teresa Howie and Robert Okun want a seat on the court. Howie?s the deputy chief of the office?s Superior Court division, and Okun is the chief of the special proceedings section, which handles post-conviction litigation.

Justice Department lawyer Elizabeth Shapiro, deputy director of the Federal Programs Branch, in the Civil Division, and Armando Rodriguez-Feo of the division?s Commercial Litigation Branch also submitted applications.

Catharine Easterly, Laura Hankins and Jason Tulley of the D.C. Public Defender Service are on the list, and Samuel Kaplan of the D.C. Office of the Attorney General, who was in court yesterday arguing over legal fees in the landmark D.C. gun case, is a candidate.

Nearly half of the candidates on the list have applied for earlier vacancies on the court. Here are candidate lists the JNC released in November 2009 and in April 2010.

The nomination commission is seeking comment on the applicants? judicial temperament, professional skills, ethics and, among other categories, writing skills. All comments must be submitted by April 18. Click here for the JNC?s candidate evaluation form.

Full post as published by The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times on March 24, 2011 (boomark / email).