Litigation

Obama Names 2 for Appellate Vacancies

By Jason Barrett

President Obama nominated two more U.S. appeals court judges Thursday, according to the Associated Press.  If confirmed, Judge Andre Davis would serve on the Fourth U.S. District Court of Appeals in Virginia, while Judge Gerard Lynch would sit on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York.

Judge Lynch was first appointed to the federal bench by President Clinton in 2000.  He served in New York as a state and federal prosecutor, as well as chief counsel for the New York State Commission on Government Integrity.  Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has been very vocal in his support of Judge Lynch.  “Judge Lynch is a class act, a world-class legal mind, and one of the sagest judges of the district court,” Senator Schumer said. “We could not have a better nominee to this critical court.”

Judge Davis will be going through his second appellate confirmation process, after being nominated in 2000 by President Clinton.  The Senate did not confirm him for that post.  Prior to that, he was nominated and successfully confirmed in 1995 to the federal bench as a district court judge.

The president is attempting to balance the benches after eight years of conservative appointments by President Bush.  Currently, there are 15 federal appeals courts vacancies on 12 circuit court benches.

For more on federal judicial selection, Professor Carl Tobias of the Richmond School of Law gives his thoughts in a column for Findlaw on the confirmation wars often seen with judicial nominations.  He believes President Obama is off to a good start by consulting with senators on nominations and offers suggestions to minimize partisanship throughout the confirmation process.

Full post as published by The Gavel on April 03, 2009 (boomark / email).