Leahy Notices Hearing For Two
Circuit Nominees
Nominations
Hearing Will Feature Three Michigan Nominees
WASHINGTON (Wednesday, April 30,
2008) – Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.)
today noticed a hearing for three judicial nominees, including
two circuit court nominees to fill the final vacancies on the
Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. The hearing will be held
Wednesday, May 7.
The Committee will consider the
nominations of Judge Helene White and Raymond Kethledge to the
Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the nomination of Steven
Murphy for a seat in the Eastern District of Michigan. Judge
White was previously nominated for a Michigan seat on the Sixth
Circuit three times during the Clinton administration, but the
Republican-led Judiciary Committee failed to hold a hearing on
her nomination.
After weeks of negotiations, Leahy
announced
April 15 that the White House and Michigan Senators Carl
Levin and Debbie Stabenow had resolved the longstanding gridlock
in the Sixth Circuit, an impasse dating back more than a decade.
The Republican-led Senate returned three Sixth Circuit
nominations to President Clinton without action at the end of
the Clinton administration, leaving four vacancies on that
appellate court. Just two vacancies remain on the Sixth Circuit
today, and Committee and Senate action on the White and
Kethledge nominations could reduce vacancies on the appellate
bench in that circuit to zero. In the agreement, the White
House withdrew Murphy’s nomination for a seat on the appellate
bench, renominating him for a district court judgeship, and sent
the White nomination to the Senate for the second vacancy on the
Appeals Court.
“I hope those who imply that we
are failing to consider President Bush’s judicial nominations
will attend the Committee’s seventh nominations hearing of the
year,” said Leahy. “Some may be interested in angling for a
political fight over judicial nominations, but I remain
interested in making progress where we can rather than
embroiling the Committee, and the Senate, in election year
politics. If those political fights don’t hold us back, the
Senate can reduce vacancies on the Sixth Circuit to zero, a far
cry from where it was left by a Senate Republican majority at
the end of the Clinton administration.”
The Judiciary Committee last week
voted to report to the Senate
three more nominees for lifetime appointments to the Federal
bench, and on
Thursday the Committee will
hold a hearing for Fourth Circuit nominee Justice G. Steven
Agee and district court nominees William T. Lawrence of Indiana
and G. Murray Snow of Arizona.
Democrats have
worked to
reduce the number of vacancies on the Federal bench to less
than half the number at the start of the Bush administration.
Circuit court vacancies increased from 12 to 26 during the
Clinton administration when Republican Senators stalled
consideration of a Democratic President’s nominations and
swelled to 32 at the start of the Bush administration. Today,
there are
just 12 circuit vacancies throughout the entire nation.
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For background on
Senate consideration of judicial nominations,
click here.
April 30, 2008
NOTICE OF
COMMITTEE HEARING
The Senate Committee on the
Judiciary has scheduled a hearing on
“Judicial Nominations”
for Wednesday, May 7, 2008 at 10:00 a.m. in Room 226 of the
Senate Dirksen Office Building.
By order of the Chairman
Witness List
Hearing before the
Senate Judiciary Committee
on
“Judicial
Nominations”
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Dirksen Senate Office Building
Room 226
10:00 a.m.
Helene N.
White, of Michigan, to be United States Circuit Judge for the
Sixth Circuit
Raymond M.
Kethledge, of Michigan, to be United States Circuit Judge for
the Sixth Circuit
Stephen Joseph
Murphy III, of Michigan, to be United States District Judge for
the Eastern District of Michigan
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