President Nominates Former Idaho GOP Chair to Ninth Circuit - N. Randy Smith

Metropolitan News-Enterprise ^ | December 29, 2005 | Kenneth Ofgang

[new yorker 77]

President Bush Friday nominated former Idaho Republican Chairman N. Randy Smith, now a state trial judge, to the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

If confirmed by the Senate, Smith, 56, would fill the vacancy created when Judge Stephen Trott took senior status.

Idaho is currently the only state in the circuit without an active judge, as Trott took senior status at the end of last year and Judge Thomas Nelson did the same in November 2003.

Bush has nominated Boise attorney William G. Myers III to succeed Nelson, but Democrats have thus far prevented him from winning confirmation. His nomination was sent to the floor by the Senate Judiciary Committee on a party-line vote of 10-8 prior to last year’s elections, but supporters came up seven votes short of the 60 needed to break a filibuster.

No agreement concerning Myers was reached when a bipartisan group of senators reached a compromise to avert filibusters on several other nominees. The attorney told the Idaho Statesman earlier this month that he remains an active candidate, but the Senate has no timetable for taking up the nomination.

Myers, who was first nominated on May 15, 2003, is a former solicitor of the Department of the Interior. He has drawn opposition from native American activists and environmental groups, who say the former lobbyist for mining and cattle interests has environmental views outside the mainstream.

Smith, who sits on the Sixth District Court in Pocatello, may have an easier time winning confirmation. His supporters include Pocatello Councilman Richard Stallings, a former congressman who is now the state Democratic chair, and Fred Hoopes, a Democrat and Idaho Falls lawyer who is a former State Bar president, Idaho newspapers reported.

Meyers and Smith were among four candidates recommended by the state’s senior senator, Republican Larry Craig, when Nelson said he was stepping down two years ago.

Smith was named to the state bench in 1995 by then-Gov. Phil Batt, under whom he served as party chair. He received undergraduate and law degrees at Brigham Young University and worked as a corporate lawyer for the J.R. Simplot Co. before going into private practice in Pocatello in 1982.

There are no nominees for the other two vacancies on the Ninth Circuit, both created when California judges took senior status. Judge A. Wallace Tashima has been a senior judge since June 30 of last year, and Judge James Browning, for whom the court’s San Francisco headquarters building is named, since Sept. 1, 2000.

Copyright 2005, Metropolitan News Company

[new yorker 77]

This increases the number of nominees still pending to 7.

There are 15 vacancies to the thirteen courts of the U.S. Court of Appeals.

[JamesP81]

but supporters came up seven votes short of the 60 needed to break a filibuster.

Limp Wrist Frist should've used the nuclear option.

[RetiredArmy]

And the list of nominees will probably continue to grow, and the list of those waiting as well.

[GarySpFc]

How many of Bush's nominations have been seated on the U.S. Court of Appeals?

[new yorker 77]

As of today,

42 of 52.

[jazusamo]

I certainly would like a democRAT to explain what they mean by "mainstream". George Bush won the election with 51% of the vote. That tells me the democRATs are out of the mainstream.

[Free Dominoes]

Hmmm, I guess you consider Alito off the 3rd to get 15. I notice using the Alliance for Justice tables (sorry I don't know a better tool for information on the subject) that the Rats won't allow seats vacated by Clinton and Carter to be filled by Bush.

[Free Dominoes]

Hmmmm, I counted 32. What is your source?

[MplsSteve]

As much as you and I do believe that 51% is a majority, I'm reminded of a bumper sticker I saw in Minneapolis last summer:

51 PERCENT ISN'T A MANDATE

I suspect the person driving the car didn't have this bumper sticker back when Clinton was President.

[new yorker 77]

I checked myself.

I never used Alliance for Justice.

First, I checked every court at www.fjc.gov and wrote down the names of judges serving since 2001. All Bush 43 appointed and confirmed.

Then, I checked the white house nominee database and cross referenced those nominated with those active to see who is still pending.

Then, I checked to see who has withdrawn or retired.

I originally came up with 50 nominees in a previous post with 41 confirmed.

Then, I forgot about a Clinton judge Bush pushed in 2001 named Roger Gregory during the new tome era. That makes it 51 and 42.

Then, I found out about this new nominee. hat makes it 52 and 42.

Again, I could find no database that is tracking this, so I made up my own.

It is as accurate as anything I can find out there.

[Young Werther]

Does the N stand for Nickers?

[new yorker 77]

I prefer the ALCJ, http://www.aclj.org/

[new yorker 77]

Scratch that.

I detest the Alliance for Justice website.

[Free Dominoes]

Ha! Well I'm sure everyone here detests their politics, but you can find tables of all the current judges, who appointed them and when as well as all vacant seats, who retired and when. By my count, it's not 42 it's 32. I was surprised it was that high considering how many problems the Rats have given us.

[Free Dominoes]

Thanks, have to check out that site.

[Libertina]

LOL 51% is MORE of a mandate than 49 ;)

[deport]

http://www.usdoj.gov/olp/judicialnominations.htm

The above offers some stats on judicial nominations..

The Senate Judicial link gives a list but Sen. Specter's chairmanship hasn't done a good job of keeping it updated. Sen. Hatch did very good.

[new yorker 77]

9 Supreme Court, 179 U.S. Court of Appeals Judgeships, 663 U.S. District Court Judgeships.

That's 851 between the three.

I found only eight active on the International trade Court.

[new yorker 77]

The chart given for the current status of judicial nominations shows 14 vacancies for the circuit court.

Meaning that once Alito is confirmed, there will be 15 vacancies.

I was correct.

Also, the chart shows that 7 of 13 nominations were confirmed, leaving 6 pending.

I was also correct there. Although, I wonder if the counted the recent nomination to the 9th Circuit. That would leave 7 pending, I'm including Kavanaugh.