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NOMINATIONS SENT TO THE SENATE: Adam L. Braverman, of California, to be United States District Judge for the Southern District of California, vice Roger T. Benitez, retired. John W. Holcomb, of California, to be United States District Judge for the Central District of California, vice Dean D. Pregerson, retired. Knut Sveinbjorn Johnson, of California, to be United States District Judge for the Southern District of California, vice John A. Houston, retired. Steve Kim, of California, to be United States District Judge for the Central District of California, vice Beverly Reid O’Connell, deceased. Sandy Nunes Leal, of California, to be United...

As we've heard about increasing numbers of sealed indictments over the last couple of years, a lot of people (myself included) have been asking, "WHEN is the justice going to begin?" Different reasons have been advanced: waiting for IG's report, waiting for Durham's report, waiting until all the i's are dotted, etc. And there's probably a lot of truth to those. However, when I heard Trump's speech on the day after acquittal, he mentioned the number of federal judges appointed -- now 191 confirmed. And that got me to thinking... maybe Trump had to restore the judiciary first, to handle...

With the weeks-long impeachment trial ending Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is wasting no time turning the chamber's focus back to his self-professed top priority: confirming judicial nominations. McConnell teed up five judicial nominations for votes on the Senate floor as the chamber wrapped up its work for the week. The Senate is expected to take its first procedural vote on the slate Monday evening, when Republicans will need a simple majority to end the debate on Andrew Brasher's nomination to be a judge on the Eleventh Circuit. Once Brasher is confirmed, the Senate will turn to the...

NEW YORK — Deborah A. Batts, the nation’s first openly gay federal judge, has died. She was 72. Batts was found dead on Monday, three months before she was set to preside over a trial of California lawyer Michael Avenatti on charges that he cheated porn star Stormy Daniels, a former client, of proceeds of a book deal. No cause of death was immediately released. In June 1994, Batts was sworn in after a smooth confirmation process following her appointment to the bench by President Bill Clinton. During her confirmation proceedings, it was never mentioned that she was a lesbian....

Washington -- Dare we call it the Trump Revolution? We call the presidency of Ronald Reagan the Reagan Revolution. Well, consider what President Donald Trump has achieved in but three years. He has revived the economy with ample growth, historically low levels of unemployment and efficiencies in the economy thanks to the removal of unnecessary stultifying regulations. He promises more if reelected. He has assured international peace and stability. Becoming a prominent terrorist is no longer a smart career choice. Longevity can be problematic. And the president has assured a judicial system stocked with men and women who really believe...

Best election, best POTUS, evah!

BASRA, Iraq, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Masked gunmen assassinated a senior judge in the southern Iraqi city of Basra on Saturday, a Reuters witness and doctors said. Video footage showed the body of the judge, Taha al-Amiri, lying in a hospital mortuary following the attack. Witnesses said his vehicle was stopped by four masked gunmen as he drove through the centre of Basra, Iraq's second largest city, in the far south of the country. Two of the gunmen got out and opened fire, killing the judge instantly. His driver was wounded in the attack. It is the second assassination...

An analysis of the individuals nominated for appellate court positions by the last two US presidents reveals that those selected by Trump had better qualifications than those selected by Obama. A marker for those considered the best legal minds is whether they clerked for a Supreme Court Justice or a federal appeals court. Of the nominees selected by Obama less than a quarter clerked at the Supreme Court, and less than half at a federal appellate court. Of the nominees selected by Trump 40% clerked at the Supreme Court and about 80% clerked at a federal appellate court. Senate Minority...

Republican senators Warren Daniel and Joyce Krawiec released a joint statement on the court order. "An overwhelming majority of North Carolina voters amended the state Constitution to require voter ID, and an unelected judge just suppressed their votes. The bill to implement that amendment was passed by a bipartisan supermajority and was even sponsored by a Democrat. It provides more ways to comply with the ID requirement than almost any state in the country, including issuing free IDs. We urge the Attorney General's office and the State Board of Elections to immediately appeal this decision, since this vote-suppressing judge won't...

With the help of Senate Republicans, Donald Trump spent the first three years of his presidency remaking the federal judiciary in his own image. The president has appointed 133 district court judges, 50 appeals court judges, and two Supreme Court justices—meaning about one-fifth of the nation’s federal trial judges, and one-fourth of its federal appellate judges, are Trump appointees. These jurists are leading a conservative revolution that will upend decades of precedent and enshrine reactionary policies into the law. The transformation has only just begun. But for a glimpse of where the judiciary is heading if Trump wins a second...

As I wrote earlier this month, Sen. Majority Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is not messing around when it comes to judicial confirmations. To date, the McConnell-led Senate has confirmed 174 judges out of the 234 nominated by President Trump, some of who were confirmed as Trump’s impeachment was being voted on in the House. It’s an impressive record so far, and in an interview McConnell did on Fox and Friends this morning, he said important Senate business will continue to be conducted no matter how long House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) decided to hold on to the articles of impeachment. The...

Full Title: N.Y. Gov. Cuomo blocks some federal judges from officiating at weddings — because they might be Trump nominees New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has vetoed a noncontroversial bipartisan bill that would have allowed all federal judges to officiate weddings in the state because some might have been nominated to the bench by President Donald Trump. "I cannot in good conscience support legislation that would authorize such actions by federal judges who are appointed by this federal administration," Cuomo's veto message stated. "President Trump does not embody who we are as New Yorkers," the Democratic governor added Friday. "The...

New York’s TDS-addled governor Andrew Cuomo (D) vetoed a bill that would have permitted federal judges to officiate at weddings because Trump. The bill was innocuous and passed both NY state’s senate and assembly with overwhelming and bipartisan support. Cuomo’s veto memo specified that Trump-appointed federal judges should not be allowed to perform weddings in the state . . . because Trump appointed them.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has vetoed a non-controversial bipartisan bill that would have allowed all federal judges to officiate weddings in the state because some might have been nominated to the bench by President Donald Trump. "I cannot in good conscience support legislation that would authorize such actions by federal judges who are appointed by this federal administration," Cuomo's veto message stated, the New York Post reported. "President Trump does not embody who we are as New Yorkers," the Democratic governor added on Friday. "The cornerstones that built our great state are diversity, tolerance, and inclusion. Based on these...

In early November, during the impeachment inquiry against him, President Donald Trump threw a celebration in the East Room of the White House. The guests: a group of Senate Republicans and Leonard Leo, head of The Federalist Society. The occasion: President Trump’s appointing 44 federal appeals court judges – about one-quarter of the entire appeals court bench. The Trump administration and Senate Republicans – along with The Federalist Society, the conservative legal group tasked by the administration with identifying and vetting reliably conservative nominees – have over the past three years developed a pipeline of relentless efficiency for lifetime judicial...

185 judges now confirmed.

DETROIT (AP) — A 95-year-old Detroit federal judge is reducing is caseload after 40 years on the bench. U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn is dropping criminal cases and will handle only civil lawsuits. “Judge Cohn is in his mid-90s and has been carrying a full caseload for all these years,” court spokesman David Ashenfelter said. “He has decided that it’s time to cut back.” Cohn was appointed in 1979 by President Jimmy Carter. He qualified for “senior status” in 1999, which can trigger a smaller caseload and give the court an opportunity to get an additional judge. But Cohn didn’t...

Construction of a private section of border wall in Mission, Texas, is continuing despite a district judge's Tuesday decision to temporarily block the work, The Guardian reported Saturday. The expected 3.5-mile-long private section of border wall is being funded by We Build the Wall, a nonprofit organization founded by U.S. Air Force Veteran and Purple Heart recipient Brian Kolfage that has raised more than $25 million since its start in December 2018. Workers were moving soil, digging trenches and positioning the physical wall on Thursday and Friday after Vasquez's ruling

The Senate confirmed four trial court nominees to the federal bench Wednesday, among them a public interest lawyer Democrats say will trim abortion rights. The package passed as the House Judiciary Committee heard testimony from constitutional scholars pursuant to its impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump. Senators confirmed Sarah Pitlyk to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri on a 49-44 vote that largely followed party lines. “Sarah’s strong legal experience, sharp intellect, and commitment to the rule of law make her an outstanding choice for the Eastern District,” GOP Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri said in...

SAN DIEGO—Immigration judges in this city are presenting a challenge to the Trump administration’s policy of sending asylum-seeking migrants back to Mexico, terminating such cases at a significantly higher rate than in any other court, according to federal data. Between January and the end of September, immigration judges in San Diego terminated 33% of more than 12,600 Migrant Protection Protocols cases, also known as Remain in Mexico, according to data collected by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University. Judges in El Paso, Texas, the busiest court hearing MPP cases, terminated fewer than 1% of their more than 14,000...