Two new nominations for the SDNY. They actually had been recommended together back in January. They are Edgardo Ramos, who is a partner at Day Pitney, and Katherine B. Forrest, who is a deputy assistant U.S. attorney general in the anti-trust division. The chart has been updated.
The bigger story is the sheer number of currently open seats in SDNY and the number that could soon be open. Currently, there are seven open seats (with five pending nominees, plus one pending recommendee). That's 25% of the court's active seats. But the number of open seats is going to increase as a number of judges are about to become eligible to take senior status. When a judge becomes eligible for senior status, the judge has the option of going senior, which creates an open active seat. There are definitely two judges who intend to take senior status, but there could be as much as seven! Of course, all of the open seats were pretty much seats that had previously been filled by Clinton appointees (only one of the current openings was not and none of the potential openings is not), so they are democratic seats being filled with democratic nominees. Nevertheless, Obama is restocking the SDNY with democratic nominees. In the end, he could end up filling over half of SDNY with new judges before the end of his term. That's kind of amazing.
Anyways, here's the updated chart:
SDNY
- Paul Engelmayer (2/2/11) (committee approval received; sent to full Senate)
- J. Paul Oetken (1/27/11) (committee approval received; sent to full Senate)
- Alison J. Nathan (3/31/11)
- Katherine B. Forrest (5/4/11)
- Edgardo Ramos (5/4/11)
- MJ Andrew L. Carter (recommended - 2/15/11)
EDNY
WDNY
- Mike Green (1/27/11)
NDNY
- No pending nominations
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