Habeas Corpus Blog

Habeas Corpus - Making It Official

Back on June 25, Obama officially nominated Katherine Polk Failla for an opening on the SDNY bench.

Here's the updated chart:

SDNY (6 openings; 2 pending nominee; 1 pending recommendee)

• Lorna G. Schofield (4/25/12)
• Katherine Polk Failla (6/25/12)

EDNY (2 openings; 1 recommendee)

• Justice Juan Merchan (10/13/11 recommended by Schumer)

WDNY (1 opening; 1 pending nominee)

• Frank P. Geraci, Jr. (5/12/12)

NDNY (0 openings)

• No pending nominations

Info on nominees can be found here.

Habeas Corpus - District Court Nominees - Edited (Marginally)

Staying in a blogging state of mind, thought I'd update the district court nominees.

Since it's been a few months, a review is necessary.  When last left off (way back in October 2011), there were four pending nominees in the Southern District: Edgardo Ramos, MJ Andrew L. Carter, Jesse M. Furman, Ronnie Abrams.  They have all been confirmed and are now SDNY DJ's.  Congratulations to all of them.  And there is one new nomination: Lorna G. Schofield.  Her hearing occurred on June 6, 2012.  Schumer has recommended Katherine Polk Failla for a seat.  I think that's everybody.

In the EDNY, there was one pending nominee, Margo Brodie, and one pending recommendation from Schumer, Justice Juan Merchan.  Brodie has been confirmed as a DJ, congratulations to her.  I have not been able to find any further info on Merchan, which means that he must not have been nominated yet (if ever, I guess).

In the WDNY, Michael Green had previously been nominated but he was sent back to the president in December 2011.  Obama then nominated Frank Geraci, Jr. on May 12, 2012.  His nomination is now pending.

Nothing new out of the NDNY.

Here's the updated chart.  Notice the large number of openings in SDNY:

SDNY (6 openings; 1 pending nominee; 1 pending recommendee)

• Lorna G. Schofield (4/25/12)
• Katherine Polk Failla (4/27/12 recommended by Schumer)

EDNY (2 openings; 1 recommendee)

• Justice Juan Merchan (10/13/11 recommended by Schumer)

WDNY (1 opening; 1 pending nominee)

• Frank P. Geraci, Jr. (5/12/12)

NDNY (0 openings)

• No pending nominations

Info on nominees can be found here.

Habeas Corpus - SDNY Confirmations

Yesterday, the Senate confirmed two SDNY nominees: Alison Nathan and Katherine Forrest.  The former was actually a close vote of 48-44.  Republicans on the committee had raised questions about the nominees lack of relevant experience and her position on hot button issues.  The latter sailed through on a voice vote.

I missed that, back on October 6, the Judiciary Committee sent to the full Senate Margo Brodie's nomination for a seat in the EDNY.

Senator Schumer also recommended State Acting Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan to fill the remaining vacancy in EDNY.  If nominated and confirmed, Justice Merchan would be the first Colombian-born federal judge.

Here's the updated chart:

SDNY (6 openings; 4 pending nominees)

• Edgardo Ramos (5/4/11) - Sent to Full Senate
• MJ Andrew L. Carter (5/19/11) - Sent to Full Senate
• Jesse M. Furman (6/8/11) - Sent to Full Senate
• Ronnie Abrams (7/29/11) - Confirmation Hearing Held

EDNY (2 openings; 1 pending nominee; 1 recommendee)

• Margo Brodie (6/8/11) - Sent to Full Senate
• Justice Juan Merchan (10/13/11 recommended by Schumer)

WDNY (1 opening; 1 pending nominee)

• Mike Green (1/27/11)

NDNY (0 openings)

• No pending nominations

Habeas Corpus - District Court Confirmation and Nominees

Yesterday, the Senate finally confirmed William Kuntz II for a seat on the EDNY.  His nomination had been pending for almost 7 months.

And, yesterday, the Senate held a confirmation hearing for SDNY nominee Ronnie Abrams.  No word yet on the vote, but I am sure she'll sail through and get sent to the full Senate.  I also read recently that the full Senate intends to vote on a couple of the pending SDNY nominees in the near future, Alison Nathan and Katherine Forrest, but I am not sure when the vote is actually going to happen.

I have no idea what's the hold-up with the Mike Green nomination for the seat in WDNY.  Curious to know what's going on with that.

Here's the updated chart:

SDNY (8 openings; 6 pending nominees)

• Alison J. Nathan (3/31/11) - Sent to Full Senate
• Katherine B. Forrest (5/4/11) - Sent to Full Senate
• Edgardo Ramos (5/4/11) - Sent to Full Senate
• MJ Andrew L. Carter (5/19/11) - Sent to Full Senate
• Jesse M. Furman (6/8/11) - Sent to Full Senate
• Ronnie Abrams (7/29/11) - Confirmation Hearing Held

EDNY (2 openings; 1 pending nominee)

• Margo Brodie (6/8/11)

WDNY (1 opening; 1 pending nominee)

• Mike Green (1/27/11)

NDNY (0 openings)

• No pending nominations

Habeas Corpus - District Court Nominees

I admit that I have only been sporadically following the news on the pending nominees here in New York.  But I did notice in the Law Journal today that there has been some movement on several of the pending Southern District nominees.

It now appears that five of the six pending nominees have now been sent to the full Senate: Jesse Furman, MJ Andrew Carter, Edgardo Ramos, Katherine Forrest, and Alison Nathan.  No confirmation hearing has been set yet for the final pending nominee, Ronnie Abrams.  There are also two open seats in SDNY without a pending nominations.

Here is an interesting article about Obama's judicial nominees.  "He is the first president who hasn't selected a majority of white males for lifetime judgeships."

Updated nominee chart (note that I have also updated EDNY nominee William Kuntz's status):

SDNY

• Alison J. Nathan (3/31/11) - Sent to Full Senate
• Katherine B. Forrest (5/4/11) - Sent to Full Senate
• Edgardo Ramos (5/4/11) - Sent to Full Senate
• MJ Andrew L. Carter (5/19/11) - Sent to Full Senate
• Jesse M. Furman (6/8/11) - Sent to Full Senate
• Ronnie Abrams (7/29/11)

EDNY

• William Kuntz II (3/8/11) - Sent to Full Senate
• Margo Brodie (6/8/11)

WDNY

• Mike Green (1/27/11)

NDNY

• No pending nominations

Habeas Corpus - New SDNY Nominee

One thing that I really wasn't able to follow much over the past six weeks was the status of the district court nominations. 

I looked into it and saw that two of the SDNY nominees were confirmed --  Paul Engelmayer and J. Paul Oetken.  Congratulations to them.

And two weeks ago, Obama nominated Ronnie Abrams to the final open seat in SDNY.  Abrams has extensive background in criminal law, having spent years as an AUSA.  I don't see any defense-side work, but it's possible that she saw something of this sort in her current position as Special Counsel for Pro Bono at Davis Polk.

Here is the current chart of district court nominees.  I haven't done the research to see whether any of these nominees have passed committee and been sent to the floor.  So the links are to the White House press release announcing the nomination (where available):

SDNY

• Alison J. Nathan (3/31/11)
• Katherine B. Forrest (5/4/11)
• Edgardo Ramos (5/4/11)
• MJ Andrew L. Carter (5/19/11)
• Jesse M. Furman (6/8/11)
• Ronnie Abrams (7/29/11)

EDNY

• William Kuntz II (3/8/11)
• Margo Brodie (6/8/11)

WDNY

• Mike Green (1/27/11)

NDNY

• No pending nominations

Habeas Corpus - District Court Nominations

Yesterday, President Obama nominated two federal prosecutors for openings in SDNY and EDNY.  Jesse Furman was nominated for one of the remaining open seats in SDNY and Margo Brodie (who was a prior recommendee) was nominated for one of the open seats in EDNY.  The press release with some details about the two nominees can be found here.

Just wanted to note that I missed the news that Obama had officially nominated MJ Carter for a SDNY seat back on May 19.  I have updated the chart with the press release.

Here is the current chart of district court nominees:

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 (5/19/11)
• Jesse M. Furman (6/8/11)

EDNY

• William Kuntz II (3/8/11)
• Margo Brodie (6/8/11)

WDNY

• Mike Green (1/27/11)

NDNY

• No pending nominations

Habeas Corpus - District Court Nominations

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

• William Kuntz II (3/8/11)
• Margo Brodie (recommended - 3/15/11)

WDNY

• Mike Green (1/27/11)

NDNY

• No pending nominations

Habeas Corpus - Movement on Nominees

Some movement lately on the pending judicial nominees in the district courts in New York.

On April 12, Vincent L. Briccetti was confirmed by the Senate and became the newest judge in SDNY.  He will be removed from the chart of nominees.

On April 7, J. Paul Oetken and Paul Engelmayer received unanimous approval from the Senate Judiciary Committee and were sent to the full Senate.  I'll add that notation to the chart.

Here is the updated chart.  The date in parentheses is the date of nomination (or recommendation where noted):

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 (recommended - 1/31/11)
• Edgardo Ramos (recommended - 1/31/11)
• MJ Andrew L. Carter (recommended - 2/15/11)

EDNY

• William Kuntz II (3/8/11)
• Margo Brodie (recommended - 3/15/11)

WDNY

• Mike Green (1/27/11)

NDNY

• No pending nominations

Habeas Corpus - New SDNY Nominee - Updated

Yesterday, President Obama nominated Alison J. Nathan for one of the nine open DJ seats in SDNY.  Schumer had recommended her back on March 18, but I seemed to have missed that news.*  That's the quickest turnaround from recommendation to nomination I have seen.  Maybe the White House is finally getting its act together.**   

*I know why.  I was out of the office on the 21st, a Monday, which would have been the day that it was reported in the Law Journal.  I guess I forgot to catch up on the news from that day.

** Or maybe it's because, as mentioned below, this particular nominee had just been working in the White House, making the background check easier to accomplish.

You can look at the White House press release here.  It's an impressive background -- Circuit Court and Supreme Court clerkships, white house counsel, big law firm, positions in academia.  Her current position is as a special counsel to the New York State Solicitor General.  I will say that the legal career is on the short side for a federal judicial nominee (she graduated from law school in 2000).  But I don't feel that makes her unqualified in any way.  I don't see any specific experience in criminal law in her background, but she could have seen some as a clerk and maybe there was some white-collar or pro bono work when she was at the big law firm.  Tough to tell from that how she'll be in habeas cases (except she did clerk for Stevens and in the Ninth Circuit).

Here's the current chart.  Note that for the nine open seats in SDNY, there are four pending nominations and one pending recommendee waiting to get nominated three pending recommendees waiting to get nominated.

[UPDATE: Thanks to the comment below, I learned that there are two other pending SDNY recommendees, Katherine B. Forrest and Edgardo Ramos.  Offhand, I have no alibi for missing that news]:

SDNY

• Vincent Briccetti (11/18/10)
• Paul Engelmayer (2/2/11)
• J. Paul Oetken (1/27/11)
• Alison J. Nathan (3/31/11)
• Katherine B. Forrest (recommended - 1/31/11)
• Edgardo Ramos (recommended - 1/31/11)
  
• MJ Andrew L. Carter (recommended - 2/15/11)

EDNY

• William Kuntz II (3/8/11)
• Margo Brodie (recommended - 3/15/11)

WDNY

• Mike Green (1/27/11)

NDNY

• No pending nominations