Habeas Corpus Blog

Habeas Corpus - D'Agostino Confirmed

On Monday, Mae D'Agostino was unanimously confimed by the full Senate to sit as a DJ in NDNY.  Here is a brief article in the Watertown Daily Times about her confirmation.  Although the article does not make it clear, it appears that she will be the first woman DJ up in NDNY.  At least, it appears that way from the wikipedia page for NDNY.

Here is the current chart.  Note, I added a link to the press release for Brodie:

SDNY

• Vincent Briccetti (11/18/10)
• Paul Engelmayer (2/2/11)
• J. Paul Oetken (1/27/11)
• 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 - More District Court Action

Some movement on two of Obama's SDNY nominees.  According to the BLT, Engelmeyer and Oetken "breeze[d]" through committee hearings yesterday.  Apparently, the vote on these two nominees will be in about a month.  It appears that there won't be too much, if any, Republican resistance.

What makes me pretty happy is that the Senate Democrats moved pretty fast on these nominees.  They both have been pending for less than two months.  Of course, they could sit on the floor for months and months before the full Senate votes.  Nevertheless, this is a positive step.

I know that it appears in the post below this one, but for the sake of completeness here's the latest chart:

SDNY

• Vincent Briccetti (11/18/10)
• Paul Engelmayer (2/2/11)
• J. Paul Oetken (1/27/11)
• MJ Andrew L. Carter (recommended - 2/15/11)

NDNY

• Mae D'Agostino (9/29/10)

EDNY

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

WDNY

• Mike Green (1/27/11)

Habeas Corpus - New EDNY Recommendee

Yesterday, Senator Schumer recommended AUSA Margo Brodie to fill a spot in the EDNY that's going to open up next month once DJ Allyne Ross takes senior status.

I was not able to find the press release.  Schumer usually posts them to his website.  If it ever gets up, I'll put a link to it.

For now, here's an article about Brodie.  It says that, if confirmed, Brodie will be the only Caribbean-born person on the federal bench.  The article provides a lot of background about her.  As mentioned above, she is currently an EDNY AUSA in the general crimes unit.  She definitely has a whole bunch of experience in criminal law, but it appears to be all on the prosecutor side of things.

Here's the current chart of pending recommendee/nominees.  If I get the press release for Brodie, I'll add it in:

SDNY

• Vincent Briccetti (11/18/10)
• Paul Engelmayer (2/2/11)
• J. Paul Oetken (1/27/11)
• MJ Andrew L. Carter (recommended - 2/15/11)

NDNY

• Mae D'Agostino (9/29/10)

EDNY

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

WDNY

• Mike Green (1/27/11)

Habeas Corpus - EDNY Nominee - Corrected

Yesterday, President Obama made it official and nominated William Kuntz as DJ for the sole opening in EDNY.  The press release is here.

Yesterday was March 9.  Schumer recommended Kuntz on October 14.  That's about a 5 month turnaround.  About two months shorter than the last couple. 

Now just one recommendation pending, MJ Andrew Carter for a seat in SDNY.  And, overall, there are six district court nominations pending in the district courts in New York.  See chart below.

[Correction: I originally had Kuntz down as "William Kuntz III".  That's one too many I's.  The nominee's name is William Kuntz II.  It's been fixed]

SDNY

• Vincent Briccetti (11/18/10)
• Paul Engelmayer (2/2/11)
• J. Paul Oetken (1/27/11)
• MJ Andrew L. Carter (recommended - 2/15/11)

NDNY

• Mae D'Agostino (9/29/10)

EDNY

• William Kuntz II (3/8/11)

WDNY

• Mike Green (1/27/11)

Habeas Corpus - District Court Recommendation - Corrected

Senator Schumer has recommended current EDNY MJ Andrew L. Carter to fill one of the nine vacancies on the SDNY bench.  An additional vacancy was created when SDNY Judge Lewis Kaplan decided to take senior status.

Due to the current lag time between recommendation and nomination, he should officially get nominated in the Fall.  Of course, as a current MJ, I don't see a reason why it should take that long.  I guess it all depends on the reason for the lag time.  I was assuming that the lag was due to the administration undertaking a thorough and deliberate background check.  But maybe it's just because Obama is simply slow to process the recommendations as an administrative matter.  I am very curious to see how long it takes for the administration to turn this recomendee into a nominee. 

Here's some bio info from Schumer's press release:

Andrew Carter, Jr. is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and Harvard Law School. After graduating from law school, Carter received a two-year fellowship with the Ford Foundation where he conducted legal research and supported the foundation’s grant making endeavors. Carter then worked for thirteen years as a public defender where he provided defense representation to those unable to afford a lawyer through the Legal Aid Society and then later through the Federal Defenders of New York, where by the end of his tenure he was Supervising Attorney. In June 2009, Carter was appointed Magistrate Judge for the Eastern District of New York, where he primarily handles civil cases, in addition to criminal matters.

Carter also has long demonstrated a commitment to serving New York City and urban communities. In addition to his career as a public defender, as a law student Carter co-founded the BELL Foundation, which now provides students across the country with educational summer and after school activities in low-income communities. Carter continues to serve on the board of the foundation, which provides services to thousands of New York City children each year.

Here's the current chart of District Court nominees:

SDNY

• Vincent Briccetti (11/18/10)
• Paul Engelmayer (2/2/11)
• J. Paul Oetken (1/27/11)
• MJ Andrew L. Carter (recommended - 2/15/11)

NDNY

• Mae D'Agostino (9/29/10)

EDNY

• William Kuntz II (recommended - 10/14/10)

WDNY

• Mike Green (1/27/11)

Habeas Corpus - SDNY Nominee - Corrected

Obama announced a new nomination for one of the many SDNY openings.  It's Paul Engelmayer.  Schumer recommended Engelmayer back in June of last year.  So I guess it takes around 7 months for a recommendation to become a nominee.  I guess that means we have another 4 months before Kuntz gets nominated to one of the open seats in EDNY.

Here's the chart of nominees (the links are to the relevant press releases):

SDNY

• Vincent Briccetti (11/18/10)
• Paul Engelmayer (2/2/11)
• J. Paul Oetken (1/27/11)

NDNY

• Mae D'Agostino (9/29/10)

EDNY

• William Kuntz II (recommended - 10/14/10)

WDNY

• Mike Green (1/27/11)

Habeas Corpus - District Court Nominations - Corrected

Obama has announced some nominations for district court seats in New York. The press release can be found here.

The first nomination is J. Paul Oetken for one of the eight(!) open seats in SDNY.  The big story with regard to this nomination is that, according to the New York Times, Oetken would be the first openly gay man on the federal bench.  Honestly, I don't think that's accurate.  I remember that when Alter was nominated, the papers said the same thing, but it wasn't accurate.  Judge Vaughn Walker in California was openly gay.  The issue may be about whether Walker was out when he was nominated, and I think the answer was no.  So, to be more accurate, Oetken will be the first person to take the federal bench as an openly gay individual.

The second nomination is Michael Green for the open seat in the WDNY.  I had previously thought that he had already been nominated (I believe that I found media reports that said that he had), but it turns out that it had only gotten to the recommendation stage.  So now it is official.  Actually, I thought the same thing about Oetken.  I am not sure how I got that wrong on both accounts. 

So the current list of nominations (I'll note where it is just at the recommendation stage).  I hope it's accurate:

SDNY

• Vincent Briccetti (11/18/10)
• Paul Engelmayer (recommended - 6/25/10)
• J. Paul Oetken (1/27/11)

NDNY

• Mae D'Agostino (9/29/10)

EDNY

• William Kuntz II (recommended - 10/14/10)

WDNY

• Mike Green (1/27/11)

 

Habeas Corpus - Potential EDNY Nominee

Unless my memory is failing me right now, we are close to having our first district court nominee in one of the New York district courts during the Obama presidency.  As hard as they may be to believe, I just checked and it's true.

According to this press release from Senator Schumer, he is recommending that William F. Kuntz II, a partner at the law firm of Baker Hostetler, for a district court judgeship in EDNY.

Here's a quote from the press release:

“I am pleased to recommend Bill Kuntz to President Obama. With his deep intellect, even-handed temperament, and commitment to public service, Kuntz will make an excellent judge on the Eastern District Court,” said Schumer. “He has a first-rate legal mind and will be a terrific asset on the bench.”

Kuntz definitely has tons of experience in civil litigation, but I didn't see too much criminal law in his background.  The only thing I saw that is somewhat related was that he has served for over 20 years "on the Civilian Complaint Review board, which investigates complaints of alleged misconduct on the part of the NYPD."

Next step is for Obama to nominate him, which I am sure will happen soon.

[Note: Edited for accuracy]

Here's a picture of Kuntz: