Posted by marykeating on November 10, 2009 under Court news | 
Yesterday the full Senate finally confirmed Judge Andre M. Davis to the Fourth Circuit. As reported here before, the seat that Judge Davis will take has been vacant since Judge Murnaghan’s death in 2000.
This opens a seat on the United States District Court for the District of Maryland. The Senate has a lot of nominations before anyone will even be placed for a vote for this seat. The scuttlebutt around Baltimore is that many very well-qualified jurists will apply for the seat, and probably some practitioners as well.
Posted by marykeating on November 5, 2009 under Court news |
This blog has previously discussed the difficulty of delivering justice to this region, in light of five openings (out of 15) on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. Two nominees have been given the green light by the Senate committee, but await full votes by the Senate. The Senate, of course, has the constitutional role of advising and consenting to judicial appointments. This role gives it the power to hold up appointments. The dusty seat reserved for Judge Andre M. Davis has been vacant more than ten years.
Well, at least President Obama is doing his part. Yesterday he nominated two North Carolina judges to the Fourth Circuit. President Clinton had earlier tapped Judge James Wynn Jr. of the North Carolina Court of Appeals; Judge Davis had the same experience of having his nomination die after a Republican took the White House. Judge Wynn is also African-American. The Fourth Circuit’s geographical region has a high population of African-Americans, so adding to the diversity of the Court would be fair and add to its perceived legitimacy. The other nominee, Judge Albert Diaz, is Hispanic. There are no current Hispanic members of the Court. More to the point for my clients, Judge Diaz has been working as a special trial judge for complex business cases. Often judges are chosen from the ranks of former prosecutors, and therefore their civil experience is meager.
Posted by marykeating on July 14, 2009 under Court news |
Chief Judge Karen Williamson of the Fourth Circuit announced last week that she will retire early on disability due to early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. Appointed by George H. W. Bush, Judge Williamson has been on the Court of Appeals for 17 years.
There are now five openings on the Fourth Circuit. Judge Andre M. Davis of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland has been nominated, and has gotten through the Senate Committee; no vote has been held by the full Senate, which of course is focusing on Judge Sotomayor’s nomination. But the Fourth Circuit has had several vacancies for some years, all through the George W. Bush years. If President Obama manages to fill all of the open seats, the much-vaunted conservative bastion of the federal system may drift to the center. The extent to which this will help employment discrimination plaintiffs will depend in part on the Supreme Court, which does not seem to be heading toward the center anytime soon, barring an unexpected vacancy in the conservative majority. Still, with the Fourth Circuit up to full strength, perhaps there will be more attention paid to appeals that may now be routinely disposed of per curium.
