Federal

Senators Dick Durbin and Mark Kirk each authorize a nonpartisan screening committee to evaluate applicants for district court vacancies and make recommendations as to the best qualified. With four open seats in Illinois and only one nomination pending, Senator Kirk recently reactivated his 14-person committee.

During the week of December 3, the U.S. Senate confirmed four nominees for district court judgeships in Connecticut, Florida, Maryland, and Michigan. This is unexpected progress in light of disagreement among Republican senators over whether to take any action in this arena during the lame-duck session.

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California has made history by being the first major federal courthouse in the country to have an all-woman bench. And five of the six judges are women of color.

People for the American Way lauded the work of a federal judicial screening committee established by Senators Udall and Bennet to assist them in recommending to the White House a replacement for a retiring U.S. District Court judge. Upon learning of Chief Judge Wiley Daniel’s plans to take senior status, the senators...

Senate Republicans are split on whether to consider confirmation of judicial nominees, many of which have been pending for several months, during the lame-duck session or wait until the next Congress.

Prior to a campaign recess, the U.S. Senate confirmed two of the 17 pending nominees for federal district court vacancies. Fourteen of the 17 nominees received unanimous approval from the senate judiciary committee.

The U.S. Senate voted to approve, by an 89-1 vote, Stephanie Rose as a U.S. district court judge. To date, President Obama has appointed 72 women to the federal bench, which is the most ever appointed by a president in a single term. Rose is the first woman to serve on the Southern District of Iowa.