Join us in offering a warm welcome to the newest member of the Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC): Senator Laphonza Butler (D-CA)! We are ecstatic to see Senator Butler joining the Committee and look forward to working with her. Confirming diverse, highly qualified judges to the federal bench must be a priority for the Senate with just seven weeks left in which to see confirmations through this year, and we are confident that Senator Butler will hit the ground running as a member of the SJC.
Next, many headlines but little headway when it comes to the Supreme Court this week. At a public event on Monday, Justice Amy Coney Barrett signaled that she (and ostensibly, all eight of her colleagues) support a Supreme Court code of ethics with a somewhat convoluted and altogether mild statement: “I think it would be a good idea for us to do it, particularly so that we can communicate to the public exactly what it is that we are doing in a clearer way than perhaps we have been able to do so far.”
Although far from a clarion cry for ethics reform, Justice Barrett’s support for a code of ethics indicates that pressure from AFJ, our members and allies, and you, is working and the tide may be turning. Other Justices have been tight-lipped, or even outright hostile, to the possibility of reform. Her remarks follow the rare and overdue recusal of Justice Clarence Thomas from a case concerning efforts to overturn the 2020 election earlier this month. They also come on the heels of similarly vague supportive comments from Justice Kavanaugh last month that he is “hopeful that there’ll be some concrete steps taken soon” on ethics. Perhaps the Court is at last both aware of and acting on its public perception as favorable views of the Supreme Court remain at a historic low.
Ethics reform can’t come too soon to 1 First St. NE. On November 7, the Court will hear oral arguments inUnited States v. Rahimi, a landmark Second Amendment case that asks whether individuals with domestic violence restraining orders can be barred from possessing guns. As highlighted by the Center for American Progress in its recent publication on Rahimi, this case opens the door to “the real possibility that the safety and security of domestic violence survivors in the 21st century will be decided based on a historical record written exclusively by white, wealthy, male landowners from the 18th century.”
And as we know all too well, the Supreme Court is not the only court in the land with the power to jeopardize our safety or erode our rights and freedoms. Lower courts also play an enormous role in our everyday lives: Who sits on those courts is a matter of fundamental importance. Leading commentators and scholars are looking ahead to eligible vacancies on the bench. There's no doubt that the Senate must make every effort to fill every judicial vacancy before next November.
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On Wednesday, the Biden Administration announced the nominations of Sara E. Hill and John D. Russell to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma! When confirmed, Hill will be the only sitting indigenous federal judge in Oklahoma and make history as the first indigenous woman to sit on the state’s federal bench. Hill has spent her entire legal career serving her tribe, the Cherokee Nation, and other indigenous people and tribes. From 2019-2023, Hill was Attorney General of the Cherokee Nation. From 2015-2019, Hill served as the Nation’s first Secretary of Natural Resources. And before that, she served as Tribal Special Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Northern District of Oklahoma.
Also welcome this week was the advent of two federal district court confirmations: Jennifer Hall to the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware and Julia Munley to the Middle District of Pennsylvania. We congratulate these jurists and their families! |
The Senate Judiciary Committee’s next nominations hearing will be Wednesday, November 1 at 10am ET. ‘Phenominee' Professor Sarah Russell (D. Conn.) will be before the Committee. On faculty at Quinnipiac School of Law, Russell is accomplished in the arenas of both legal theory and practice. Her work representing disadvantaged individuals, such as indigent defendants and incarcerated people, does credit to our justice system. Tune into the hearing here.
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This week we held our Pathways to the Bench: Judicial Nominations 101 event in partnership with the Washington Bar Association, the DC Bar, the Hispanic Bar Association of DC, and the Washington Council of Lawyers. Attending criminal justice attorneys learned directly from federal judges and a Senate expert about pathways to the federal bench. Thanks to moderator Arthur Ago, Director of the Criminal Justice Project at the Lawyers’ Committee, Judge Richard F. Boulware, U.S. District Judge for the District of Nevada, and Judge Jamal Whitehead, U.S. District Court Judge for the Western District of Washington, as well as Jaron Goddard, former chief counsel to Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), for sharing their insight on the nominations process. If you are interested in judicial nominations, stay tuned for future Judicial Nominations 101 events.
Finally, for those of you who could not attend our September Holding Court event, a recording is now available on YouTube. Holding Court is a recurring event series where we bring together attorneys, advocates, and politicians to discuss social justice issues. Watch Representatives Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Becca Balint (D-VT), and Deborah Ross (D-NC) discuss the current Supreme Court term.
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