On Monday, the White House announced a new slate of nominees, including Judge Matthew Maddox for the District of Maryland, Judge Brenden Hurson for the District of Maryland, Jeremy Daniel for the Northern District of Illinois, and Darrel Papillion for the Eastern District of Louisiana. Of these new nominees, we are especially excited about:
- Judge Brenden Hurson was a career public defender and, if confirmed, will bring much needed professional diversity to the federal bench. Currently, Judge Hurson serves as a magistrate judge for the District of Maryland.
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Darrel Papillion is an experienced civil litigator and will make an excellent addition to the Eastern District of Louisiana. He worked on several important Voting Rights Act cases, fighting to guarantee Black Louisianans equal representation after redistricting diluted their voting power.
We are urging the White House to continue nominating candidates for the approximately 20 district court seats that will not have blue slip issues. And it is also crucial that the White House start lining up qualified nominees for the dozens of vacancies in states where Republican Senators could abuse the blue slip. |
As the clock continues to wind down, we’re trumpeting the need for more nominees. With over 100 vacancies across the country, Americans face federal court backlogs and deserve access to justice in a timely manner. In fact, 20 of these vacancies have been deemed “judicial emergencies” by U.S. Federal Courts, the administrative body that oversees the federal judiciary. The SJC is running out of nominees to confirm, due in part to blue slip issues in the nominating process—the informal SJC procedure that requires a district court nominee to have support from both of their home-state senators before moving forward in the confirmation process.
Additionally, we are urging the SJC to reform and/or eliminate the blue slip process altogether for district court nominees to ensure that President Biden can fill federal judicial vacancies with highly qualified, professionally and demographically diverse candidates. The blue slip has disproportionately been abused to block qualified and diverse nominees, and Democrats must be prepared to reform and/or eliminate the blue slip if Republicans do not allow the President to fulfill his constitutional responsibility to appoint federal judges to the bench. It’s time to end arbitrary obstructionism and fill every vacancy!
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Alliance for Justice
11 Dupont Circle NW
Suite #500
Washington, DC 20036
United States |
