ConfirmThem

If not then the "trade" is a give away.

Courtesy of How Appealing,

http://howappealing.law.com/080708.html#029928

"James Rowley of Bloomberg News has a report that begins, 'An election-year standstill in Senate confirmation of George W. Bush's judicial nominees will give the next president a chance to tip the ideological balance of U.S. appeals courts that decide such issues as job discrimination, national security and pollution-cleanup disputes. The Democratic-controlled Senate has stopped filling vacancies on appeals courts, which in many respects have greater impact than the Supreme Court. The high court decides about 70 cases each year, while the 13 appellate courts issue thousands of rulings.'"

In addition, Basham reveals that Carter-appointee R. Lanier Anderson of the 11th Circuit will be taking senior status on January 31, 2009. If Obama is elected, it is most likely that an African-American woman will fill this seat. Probably, it will be either

1) Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears:

http://www.gasupreme.us/justices_bios.php#sears

or

2) litigation attorney and former Stevens law clerk Teresa Roseborough:

http://www.acslaw.org/node/2993

http://bench.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MTk2ZmVjMTM3MDhhN2Y0ZTczMDgwOWUw...

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aaNYtRBLTJUY&refer=h...

"The last appellate judge confirmations were in June, as Leahy warned colleagues the time was fast approaching when the Senate would approve only nominees supported by him and leaders in both parties.

Levey said two nominees may pass that test and win confirmation after the election. Nominees Glen Conrad for the 4th Circuit and Paul Diamond for the 3rd Circuit faced no opposition when they were confirmed for trial-court judgeships. Leahy was noncommittal on whether they will be confirmed.

``The last chance for the controversial nominees'' will be in September, Levey said. Republicans may try then to pressure Democrats to confirm one by blocking legislation, ``if they can find the right bill to hold hostage,'' he said."

The problem with Curt Levey's comment is that it is not at all certain that the Dems will hold a lame-duck session of the 110th Congress after the election. If they don't, the only chance for confirmation that Glen Conrad and Paul Diamond have will be during a very short three week spread in September.

So much for AG or Justice Edwards...Thank God.

STEVENS, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which SCALIA, J., joined.

McCain wouldn't have appointed him anyway. :-)

http://committeeforjustice.org/

I'm glad to see it back. Hope it holds on to see more Bush judges confirmed.

Perhaps Curt has some info to keep us all interested here? Anything??

One, the President could issue a few more nominations - by my count there are eight current vacancies without a nominee, and at least four future vacancies that will come open in 2008 without a nominee. There's no reason not to make those nominations Mr. President.

Two, there could be some deal-making going on, but that's not the sort of thing we'd hear about (assuming that it was substantive and not just talk for PR purposes). Of course, there doesn't seem to be much room for deal-making; Conrad and the 3rd Circuit deal are more than sufficient to occupy what little time there is left to process nominations.

Courtesy of the Alliance for Justice,

http://cbs4denver.com/coloradowire/22.0.html?type=local&state=WY&categor...

"Although the Rock Springs lawyer was first nominated by President Bush to become a U.S. district judge 17 months ago, in March 2007, the Senate Judiciary Committee has held up his confirmation as abortion rights groups have furiously lobbied against him.

Now Congress only has a few weeks left before it adjourns, and there's no indication that Honker's nomination, controversial from the start, is going anywhere."

Also courtesy of the Alliance for Justice,

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iX8bdJixFSQZhztG8KKY43vMal7QD92FHAMO0

" The American Bar Association is calling on the next president and Senate to reduce partisan tensions in federal judicial nominations.

The incoming president of the lawyers' group, H. Thomas Wells Jr. of Birmingham, Ala., said Sunday that he also is enlisting the help of retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor to study threats to fair and impartial state courts.

At the federal level, the White House should create a commission of Democrats and Republicans to recommend nominees for federal appeals courts and the two senators from each state should establish similar panels to evaluate and recommend federal trial judges, the ABA says in a resolution inspired by Wells. The proposal is certain to be adopted at the group's annual meeting in New York.

The bipartisan panels would help "avoid the times when there have been really rancorous debates in the confirmation process," Wells said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Nominations from Florida and other states that now use such commissions, Wells said, "almost never have bitter confirmation fights.""

From the Wall Street Journal,

http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2008/08/11/bigger-things-on-the-horizon-for-chi...

"We’re always on the lookout for new names to add to the list of potential Supreme Court nominees. So we were thrilled this weekend when we stumbled over this profile from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch which tossed out a “new” name: Amy St. Eve.

Judge St. Eve’s name is likely familiar to Law Blog readers as the judge who presided over the Conrad Black case last year. Earlier this year, she sentenced the media baron to 6 1/2 years in prison for fraud and obstruction of justice. And soon, the Chicago federal judge will sentence Tony Rezko, the onetime Barack Obama associate who was convicted in her courtroom in June of using his connections to Illinois state boards so he could bribe contractors.

But according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch article — a hometown-gal-makes-good piece (St. Eve grew up in the St. Louis suburb of Belleville, Ill.) — St. Eve’s best days might be ahead of her. “Some day, her colleagues and the media speculate, she’ll be a candidate for the U.S. Supreme Court.”"

Born 1965 in Belleville, IL (Durbin, Obama)

Federal Judicial Service:
Judge, U. S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois
Nominated by George W. Bush on March 21, 2002, to a seat vacated by George W. Lindberg; Confirmed by the Senate on August 1, 2002, and received commission on August 2, 2002.

Education:
Cornell University, B.A., 1987

Cornell Law School, J.D., 1990

Professional Career:
Private practice, New York City, 1990-1994
Associate independent counsel, Whitewater Independent Counsel's Office, Little Rock, Arkansas, 1994-1996
Assistant U.S. attorney, Northern District of Illinois, 1996-2001 (Ken Starr)
Senior counsel, Abbott Laboratories, Abbott Park, Illinois, 2001-2002 (Big Pharm)

Race or Ethnicity: White (minus)

Gender: Female (plus)

*******************************************

Can't believe she made it this far. No way she'll ever make it further that I can see, tho a lot can change in 15-20 years.

STEVENS, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which SCALIA, J., joined.

Sorry about CFJ's web site being offline for a couple of days earlier this month. The port to a new server did not go nearly as fast as the service provider had promised.