Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s (D-Calif.) extended absence from the Senate has thrown a wrench into Democrats’ efforts to methodically advance President Biden’s judicial nominees, stalling a key priority for the administration in the process.
As lawmakers returned from recess this week, there are 15 judicial nominees who have already had hearings but are waiting to be voted out of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and six additional nominees waiting for hearings before the panel.
The Biden administration has had more than 100 judges confirmed by the Senate thus far, but with Republicans squashing a proposal to replace Feinstein on the Judiciary Committee while she recovers from the shingles, the current slate of nominees could remain in limbo with attendance issues slowing the panel’s work.
“This holding pattern, particularly for those waiting to be reported out of Committee, is due in large part to Senator Feinstein’s extended absence,” said Zack Gima, vice president of strategic engagement at the American Constitution Society. “Until she returns or a substitute is able to be seated, it is difficult to foresee how many of these nominees make it out of Committee and to the floor.”
Here are the nominees still awaiting a panel vote or hearings.
Nominees waiting to be reported out of committee
Charnelle Bjelkengren, Eastern District of Washington
Bjelkengren previously served as an assistant attorney general in the state’s attorney general’s office, and since 2019 has served as a judge on the Spokane County Superior Court.
Bjelkengren drew criticism and mockery from some Republicans when during a hearing before the Judiciary Committee in January, she struggled to describe the purpose of Article V of the Constitution, which establishes the procedures for amending the nation’s founding document, or Article II, which establishes the powers of the president and executive branch.
Bjelkengren was first nominated last September by Biden to fill a vacancy on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington. She was renominated in January after the new Congress was sworn in.
Orelia Merchant, Eastern District of New York
Merchant was nominated last September for a role as a district judge in New York.
She had a hearing on Jan. 25 before the Judiciary Committee, but there has not been additional action on her nomination since then.
Merchant spent nearly 15 years as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of New York, and has worked in the New York attorney general’s office since 2019.
Michael Farbiarz, District of New Jersey
Farbiarz was formally nominated in January, and had a confirmation hearing before the Judiciary Committee on Jan. 25.
Farbiarz has previously served as a law clerk, an assistant U.S. attorney and a professor.
During his time as a prosecutor, he worked on the case of Somali pirates who seized an American container ship in the Indian Ocean, an incident that inspired the 2013 film “Captain Phillips.”
Robert Kirsch, District of New Jersey
Kitsch worked for nearly 15 years as an assistant U.S. attorney in the U.S. attorney’s office for the District of New Jersey. Since 2010, he has served as a judge on the New Jersey Superior Court for Union County.
Kirsch was formally nominated in early January, and he had a confirmation hearing on Jan. 25.
Marian Gaston, Southern District of California
Gaston was nominated to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California in late January, and had a confirmation hearing before the Judiciary Committee on Feb. 15.
Former California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) in 2015 appointed her as judge of the San Diego County Superior Court. She previously worked as a public defender, a background the Biden administration has sought to emphasize with some of its nominees.
Wesley Hsu, Central District of California
Hsu was formally nominated in January and had his confirmation hearing on Feb. 15 before the Judiciary Committee.
Hsu, who spent 17 years as an assistant U.S. attorney, previously prosecuted an individual who pleaded guilty to secretly filming then-ESPN reporter Erin Andrews in a hotel room, as well as an individual who pleaded guilty to computer hacking and identity theft charges related to a revenge porn scheme.
Monica Ramirez Almadani, Central District of California
Ramirez Almadani previously served as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, and from 2015-2017 she served as special assistant attorney general under then-California Attorney General Kamala Harris.
In 2018, she represented the California state legislature as part of a Chicago lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s efforts to pull funding for so-called sanctuary cities.
Ramirez Almadani had a hearing on Feb. 15 after being nominated in January.
Michael Delaney, 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, New Hampshire
Delaney’s is one nomination in peril over his handling of a sexual assault case at a New Hampshire boarding school, as well as his signature on a legal brief defending a parental notification law in New Hampshire, which requires parental involvement in a minor’s decision to have an abortion.
He was formally nominated at the end of January, and he had his confirmation hearing on Feb. 15.
Jeffrey Cummings, Northern District of Illinois
Biden nominated Cummings to serve as a district court judge in January, and Cummings received a hearing before the Judiciary Committee on Feb. 15.
He served as counsel to former President Barack Obama prior to Obama’s election to the U.S. Senate, and he has served as a magistrate judge since February 2019.
LaShonda Hunt, Northern District of Illinois
Hunt was recommended to the White House by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), who chairs the Judiciary Committee, and Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.). She was nominated in January and received a hearing on Feb. 15.
She currently serves as a bankruptcy judge in the Northern District of Illinois. Hunt previously was an assistant U.S. attorney in the civil division of the U.S. attorney’s office in the Northern District.
Amanda Brailsford, District court of Idaho
Biden nominated Brailsford in January to serve as a district judge, and she received a committee hearing on March 22.
Since 2019, Brailsford has served on the Idaho Court of Appeals after being appointed by then-Gov. Butch Otter (R).
Kato Crews, District Court of Colorado
In his March 22 hearing before the committee after he was nominated in February, Crews stumbled over a question from Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) over the Brady Motion, a decades-old legal concept that established that the prosecution must hand over potentially favorable evidence to the defense.
Crews was appointed to be a magistrate judge for the U.S. District Court in Colorado in 2018, making him the court’s first African-American magistrate judge.
Jeremy Daniel, Northern District of Illinois
Daniel was nominated in March and had his confirmation hearing on Tuesday before the Judiciary Committee, making him one of the nominees whose status has been the least affected by Feinstein’s absence to date.
Daniel is a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps. Since 2014, he served as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Northern District of Illinois.
Brendan Hurson, District of Maryland
Hurson has previously worked as a public defender in Maryland, including a stint in the Office of the Federal Public Defender for the Virgin Islands. He was appointed as a magistrate judge in February 2022.
Hurson was formally nominated to serve as a district judge in March, and he received a committee hearing on Tuesday.
Darrel Papillion, Eastern District of Louisiana
Biden nominated Papillion in March, and the Louisiana-native received a hearing before the Judiciary on Tuesday.
Papillion is likely to receive bipartisan support once there is a vote to report him out of the committee. Sen. John Kennedy, the Louisiana Republican, praised him during Tuesday’s hearing as a “lawyer’s lawyer.
“He’s not an activist. He’s a lawyer. He understands the magistery, the complexity, the nuances, the utility, the beauty of the law,” Kennedy said.
Nominees awaiting a hearing
Scott Colom, Northern District Mississippi
Colom has served in various roles as a prosecutor and judge, and in 2016 became the first Black elected district attorney to a majority-white voting district in the history of Mississippi.
But he has yet to receive a hearing because Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) has said she will block his nomination by refusing to return a “blue slip,” an old Judiciary Committee tradition that requires both senators from the nominee’s home state to return the slips before a confirmation hearing.
Biden first nominated Colom last October, and he renominated him with the start of the new Congress in January.
Jabari Wamble, District of Kansas
Biden first nominated Wamble in August 2022 to serve as a judge on the Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. But Wamble did not receive a hearing, and his nomination stalled out.
In February, Biden nominated Wamble again, this time to serve as a district judge for the District of Kansas.
It’s unclear when Wamble might receive a hearing. CNN reported that Sens. Jerry Moran (R-Kansas) and Roger Marshall (R-Kansas) have yet to commit to supporting his nomination, meaning they could hold up the process by opting not to return their blue slips for Wamble.
Matthew Maddox, District of Maryland
Maddox has served as a U.S. magistrate judge for the District of Maryland since 2022, and prior to that he served as an assistant U.S. attorney in the U.S. attorney’s office in the same district.
Biden in March nominated Maddox to serve as a district court judge in Maryland.
Ana de Alba, 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in California
Biden formally nominated de Alba as a circuit judge on Monday, marking the second time since taking office the president has tapped her for a judicial role.
Biden in January 2022 nominated de Alba to serve as a district judge for the Eastern District of California. She was confirmed in June 2022 by a 52-43 vote in the Senate, and she was sworn in last July.
Irma Ramirez, 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in Texas
Biden last week announced his intent to nominate Ramirez as a judge for the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in Texas. She has served as a magistrate judge for the Northern District of Texas since 2002.
If confirmed, Ramirez would be the first Hispanic woman to serve on the Fifth Circuit, and the only active Hispanic judge on the court.
Source: The Hill
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