On The Bench: Week of February 1, 2024

The Senate continued to make good progress on judicial nominations this week. As of this writing, the Senate has confirmed 4 Article III nominees: Magistrate Judge Joshua Kolar (7th Cir.), Kirk Sherriff (E.D. Cal.), Magistrate Judge Karoline Mehalchick (M.D. Pa.), and Lisa Wang (Ct. Int’l Trade). The Senate also invoked cloture on Joseph Laroski (Ct. Int’l Trade), setting up a potential confirmation vote as early as next week.

As of February 1, there are 87 Article III vacancies, 55 of which are current. Once the announced nominees are officially nominated, then there will be 24 pending nominees: 13 waiting for floor votes, 5 waiting to be reported out of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and 6 waiting for hearings before the Committee. To date, 175 Article III judges have been confirmed during the Biden-Harris Administration.