On The Bench: Week of January 5, 2023

The Senate briefly marked the start of the 118th Congress this week before leaving town for the January recess. With the Senate back in session, the White House announced the renomination of a majority of the nominees who were still pending at the end of the last Congress. More renominations are likely to come later this month. The expectation is the nominees who have been renominated will need a new vote out of the Senate Judiciary Committee but will not need to have a new hearing.

In late December, the White House announced its intent to nominate 6 new Article III nominees: Magistrate Judge Matthew Brookman (S.D. Ind.), Michael Farbiarz (D.N.J.), Judge Marian Gaston (S.D. Cal.), Judge Wesley Hsu (C.D. Cal.), Judge Robert Kirsch (D.N.J.), and Mónica Ramírez Almadani (C.D. Cal.). Brookman, Farbiarz, and Kirsch were officially nominated with the group of renominations earlier this week.

As of January 5, there are 111 Article III vacancies, 84 of which are current. There are 28 pending nominees: 0 waiting for floor votes, 25 waiting to be reported out of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and 3 waiting for hearings before the Committee. To date, 97 Article III judges have been confirmed during the Biden-Harris Administration