On The Bench: Week of July 27, 2023

The Senate made very limited progress on judicial nominations this week. As of this writing, the Senate did not confirm any Article III nominees this week. Barring any late changes, the Senate is expected to leave for its August recess by the end of the week. The Senate will not return until after Labor Day, where it will have 17 Article III nominees still pending on the floor.

On Wednesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing for 6 Article III nominees: Margaret Garnett (S.D.N.Y.), Magistrate Judge Jennifer Hall (D. Del.), Brandy McMillion (E.D. Mich.), Magistrate Judge Karoline Mehalchick (M.D. Pa.), Lisa Wang (Ct. Int’l Trade), and Joseph Laroski (Ct. Int’l Trade). These nominees are now eligible for a committee vote, which will likely happen sometime after the August recess.

On Thursday, the White House announced the next slate of judicial nominations. The slate contained 4 Article III nominees: Magistrate Judge Joshua Kolar (7th Cir.), Richard Federico (10th Cir.), Judge Jeffrey Bryan (D. Minn.), and Judge Eumi Lee (N.D. Cal.).

As of July 27, there are 90 Article III vacancies, 68 of which are current. Once the latest nominees are officially nominated, there will be 31 pending nominees: 17 waiting for floor votes, 9 waiting to be reported out of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and 5 waiting for hearings before the Committee. To date, 140 Article III judges have been confirmed during the Biden-Harris Administration.