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Thursday, June 04, 2009

Courts - More on: President Obama's Indiana nominees David Hamilton and Dawn Johnsen remain in limbo

Updating this ILB entry from May 21st, the Senate Judiciary Committe has today voted to send David Hamilton's nomination to the 7th Circuit to the Senate floor, where it will join his sister-in-law Dawn Johnsen's nomination to the DOJ's Office of Legal Counsel, both now to await confirmation votes from the full Senate.

Here is Maureen Groppe's story from the Indianapolis Star Washington Bureau.

[More at 1:00 PM] More here from the Blog of Legal Times:

The Senate Judiciary Committee today overwhelmingly endorsed two presidential nominees for prominent legal positions: Andre Davis for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit and Thomas Perez for the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division.

But, in a warm-up for the confirmation debate over Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, senators divided sharply along party lines over Judge David Hamilton of Indiana, nominated for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit.

The three nominations now head to the full Senate. * * *

The nomination of Hamilton, a judge in the Southern District of Indiana, was more controversial. Republicans criticized his rulings in establishment clause cases, and they used his nomination to launch a broad criticism of Obama's judicial philosophy. Sessions even accused the president of attempting an "FDR-style packing of the federal bench," though Obama has not proposed adding any new federal judgeships.

[Still More at 1:22 PM] Brian Beutler of Talking Points Memo DC reports:
With all the news about President Obama's Supreme Court nominee, it's easy to forget that Obama nominated a different judge to a different court before well before Sonia Sotomayor became a household name.

Obama nominated David Hamilton to serve on the Seventh Circuit court of appeals back in March, and, thanks to a number of Republican delays, he has only today been reported out of the Senate Judiciary Committee on a party-line 12-7 vote.

Now Hamilton will be exposed to a bright new world of procedural measures meant to obstruct his confirmation. Back in April, Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) said he would filibuster Hamilton once the committee advanced the nomination. "I had to come to the floor to speak so that the American people, who are very concerned about this nomination, will know that I and my Republican colleagues on the Judiciary Committee are taking interest and are not just going to let this nomination sail through," Inhofe said on the Senate floor. "In fact I will filibuster David Hamilton."

That's the same James Inhofe who once called judicial filibusters 'unconstitutional.'

(Incidentally, Hamilton is the brother-in-law of Dawn Johnsen--another Obama nominee who's struggling to get confirmed by the Senate.)

Posted by Marcia Oddi on June 4, 2009 12:57 PM
Posted to Courts in general