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Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Ind. Courts - "Obama court nominee David Hamilton clears Senate hurdle: full Senate vote set for today"

Warren Richey has the story here in the Christian Science Monitor. Some quotes:

In the first major showdown over the future direction of the federal judiciary, Democratic leaders in the Senate scored a victory on Tuesday by defeating a Republican attempt to stall indefinitely President Obama’s nominee to the federal appeals court in Chicago.

The Senate voted 70 to 29 to end debate over the nomination of US District Judge David Hamilton of Indiana to a seat on the Seventh US Circuit Court of Appeals.

The vote opens the way to Judge Hamilton’s expected easy confirmation via a simple majority vote set to take place on Wednesday. * * *

The Hamilton nomination fight is about more than filling a vacant seat on the Seventh Circuit. At stake ultimately is the balance of power on several federal courts of appeals between Democratic and Republican appointees.

At the Richmond-based Fourth Circuit, that balance swung in favor of Democratic appointees 6 to 5 last week with the confirmation of Judge Andre Davis to a vacant seat. The Fourth Circuit was long a conservative judicial stronghold, but could now swing sharply to the left with four vacant seats open for Obama appointments.

The Second Circuit in New York is divided between five Republican appointees and four Democratic appointees, with four open seats.

The Philadelphia-based Third Circuit is divided six to six with two open seats.

Overall there are 21 vacancies on the 179-judge federal appeals courts. Including Judge Davis and Hamilton, Obama has nominated nine individuals to vacant appeals court seats so far.

Here is today's Senate Schedule from C-SPAN:
NOVEMBER 18, 2009 -- After the transaction of any morning business (not to extend beyond two hours), Senate will continue consideration of the nomination of David F. Hamilton, of Indiana, to be United States Circuit Judge for the Seventh Circuit, and vote on confirmation thereon. (At approximately 9:30 a.m., Senator Rockefeller will be recognized to speak.)
From the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, Sylvia Smith has this story headed "Senate agrees to allow vote on Hoosier judicial nominee: Lugar votes to stop GOP filibuster."

Posted by Marcia Oddi on November 18, 2009 08:00 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts