Over the past ten days, while everyone has focused on Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination, the Senate has quietly confirmed the appointments of fifteen new federal district judges. Twelve of the fifteen judges were confirmed by voice vote.
Interestingly, this new batch of federal judges already has extraordinary judicial experience. Ten of the fifteen are currently sitting on the bench in a different capacity, and seven are on the federal bench, either as magistrate judges or bankruptcy judges. Each of their respective seats will need to be filled in short order — although they will be filled by local committees rather than presidential nomination. It’s another example of judicial appointment cascades that naturally result from the rapid filling of federal vacancies.
The federal judges moving down the hall to district court chambers include:
- Terry Moorer (Magistrate Judge, Southern District of Alabama)
- R. Stan Baker (Magistrate Judge, Southern District of Georgia)
- Charles Barnes Goodwin (Magistrate Judge, Western District of Oklahoma)
- Susan Paradise Baxter (Magistrate Judge, Western District of Pennsylvania)
- C.J. Williams (Magistrate Judge, Southern District of Iowa)
- Robert Summerhays (Bankruptcy Judge, Western District of Louisiana)
- Alan Albright (Magistrate Judge, Western District of Texas)
One other note: the Senate also confirmed a batch of six district judges on August 1, and none of them had prior judicial experience. So perhaps the confirmation of so many sitting magistrates at once is purely a coincidence. An interesting trend nonetheless…
The Interdependent Third Branch 