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Senate Confirms Legal Nominees, but Not the Biggest Ones
The National Law Journal
August 10, 2009
As foreshadowed Monday in The National Law Journal, the confirmation of incoming Justice Sonia Sotomayor has broken the logjam of presidential nominees for other legal posts. But the highest-level nominees will likely be waiting at least another month.
The Senate on Friday confirmed 10 nominees who had weeks ago received the blessing of the Judiciary Committee. Among the new officials are five U.S. Attorneys, including Preet Bharara, previously chief counsel to Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., for the Southern District of New York. David Kappos, nominated for director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, was also in the group.
Still unconfirmed are three circuit court nominees and four nominees for assistant attorney general positions, including Dawn Johnsen for the Office of Legal Counsel. Democrats need Republican agreement in order to move the nominees forward, unless they want to use days of time on the Senate floor.
(Also Friday, Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, called on his Senate colleagues to continue holding up the nomination of Thomas Perez for the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. Smith wants more information about how the Justice Department handled a case involving the New Black Panther Party.)
Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said in a statement: "I am disappointed that the President's first judicial nominations, and several other important executive nominations, remain pending in the Senate, but look forward to considering them when the Senate returns in September." Leahy, of course, helped delay Republican nominees for similar positions during the Bush administration.
The full list of confirmed officials:
Preet Bharara to be the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York
Tristram Coffin to be the U.S. Attorney for the District of Vermont
David Demag to be U.S. Marshal for the District of Vermont
B. Todd Jones to be the U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota
John Kacavas to be the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Hampshire
David Kappos to be Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
Alejandro Mayorkas to be the Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
Thomas McLellan to be the Deputy Director of National Drug Control Policy
Cranston Mitchell to be the Commissioner of the U.S. Parole Commission
Joyce Vance to be the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama
This article first appeared on The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times.
