President Obama has made nominations for the two open seats on the federal bench in the Middle District of Pennsylvania, which had been operating at half capacity until Robert Mariani was confirmed last year. If the latest two nominees, Matthew Brann, a Republican, and Malachy Mannion, a Democrat, are confirmed by the Senate, the bench will be at full strength.
“The whole problem of filling these vacancies is a political one,” U.S. District Chief Judge Yvette Kane of the Middle District of Pennsylvania said early last week, before the nominations were announced and Pennsylvania’s senators, Democrat Robert P. Casey and Republican Pat Toomey, were rumored to have submitted recommendations to the White House. “I think it goes beyond our own senators,” she had said.
