In a year when partisan politics has hamstrung the judicial confirmation process, Senate Judiciary Committee counsel Jeremy Paris had to keep nominees on course. Paris, chief counsel for nominations and oversight and a member of Senator Patrick Leahy’s staff since 2005, has been the go-between for federal chief judges desperate for help on the courts’ front lines and a confirmation process that has turned into a congressional version of the Hatfield-McCoy feud.
“My job is not to wage a political fight. It really is to keep the process moving,” said Paris, 37. “We’ve been able to get people hearings in regular order and out of committee in regular order.”
