President Joe Biden’s red state judicial nominees had smooth sailing confirmation hearings Wednesday, with members of the Senate Judiciary Committee asking about their trial experience and the issue of diversity on the bench.
The committee posed questions to the hopefuls for district courts in Texas, Utah, Wyoming and Nebraska, states controlled by Republican senators who could block the president’s judicial nominees using the Senate’s “blue-slip” process.

(l-r) U.S. district judge nominees Susan Bazis, for the District of Nebraska; Ernest Gonzalez, for the Western District of Texas; Ann Marie McIff Allen, for the District of Utah; Kelly Harrison Rankin, for the District of Wyoming; and Leon Schydlower, for the Western District of Texas; and Robin Michelle Meriweather, to be a Judge on the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee during their confirmation hearing Wednesday. Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM


