Biden Judicial Nominees Predictions Forum

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Re: Biden Judicial Nominees Predictions

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Mar 20, 2023 2:23 pm

Can anyone with expertise/experience speak to the typical timeline for confirmation? There's a nominee in my home state who is still pending before Judiciary, and I'm not sure if this is a "be ready to apply in November" thing or a "wait until 2024" thing.

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Re: Biden Judicial Nominees Predictions

Post by Anonymous User » Fri Apr 14, 2023 12:04 pm

De Alba strikes me as a really strange pick for CA9; she’s a former midlaw employment lawyer? I wonder why e.g. Chhabria and Liu have been overlooked for all of the California spots

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Re: Biden Judicial Nominees Predictions

Post by Anonymous User » Fri Apr 14, 2023 12:37 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Fri Apr 14, 2023 12:04 pm
De Alba strikes me as a really strange pick for CA9; she’s a former midlaw employment lawyer? I wonder why e.g. Chhabria and Liu have been overlooked for all of the California spots
Liu is going to be a hard confirmation fight especially if Feinstein is still not present, which could potentially be a Biden calculus here.

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Re: Biden Judicial Nominees Predictions

Post by Anonymous User » Fri Apr 14, 2023 12:43 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Fri Apr 14, 2023 12:04 pm
De Alba strikes me as a really strange pick for CA9; she’s a former midlaw employment lawyer? I wonder why e.g. Chhabria and Liu have been overlooked for all of the California spots
At least for Liu, he'd be taking a pay cut and going from a court of 7 to a court of 29 (plus many more seniors) that is more conservative. He already draws SCOTUS-caliber clerks, so why jump?

Perhaps Chhabria enjoys being a trial judge, but yeah, it would be very strange if he hadn't even been invited to interview. He would I believe be the first Indian-American appeals judge from California, which is the type of thing the Biden administration loves to highlight in its nomination press releases.

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Re: Biden Judicial Nominees Predictions

Post by Anonymous User » Fri Apr 14, 2023 4:46 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Fri Apr 14, 2023 12:43 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Fri Apr 14, 2023 12:04 pm
De Alba strikes me as a really strange pick for CA9; she’s a former midlaw employment lawyer? I wonder why e.g. Chhabria and Liu have been overlooked for all of the California spots
At least for Liu, he'd be taking a pay cut and going from a court of 7 to a court of 29 (plus many more seniors) that is more conservative. He already draws SCOTUS-caliber clerks, so why jump?

Perhaps Chhabria enjoys being a trial judge, but yeah, it would be very strange if he hadn't even been invited to interview. He would I believe be the first Indian-American appeals judge from California, which is the type of thing the Biden administration loves to highlight in its nomination press releases.
I sure hope the bolded is sarcasm.

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Re: Biden Judicial Nominees Predictions

Post by Anonymous User » Fri Apr 14, 2023 5:22 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Fri Apr 14, 2023 12:04 pm
De Alba strikes me as a really strange pick for CA9; she’s a former midlaw employment lawyer? I wonder why e.g. Chhabria and Liu have been overlooked for all of the California spots
You're not allowed to pick white or asian men for anything in the dem party any more. That is the absolute truth of it. We are passing on an entire generation of actually qualified, and brilliant, judges and professors who would have been appointed to a bunch of seats in any previous dem administration. But instead, it's just diversity all the way down.

lavarman84

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Re: Biden Judicial Nominees Predictions

Post by lavarman84 » Fri Apr 14, 2023 5:31 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Fri Apr 14, 2023 5:22 pm
You're not allowed to pick white or asian men for anything in the dem party any more. That is the absolute truth of it. We are passing on an entire generation of actually qualified, and brilliant, judges and professors who would have been appointed to a bunch of seats in any previous dem administration. But instead, it's just diversity all the way down.
What a stupid comment. Biden picked a white man (Anthony Johnstone) to replace Sidney Thomas and already confirmed three Asian women to the Ninth Circuit. He also confirmed John Lee to the Seventh and Toby Heytens to the Fourth. "But OMG, Biden is nominating diverse people to positions historically controlled by white men, they must be unqualified!" :roll:

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Re: Biden Judicial Nominees Predictions

Post by Anonymous User » Fri Apr 14, 2023 5:45 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Fri Apr 14, 2023 5:22 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Fri Apr 14, 2023 12:04 pm
De Alba strikes me as a really strange pick for CA9; she’s a former midlaw employment lawyer? I wonder why e.g. Chhabria and Liu have been overlooked for all of the California spots
You're not allowed to pick white or asian men for anything in the dem party any more. That is the absolute truth of it. We are passing on an entire generation of actually qualified, and brilliant, judges and professors who would have been appointed to a bunch of seats in any previous dem administration. But instead, it's just diversity all the way down.
There’s clearly some truth to this, but even then, the pool in California is pretty big…

Though she does seem to be highly involved in her local community with a lot of good pro bono work from her questionnaire, and there’s more to life than attracting SCOTUS gunners.

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Re: Biden Judicial Nominees Predictions

Post by Anonymous User » Fri Apr 14, 2023 5:59 pm

lavarman84 wrote:
Fri Apr 14, 2023 5:31 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Fri Apr 14, 2023 5:22 pm
You're not allowed to pick white or asian men for anything in the dem party any more. That is the absolute truth of it. We are passing on an entire generation of actually qualified, and brilliant, judges and professors who would have been appointed to a bunch of seats in any previous dem administration. But instead, it's just diversity all the way down.
What a stupid comment. Biden picked a white man (Anthony Johnstone) to replace Sidney Thomas and already confirmed three Asian women to the Ninth Circuit. He also confirmed John Lee to the Seventh and Toby Heytens to the Fourth. "But OMG, Biden is nominating diverse people to positions historically controlled by white men, they must be unqualified!" :roll:
I don’t think this is fair. The Virginia senators forced Biden to pick Heytens by preempting his choice with a public shortlist on which the other names were obviously not viable candidates. The only other white men Biden has nominated to COAs are from states where there was likely no other option (NH, MT).

And while I have no interest in a blow-by-blow debate I think it’s obviously possible to identify picks where there’s a real tension between professional diversity (i.e. commitment to progressive litigation) and credentials on one hand and racial diversity on the other. Maybe Biden is making the right trade-off, like you suggest, but it seems silly to deny there’s a trade-off. Overall I have little beef with Biden on noms outside of Pan (I have no tolerance for judges who abuse clerks and she doesn’t even seem particularly progressive).

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Re: Biden Judicial Nominees Predictions

Post by throwawayt14 » Fri Apr 14, 2023 6:02 pm

lavarman84 wrote:
Fri Apr 14, 2023 5:31 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Fri Apr 14, 2023 5:22 pm
You're not allowed to pick white or asian men for anything in the dem party any more. That is the absolute truth of it. We are passing on an entire generation of actually qualified, and brilliant, judges and professors who would have been appointed to a bunch of seats in any previous dem administration. But instead, it's just diversity all the way down.
What a stupid comment. Biden picked a white man (Anthony Johnstone) to replace Sidney Thomas and already confirmed three Asian women to the Ninth Circuit. He also confirmed John Lee to the Seventh and Toby Heytens to the Fourth. "But OMG, Biden is nominating diverse people to positions historically controlled by white men, they must be unqualified!" :roll:

Feinerman quit after the final humiliation of Lee getting picked over him for the 7th circuit. And no one being honest thinks Lee was more qualified than Feinerman.

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Re: Biden Judicial Nominees Predictions

Post by Anonymous User » Fri Apr 14, 2023 6:09 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Fri Apr 14, 2023 5:59 pm
lavarman84 wrote:
Fri Apr 14, 2023 5:31 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Fri Apr 14, 2023 5:22 pm
You're not allowed to pick white or asian men for anything in the dem party any more. That is the absolute truth of it. We are passing on an entire generation of actually qualified, and brilliant, judges and professors who would have been appointed to a bunch of seats in any previous dem administration. But instead, it's just diversity all the way down.
What a stupid comment. Biden picked a white man (Anthony Johnstone) to replace Sidney Thomas and already confirmed three Asian women to the Ninth Circuit. He also confirmed John Lee to the Seventh and Toby Heytens to the Fourth. "But OMG, Biden is nominating diverse people to positions historically controlled by white men, they must be unqualified!" :roll:
I don’t think this is fair. The Virginia senators forced Biden to pick Heytens by preempting his choice with a public shortlist on which the other names were obviously not viable candidates. The only other white men Biden has nominated to COAs are from states where there was likely no other option (NH, MT).

And while I have no interest in a blow-by-blow debate I think it’s obviously possible to identify picks where there’s a real tension between professional diversity (i.e. commitment to progressive litigation) and credentials on one hand and racial diversity on the other. Maybe Biden is making the right trade-off, like you suggest, but it seems silly to deny there’s a trade-off. Overall I have little beef with Biden on noms outside of Pan (I have no tolerance for judges who abuse clerks and she doesn’t even seem particularly progressive).
Johnstone was chosen because he’s good friends with Tester, Thomas wanted to Johnstone to replace him, and the supply of minority progressive lawyers in Montana is basically zero.

As most people in the know about the Costa replacement could tell you, it took a very long time because the admin made it clear they were looking for a female Hispanic jurist.

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Re: Biden Judicial Nominees Predictions

Post by Anonymous User » Fri Apr 14, 2023 6:18 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Fri Apr 14, 2023 4:46 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Fri Apr 14, 2023 12:43 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Fri Apr 14, 2023 12:04 pm
De Alba strikes me as a really strange pick for CA9; she’s a former midlaw employment lawyer? I wonder why e.g. Chhabria and Liu have been overlooked for all of the California spots
At least for Liu, he'd be taking a pay cut and going from a court of 7 to a court of 29 (plus many more seniors) that is more conservative. He already draws SCOTUS-caliber clerks, so why jump?

Perhaps Chhabria enjoys being a trial judge, but yeah, it would be very strange if he hadn't even been invited to interview. He would I believe be the first Indian-American appeals judge from California, which is the type of thing the Biden administration loves to highlight in its nomination press releases.
I sure hope the bolded is sarcasm.
He's fed three times (of course, always in conjunction with established feeders) and his non-SCOTUS alumni include many impressive young liberals. Yes, CA9 would offer him the opportunity to become a more significant feeder. But the point is that there are plenty of reasons for him to be thrilled with his current job.

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Re: Biden Judicial Nominees Predictions

Post by Anonymous User » Fri Apr 14, 2023 6:22 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Fri Apr 14, 2023 12:43 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Fri Apr 14, 2023 12:04 pm
De Alba strikes me as a really strange pick for CA9; she’s a former midlaw employment lawyer? I wonder why e.g. Chhabria and Liu have been overlooked for all of the California spots
At least for Liu, he'd be taking a pay cut and going from a court of 7 to a court of 29 (plus many more seniors) that is more conservative. He already draws SCOTUS-caliber clerks, so why jump?

Perhaps Chhabria enjoys being a trial judge, but yeah, it would be very strange if he hadn't even been invited to interview. He would I believe be the first Indian-American appeals judge from California, which is the type of thing the Biden administration loves to highlight in its nomination press releases.
Chhabria said at an event (anon b/c not sure if public or not) that the Obama admin originally wanted to nominate him to the Ninth Circuit but he asked to be nominated to ND Cal instead. He has strong feelings that being a trial judge allows him to act more impactfully than if he were an appellate judge. Given how recently he expressed that, I would be surprised if he would want to be nominated to the Ninth Circuit.

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Re: Biden Judicial Nominees Predictions

Post by Anonymous User » Fri Apr 14, 2023 6:26 pm

throwawayt14 wrote:
Fri Apr 14, 2023 6:02 pm
lavarman84 wrote:
Fri Apr 14, 2023 5:31 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Fri Apr 14, 2023 5:22 pm
You're not allowed to pick white or asian men for anything in the dem party any more. That is the absolute truth of it. We are passing on an entire generation of actually qualified, and brilliant, judges and professors who would have been appointed to a bunch of seats in any previous dem administration. But instead, it's just diversity all the way down.
What a stupid comment. Biden picked a white man (Anthony Johnstone) to replace Sidney Thomas and already confirmed three Asian women to the Ninth Circuit. He also confirmed John Lee to the Seventh and Toby Heytens to the Fourth. "But OMG, Biden is nominating diverse people to positions historically controlled by white men, they must be unqualified!" :roll:

Feinerman quit after the final humiliation of Lee getting picked over him for the 7th circuit. And no one being honest thinks Lee was more qualified than Feinerman.
Both Lee and Feinerman were considered among the best judges on NDIL, Lee just lacks Feinerman’s SCOTUS connections

throwawayt14

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Re: Biden Judicial Nominees Predictions

Post by throwawayt14 » Fri Apr 14, 2023 6:30 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Fri Apr 14, 2023 6:26 pm
throwawayt14 wrote:
Fri Apr 14, 2023 6:02 pm
lavarman84 wrote:
Fri Apr 14, 2023 5:31 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Fri Apr 14, 2023 5:22 pm
You're not allowed to pick white or asian men for anything in the dem party any more. That is the absolute truth of it. We are passing on an entire generation of actually qualified, and brilliant, judges and professors who would have been appointed to a bunch of seats in any previous dem administration. But instead, it's just diversity all the way down.
What a stupid comment. Biden picked a white man (Anthony Johnstone) to replace Sidney Thomas and already confirmed three Asian women to the Ninth Circuit. He also confirmed John Lee to the Seventh and Toby Heytens to the Fourth. "But OMG, Biden is nominating diverse people to positions historically controlled by white men, they must be unqualified!" :roll:

Feinerman quit after the final humiliation of Lee getting picked over him for the 7th circuit. And no one being honest thinks Lee was more qualified than Feinerman.
Both Lee and Feinerman were considered among the best judges on NDIL, Lee just lacks Feinerman’s SCOTUS connections
Lee has a fine reputation, but there is a reason Latham (and many other firms) had no problems handing Feinerman a blank check once he made it known he was done with the bench post-snub. An enormous loss to the 7th circuit.

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Re: Biden Judicial Nominees Predictions

Post by Anonymous User » Fri Apr 14, 2023 6:39 pm

throwawayt14 wrote:
Fri Apr 14, 2023 6:30 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Fri Apr 14, 2023 6:26 pm
throwawayt14 wrote:
Fri Apr 14, 2023 6:02 pm
lavarman84 wrote:
Fri Apr 14, 2023 5:31 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Fri Apr 14, 2023 5:22 pm
You're not allowed to pick white or asian men for anything in the dem party any more. That is the absolute truth of it. We are passing on an entire generation of actually qualified, and brilliant, judges and professors who would have been appointed to a bunch of seats in any previous dem administration. But instead, it's just diversity all the way down.
What a stupid comment. Biden picked a white man (Anthony Johnstone) to replace Sidney Thomas and already confirmed three Asian women to the Ninth Circuit. He also confirmed John Lee to the Seventh and Toby Heytens to the Fourth. "But OMG, Biden is nominating diverse people to positions historically controlled by white men, they must be unqualified!" :roll:

Feinerman quit after the final humiliation of Lee getting picked over him for the 7th circuit. And no one being honest thinks Lee was more qualified than Feinerman.
Both Lee and Feinerman were considered among the best judges on NDIL, Lee just lacks Feinerman’s SCOTUS connections
Lee has a fine reputation, but there is a reason Latham (and many other firms) had no problems handing Feinerman a blank check once he made it known he was done with the bench post-snub. An enormous loss to the 7th circuit.
If you love Feinerman so much, name three of his opinions, poser.

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Re: Biden Judicial Nominees Predictions

Post by nixy » Fri Apr 14, 2023 7:06 pm

throwawayt14 wrote:
Fri Apr 14, 2023 6:02 pm
lavarman84 wrote:
Fri Apr 14, 2023 5:31 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Fri Apr 14, 2023 5:22 pm
You're not allowed to pick white or asian men for anything in the dem party any more. That is the absolute truth of it. We are passing on an entire generation of actually qualified, and brilliant, judges and professors who would have been appointed to a bunch of seats in any previous dem administration. But instead, it's just diversity all the way down.
What a stupid comment. Biden picked a white man (Anthony Johnstone) to replace Sidney Thomas and already confirmed three Asian women to the Ninth Circuit. He also confirmed John Lee to the Seventh and Toby Heytens to the Fourth. "But OMG, Biden is nominating diverse people to positions historically controlled by white men, they must be unqualified!" :roll:

Feinerman quit after the final humiliation of Lee getting picked over him for the 7th circuit. And no one being honest thinks Lee was more qualified than Feinerman.
That's one of the silliest things I've ever heard.

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Re: Biden Judicial Nominees Predictions

Post by Anonymous User » Fri Apr 14, 2023 7:09 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Fri Apr 14, 2023 6:18 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Fri Apr 14, 2023 4:46 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Fri Apr 14, 2023 12:43 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Fri Apr 14, 2023 12:04 pm
De Alba strikes me as a really strange pick for CA9; she’s a former midlaw employment lawyer? I wonder why e.g. Chhabria and Liu have been overlooked for all of the California spots
At least for Liu, he'd be taking a pay cut and going from a court of 7 to a court of 29 (plus many more seniors) that is more conservative. He already draws SCOTUS-caliber clerks, so why jump?

Perhaps Chhabria enjoys being a trial judge, but yeah, it would be very strange if he hadn't even been invited to interview. He would I believe be the first Indian-American appeals judge from California, which is the type of thing the Biden administration loves to highlight in its nomination press releases.
I sure hope the bolded is sarcasm.
He's fed three times (of course, always in conjunction with established feeders) and his non-SCOTUS alumni include many impressive young liberals. Yes, CA9 would offer him the opportunity to become a more significant feeder. But the point is that there are plenty of reasons for him to be thrilled with his current job.
Oh, I'm not questioning his clerks' credentials - I know they're SCOTUS-caliber. I was just laughing at the idea that a material reason to move to a COA would be to get really fancy clerks and since he does that already, why move? (Overall agree with you that he may not be interested, for the other reasons you give.)

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Re: Biden Judicial Nominees Predictions

Post by Anonymous User » Fri Apr 14, 2023 7:15 pm

throwawayt14 wrote:
Fri Apr 14, 2023 6:30 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Fri Apr 14, 2023 6:26 pm
throwawayt14 wrote:
Fri Apr 14, 2023 6:02 pm
lavarman84 wrote:
Fri Apr 14, 2023 5:31 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Fri Apr 14, 2023 5:22 pm
You're not allowed to pick white or asian men for anything in the dem party any more. That is the absolute truth of it. We are passing on an entire generation of actually qualified, and brilliant, judges and professors who would have been appointed to a bunch of seats in any previous dem administration. But instead, it's just diversity all the way down.
What a stupid comment. Biden picked a white man (Anthony Johnstone) to replace Sidney Thomas and already confirmed three Asian women to the Ninth Circuit. He also confirmed John Lee to the Seventh and Toby Heytens to the Fourth. "But OMG, Biden is nominating diverse people to positions historically controlled by white men, they must be unqualified!" :roll:

Feinerman quit after the final humiliation of Lee getting picked over him for the 7th circuit. And no one being honest thinks Lee was more qualified than Feinerman.
Both Lee and Feinerman were considered among the best judges on NDIL, Lee just lacks Feinerman’s SCOTUS connections
Lee has a fine reputation, but there is a reason Latham (and many other firms) had no problems handing Feinerman a blank check once he made it known he was done with the bench post-snub. An enormous loss to the 7th circuit.
I think from Biden’s perspective, Feinerman leaving for biglaw at first opportunity is exactly why it was the right decision not to elevate him. And I think plenty of the NDIL judges, including Lee, would have no shortage of biglaw offers if they wanted to leave. Others have landed at Kirkland and JD.

lavarman84

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Re: Biden Judicial Nominees Predictions

Post by lavarman84 » Fri Apr 14, 2023 7:34 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Fri Apr 14, 2023 5:59 pm
I don’t think this is fair. The Virginia senators forced Biden to pick Heytens by preempting his choice with a public shortlist on which the other names were obviously not viable candidates. The only other white men Biden has nominated to COAs are from states where there was likely no other option (NH, MT).

And while I have no interest in a blow-by-blow debate I think it’s obviously possible to identify picks where there’s a real tension between professional diversity (i.e. commitment to progressive litigation) and credentials on one hand and racial diversity on the other. Maybe Biden is making the right trade-off, like you suggest, but it seems silly to deny there’s a trade-off. Overall I have little beef with Biden on noms outside of Pan (I have no tolerance for judges who abuse clerks and she doesn’t even seem particularly progressive).
It's very fair. Nobody forced Biden to pick anybody. And the idea that there's no other option in NH or MT is ludicrous. I'm not defending every pick Biden has made or will make, but the complaining over this administration prioritizing diversity and the implication that it comes at the cost of quality is ridiculous. And I agree with you on Pan.
throwawayt14 wrote:
Fri Apr 14, 2023 6:02 pm
And no one being honest thinks Lee was more qualified than Feinerman.
Lee doesn't need to be more qualified than Feinerman to be qualified for the job. Neither party picks COA judges based on who is the most qualified for the job. Of course, you're undercutting OP's point, which was that Biden isn't picking Asian men (because they apparently aren't diverse enough).

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Re: Biden Judicial Nominees Predictions

Post by Anonymous User » Fri Apr 14, 2023 7:43 pm

A few things:

1. I’m also not convinced that Feinerman (a former Kennedy clerk) is as or more liberal than Lee, and it’s 100% fair for Biden to want as liberal a nominee as possible given who Trump put on the courts.

2. It’s far more likely that the delay on the CA5 seat was the difficulty in finding a nominee for whom Cornyn and especially Cruz would return a blue slip (I think it’s a waste of time to have bothered negotiating with Cruz at all rather than just forcing someone through since blue slips are not needed for appellate seats, but that’s another matter. There are plenty of Latina district judges, magistrate judges, and state judges Biden could have picked, so let’s not pretend that’s the issue: Saldana, Marmolejo, Ramos, Song Quiroga, etc.

3. So it’s somehow ok for Johnstone, Heytens, and Delaney to get the nominations because they know the (white) senators of their states, but if Tammy Duckworth supported Lee or Alex Padilla supported de Alba it must be because of their ethnicity?

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Re: Biden Judicial Nominees Predictions

Post by Anonymous User » Fri Apr 14, 2023 7:50 pm

nixy wrote:
Fri Apr 14, 2023 7:06 pm
throwawayt14 wrote:
Fri Apr 14, 2023 6:02 pm
lavarman84 wrote:
Fri Apr 14, 2023 5:31 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Fri Apr 14, 2023 5:22 pm
You're not allowed to pick white or asian men for anything in the dem party any more. That is the absolute truth of it. We are passing on an entire generation of actually qualified, and brilliant, judges and professors who would have been appointed to a bunch of seats in any previous dem administration. But instead, it's just diversity all the way down.
What a stupid comment. Biden picked a white man (Anthony Johnstone) to replace Sidney Thomas and already confirmed three Asian women to the Ninth Circuit. He also confirmed John Lee to the Seventh and Toby Heytens to the Fourth. "But OMG, Biden is nominating diverse people to positions historically controlled by white men, they must be unqualified!" :roll:

Feinerman quit after the final humiliation of Lee getting picked over him for the 7th circuit. And no one being honest thinks Lee was more qualified than Feinerman.
That's one of the silliest things I've ever heard.
If you feel so humiliated at not being appointed to Circuit Court that you feel the need to resign your Federal District Court position in a prestigious and highly sought-after district maybe you were not the right person for the job.

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Re: Biden Judicial Nominees Predictions

Post by Anonymous User » Fri Apr 14, 2023 8:19 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Fri Apr 14, 2023 7:09 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Fri Apr 14, 2023 6:18 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Fri Apr 14, 2023 4:46 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Fri Apr 14, 2023 12:43 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Fri Apr 14, 2023 12:04 pm
De Alba strikes me as a really strange pick for CA9; she’s a former midlaw employment lawyer? I wonder why e.g. Chhabria and Liu have been overlooked for all of the California spots
At least for Liu, he'd be taking a pay cut and going from a court of 7 to a court of 29 (plus many more seniors) that is more conservative. He already draws SCOTUS-caliber clerks, so why jump?

Perhaps Chhabria enjoys being a trial judge, but yeah, it would be very strange if he hadn't even been invited to interview. He would I believe be the first Indian-American appeals judge from California, which is the type of thing the Biden administration loves to highlight in its nomination press releases.
I sure hope the bolded is sarcasm.
He's fed three times (of course, always in conjunction with established feeders) and his non-SCOTUS alumni include many impressive young liberals. Yes, CA9 would offer him the opportunity to become a more significant feeder. But the point is that there are plenty of reasons for him to be thrilled with his current job.
Oh, I'm not questioning his clerks' credentials - I know they're SCOTUS-caliber. I was just laughing at the idea that a material reason to move to a COA would be to get really fancy clerks and since he does that already, why move? (Overall agree with you that he may not be interested, for the other reasons you give.)
Ah, gotcha! Nope, I was serious. I have no personal knowledge of Liu and what he's like, but there is absolutely a type of judicial personality who is motivated by collecting fancy clerks, placing them, and building connections at the Court. Thapar, especially while he was on E.D. Ky., is a strong example of this type, but there are many more.

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Re: Biden Judicial Nominees Predictions

Post by Anonymous User » Fri Apr 14, 2023 9:17 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Fri Apr 14, 2023 8:19 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Fri Apr 14, 2023 7:09 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Fri Apr 14, 2023 6:18 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Fri Apr 14, 2023 4:46 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Fri Apr 14, 2023 12:43 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Fri Apr 14, 2023 12:04 pm
De Alba strikes me as a really strange pick for CA9; she’s a former midlaw employment lawyer? I wonder why e.g. Chhabria and Liu have been overlooked for all of the California spots
At least for Liu, he'd be taking a pay cut and going from a court of 7 to a court of 29 (plus many more seniors) that is more conservative. He already draws SCOTUS-caliber clerks, so why jump?

Perhaps Chhabria enjoys being a trial judge, but yeah, it would be very strange if he hadn't even been invited to interview. He would I believe be the first Indian-American appeals judge from California, which is the type of thing the Biden administration loves to highlight in its nomination press releases.
I sure hope the bolded is sarcasm.
He's fed three times (of course, always in conjunction with established feeders) and his non-SCOTUS alumni include many impressive young liberals. Yes, CA9 would offer him the opportunity to become a more significant feeder. But the point is that there are plenty of reasons for him to be thrilled with his current job.
Oh, I'm not questioning his clerks' credentials - I know they're SCOTUS-caliber. I was just laughing at the idea that a material reason to move to a COA would be to get really fancy clerks and since he does that already, why move? (Overall agree with you that he may not be interested, for the other reasons you give.)
Ah, gotcha! Nope, I was serious. I have no personal knowledge of Liu and what he's like, but there is absolutely a type of judicial personality who is motivated by collecting fancy clerks, placing them, and building connections at the Court. Thapar, especially while he was on E.D. Ky., is a strong example of this type, but there are many more.
That's fair. I think part of my reaction was that to me the most sensible reason to take a COA gig is because you want to do appellate, which of course Liu already does, so that's a decent reason to not jump ship and the clerk thing just struck me as funny. But that probably says more about me than what actual judges in the real world are thinking.

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Re: Biden Judicial Nominees Predictions

Post by Anonymous User » Fri Apr 14, 2023 11:18 pm

lavarman84 wrote:
Fri Apr 14, 2023 7:34 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Fri Apr 14, 2023 5:59 pm
I don’t think this is fair. The Virginia senators forced Biden to pick Heytens by preempting his choice with a public shortlist on which the other names were obviously not viable candidates. The only other white men Biden has nominated to COAs are from states where there was likely no other option (NH, MT).

And while I have no interest in a blow-by-blow debate I think it’s obviously possible to identify picks where there’s a real tension between professional diversity (i.e. commitment to progressive litigation) and credentials on one hand and racial diversity on the other. Maybe Biden is making the right trade-off, like you suggest, but it seems silly to deny there’s a trade-off. Overall I have little beef with Biden on noms outside of Pan (I have no tolerance for judges who abuse clerks and she doesn’t even seem particularly progressive).
It's very fair. Nobody forced Biden to pick anybody. And the idea that there's no other option in NH or MT is ludicrous. I'm not defending every pick Biden has made or will make, but the complaining over this administration prioritizing diversity and the implication that it comes at the cost of quality is ridiculous. And I agree with you on Pan.
throwawayt14 wrote:
Fri Apr 14, 2023 6:02 pm
And no one being honest thinks Lee was more qualified than Feinerman.
Lee doesn't need to be more qualified than Feinerman to be qualified for the job. Neither party picks COA judges based on who is the most qualified for the job. Of course, you're undercutting OP's point, which was that Biden isn't picking Asian men (because they apparently aren't diverse enough).
Someone should go back and look at the confirmation hearings of people like Eunice Lee, who doesn’t know a single lick about CivPro, and tell me that diversity hasn’t been the preeminent factor in this administration’s judicial appointments. Yes, a handful of white and Asian men, after fighting tooth and nail and having major political connections, managed to get seats they were the expected choices for. But for most any other seat, the WH has made pretty explicitly clear that racial and gender diversity is the preeminent factor they’re looking for—even at the cost of basic qualifications and competence. There were noted scuffles with Dem Senators over CADC and CA1 seats in the last few months, and the WH basically said flat out that even a gay white man was insufficiently diverse.

Whether you think that position is justifiable is another matter entirely, but let’s not pretend we don’t know why some of these people—who otherwise don’t seem like particularly attractive candidates for these seats—are getting the nom.

Personally, I think they’re going to regret it. They should be appointing the youngest, liberal and best credentialed people they to match fedsoc. People like Josh Matz and Leah Litman, which is basically what fedsoc does: pick prominent young former scotus clerks and commentators. Brad Garcia was perhaps the only really good circuit nomination of Biden’s entire presidency.

Seriously? What are you waiting for?

Now there's a charge.
Just kidding ... it's still FREE!


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