- Slug: BC-CNS-Judicial Nominees,580
- Sidebar: Nominees, date nominated
- Video cuts from hearing available on YouTube
- Photos available (thumbnails, captions below)
By WHITNEY OGDEN
Cronkite News Service
WASHINGTON – Months of waiting – and more than two years in one case – were over in less than two hours Tuesday when a Senate committee breezed through nomination hearings for six Arizona judicial nominees.
After a generally friendly hearing before a sparsely attended Senate Judiciary Committee, the six nominees will still have to wait at least one more week for a committee vote, which would be followed by a full Senate vote.
It comes as the U.S. District Court in Arizona is under “great strain,” because six of its 13 judgeships are vacant, said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., in an opening statement to the committee.
He called it a “judicial emergency” that has led to a backed-up caseload in “one of the top 10 busiest courts in the country.”
Which is why some in the legal community wondered what took so long to have a hearing in the first place.
“I’m just glad the Senate is getting around to doing something,” said A. Bates Butler, a former U.S. attorney. “Congratulations, Senate, but you shouldn’t have taken so long.”
Butler said there is “no excuse” for the amount of time it took to give a hearing to the nominees, especially Rosemary Marquez, who waited more than two years for a hearing.
“I don’t know if it was politics … I don’t know what it was,” Butler said. “It didn’t seem to have anything to do with her qualifications as a judge.”
But Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., said at Tuesday’s hearing that it was important to be deliberate.
“These are lifetime appointments … and we want to be thorough with this process and I believe that we were,” Flake said.
Flake, who has only been in the Senate for a year, said that for him going through the process of considering a nominee “was really a baptism by fire.”
He and Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, were the only two committee members at the hearing. They asked the nominees general questions about how their experiences and ethnic backgrounds would benefit the federal bench.
One of the nominees, James Soto, told the lawmakers that he believed the panel of nominees would contribute to the notion that “Arizona judges are of high quality.”
Steven Logan, another nominee, emphasized his ability to listen to both sides of an argument. He said he learned through experience with civil cases and how, for civil litigants, those cases are the “most important things that’s going on in their lives.”
Currently in Arizona, however, the shortage of judges has put greater emphasis on criminal cases, while Bates said “months would go by” before litigants in civil cases would get their day in court.
Patricia Refo, a partner in the Phoenix law firm Snell and Wilmer, said Arizona is in a “terrible situation” and that the seven current judges will continue to be overworked until the vacancies are filled.
“How long do we have to wait?” Refo asked, adding that until the vacant seats are filled, the court system will remain in a “serious crisis.”
Butler said if the committee leaves any seats vacant next week, Arizona will “end up bringing more judges from out-of-state,” leading to continued extra costs and a “delay in justice.”
But Michael Hawkins, a senior judge for the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, said he’s confident that the nominees will only benefit the Arizona federal courts.
“This is a really good group of people, and they will make fine judges,” Hawkins said.
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Web Links:
_ Federal court caseload statistics: http://www.uscourts.gov/viewer.aspx?doc=/uscourts/Statistics/FederalCourtManagementStatistics/2013/comparison-districts-within-circuit-september-2013.pdf&page=9
_ Judicial vacancies nationwide: http://www.uscourts.gov/JudgesAndJudgeships/JudicialVacancies/CurrentJudicialVacancies.aspx
_ White House list of nominees: http://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/nominations-and-appointments
_ Nomination materials for Rosemary Marquez
http://www.judiciary.senate.gov/nominations/113thCongressJudicialNominations/upload/Marquez-SJC-Questionnaire.pdf
_ Nominations material for Diane Humetewa: http://www.judiciary.senate.gov/nominations/113thCongressJudicialNominations/upload/Humetewa-Senate-Questionnaire-Final.pdf
_ Nominations material for Douglas Rayes: http://www.judiciary.senate.gov/nominations/113thCongressJudicialNominations/upload/Rayes-Senate-Questionnaire-Final.pdf
_ Nominations material for Steven P. Logan: http://www.judiciary.senate.gov/nominations/113thCongressJudicialNominations/upload/Logan-Senate-Questionnaire-Final.pdf
_ Nominations material forJohn Tuchi: http://www.judiciary.senate.gov/nominations/113thCongressJudicialNominations/upload/Tuchi-Senate-Questionnaire-Final.pdf
_ Nominations material for James Soto: http://www.judiciary.senate.gov/nominations/113thCongressJudicialNominations/upload/Soto-SJC-Questionnaire.pdf
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SIDEBAR:
Oyez, oyez, oyez
The Senate Judiciary Committee held a nomination hearing for all six nominees to judicial vacancies on the U.S. District Court in Arizona, which is supposed to have 13 judges. The nominees, and the date they were first nominated by President Barack Obama:
– Rosemary Marquez, nominated June 2011
– Diane Humetewa, nominated September 2013
– Steven P. Logan, nominated September 2013
– Douglas Rayes, nominated September 2013
– John Tuchi, nominated September 2013
– James Soto, nominated December 2013
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James Soto, second from right, poses with family and friends. He was one of the six federal judicial nominees whose nominations were heard in one fell swoop Tuesday by the Senate Judiciary Committee after months of waiting. (Cronkite News Service photo by Jillian Idle)
Douglas Reyes, in blue tie, poses with family and friends after the Senate Judiciary Committee heard his nomination to a U.S. District Court judgeship in Arizona. (Cronkite News Service photo by Whitney Ogden)