Two Candidates For D.C. Federal Court Head To Full Senate

From BLT and ADF:

February 03, 2011


Two Candidates for D.C. Federal Court Head to Full Senate

The Senate Judiciary Committee has unanimously approved 11 judicial nominations and sent them to the full Senate for consideration. The nominations mark the first federal court nominations to be sent to the full Senate in the 112th Congress.



Among the nominations are two candidates for spots on the bench of Washington’s federal trial court. Judge James Boasberg of the District of Columbia Superior Court and Amy Jackson, a partner at Washington-based Trout Cacheris, have both been nominated for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.



Boasberg (pictured right) was confirmed to the D.C. Superior Court in 2002 under President George W. Bush. Before joining the bench, Boasberg (Yale, Yale Law) was a Big Law lawyer, first with San Francisco-based Keker & Van Nest and later with Kellogg, Huber, Hansen, Todd & Evans. According to his online biography, in private practice his concentration was in civil litigation, particularly First Amendment and defamation law. He has also served as an assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia.



Jackson (Harvard, Harvard Law) has more than 25 years experience in complex criminal and civil trials and appeals. Jackson (pictured left) has represented individuals and corporations in white collar criminal matters, including government contract, public corruption, health care, FCPA and scientific fraud investigations. According to court records, her clients have included International Loan Network Inc., American Security Bank, Wackenhut Corp. and CBIS Federal Inc.



Jackson served as an AUSA in Washington before going into private practice.



Both Boasberg and Jackson are among the most wealthy nominees to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. As The National Law Journal reported in July, Boasberg reported a net worth of $3.6 million in his U.S. Senate financial disclosure report, and Jackson reported $3.3 million.



The nominations announced today received unanimous support from Judiciary Committee members in 2010, but they didn’t receive the consideration of the full Senate before the 111th Congress adjoined in December. Their names were resubmitted to President Barack Obama and they were renominated when the 112th Congress convened on Jan. 5.



In a formal statement, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) said, “These are not new nominees. They were all previously considered and favorably reported by the Committee. I hope the Senate will confront the vacancy crisis facing our federal courts by confirming these nominees without delay. Having enough federal judges to fulfill the responsibilities of the judiciary is not a partisan issue. The Senate should ensure that the federal judiciary has the judges and resources it needs to provide justice to Americans in courts throughout the country.”



The full list of the nominations is posted below.



-James Graves Jr., to be a U.S. Circuit judge for the Fifth Circuit.



-Amy Totenberg, to be a U.S. District judge for the Northern District of Georgia.



-James Boasberg, to be a U.S. District judge for the District of Columbia.



-Amy Jackson, to be a U.S. District judge for the District of Columbia.



-Paul Holmes III, to be a U.S. District judge for the Western District of Arkansas.



-Anthony Battaglia, to be a U.S. District judge for the Southern District of California.



-Edward Davila, to be a U.S. District judge for the Northern District of California.



-Diana Saldana, to be a U.S. District judge for the Southern District of Texas.



-Max Cogburn Jr., to be a U.S. District judge for the Western District of North Carolina.



-Marco Hernandez, to be a U.S. District judge for the District of Oregon.



-Steve Jones, to be a U.S. District judge for the Northern District of Georgia.



Posted by Jeff Jeffrey on February 03, 2011 at 01:23 PM