This ties into the previous post on Perry's appointees to the Texas judiciary. This refers to Obama's appointees to the federal judiciary - specifically the judges that will preside over some of the federal court's in Texas. Remember that in a federal system judges serve on all three levels of government, each having jurisdiction over the cases related to the laws on that level of government.
- Click here for the story.
- Click here for the story.
Breaking a longstanding logjam, President Obama announced nominees for three vacant Texas federal court benches late Thursday.
If confirmed, U.S. Attorney Robert Pitman of San Antonio, Texarkana lawyer Robert Schroeder III, and Sherman Magistrate Judge Amos Mazzant III will all get lifetime jobs as U.S. district court judges.
“Any nominations are critically important, as Texas desperately needs to have as many of its nine district and two circuit vacancies filled,” said Carl Tobias, a University of Richmond law professor who tracks nominations. “The judges are overwhelmed by crushing case loads and too few judicial resources.”
. . . Texas has more vacancies than any other state. The liberal group Alliance for Justice, lauding the nominations, accused Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz of prolonging the crisis by “dithering.”
Cornyn aide Megan Mitchell said the senators recommended the picks to the president. Each had been screened by the senators’ Federal Judicial Evaluation Committee. Cornyn spoke to each nominee on Thursday, she said.
The informal process for selecting federal judges is called senatorial courtesy.
- Click here for the Wikipedia on it.
- And here for a more thorough look from justice.gov.
