Norton Federal Law Enforcement Nominating Commission Accepting Applications for New Vacancy on U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
Washington, D.C. – The Office of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today announced that her Federal Law Enforcement Nominating Commission is accepting applications for an upcoming vacancy on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Judge Royce C. Lamberth, who was appointed to the court in 1987 and became Chief Judge in 2008, intends to retire July 13, 2013 and take senior status, creating a vacancy.
Applications are due before 5:00 p.m. on Friday, April 12, 2013. The Commission will vet and interview applicants and send several applicants to the Congresswoman, who will then make her recommendation to President Obama. Applications are available online on Norton's website at https://www.norton.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/norton-evo.house.gov/files/migrated/images/stories/us-district-court-judge-questionnaire.pdf.
Criteria for evaluating candidates include: integrity, professional skills and experience, impartiality, industry, good health, high respect in the legal and local community, respect for the Bill of Rights and for the rights of all litigants, entities and parties, judicial temperament, ability to communicate effectively orally and in writing, demonstrated commitment to equal justice, and decisiveness. Diversity also is important in federal appointments.
Applicants must submit 20 completed copies of the application to the Office of Pauline A. Schneider, Chair, Federal Law Enforcement Nominating Commission, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, Columbia Center, 1152 15th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20005, by 5:00 p.m. on Friday, April 12, 2013.
Last month, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved the nomination to the D.C. District Court of Ketanji Brown Jackson, whom Norton recommended to President Obama, and her nomination is now pending on the Senate floor. Norton expects her to be easily confirmed. President Obama has nominated and the Senate has confirmed all five of Norton's other recommendations for district court judges (Amy Berman Jackson, James E. Boasberg, Rudolph Contreras, Beryl A. Howell and Robert L. Wilkins).
Norton appointed 17 D.C. residents to her Commission to screen and recommend candidates from whom she then chooses to send to the President. Members of the Commission are: Chair Pauline Schneider, former chair of the D.C. Bar and partner, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe; Jon Bouker, partner, Arent Fox; Katherine Broderick, Dean, University of the District of Columbia's David Clarke School of Law; Francis D. Carter, partner, Zuckerman Spaeder and member, executive committee and board of governors, D.C. Bar; Emilio W. Cividanes, partner, Venable; Thomas R. Donahue, president emeritus, AFL-CIO; Terence C. Golden, chair, Bailey Capital Corporation; Dr. Charles Matthew Hudson, Jr., bishop, Matthews Memorial Baptist Church; Emma Coleman Jordan, professor, Georgetown University Law Center; Johnnie Scott Rice, chair and founder, National Congress of Black Women, Metropolitan Chapter; Daniel Solomon, president, Naomi & Nehemiah Cohen Foundation and co-founder and trustee, DC Vote; Robert Spagnoletti, partner, Schertler & Onorato, former D.C. Attorney General, and former president, D.C. Bar; Sylvia Trujillo, legislative counsel and senior attorney, American Medical Association; Thomas Williamson, partner, Covington & Burling; Beverly Perry, senior vice president, PEPCO; Carrie L. Thornhill, member, DC School-to-Careers/Youth Investment Council; and Judith Winston, former general counsel, U.S. Department of Education.
Published: March 12, 2013