Norton Federal Law Enforcement Nominating Commission Accepting Applications for New Opening on U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

WASHINGTON, DC – The office of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today announced that her Federal Law Enforcement Nominating Commission is accepting applications for an upcoming opening on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Applications for the opening are due in 30 days, on Wednesday, July 17, 2013. Chief Justice John G. Roberts has appointed U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Judge John D. Bates as the Director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts. A new seat on the district court here will be created when Judge Bates assumes the position on July 1, 2013. Under federal law, when a district court judge becomes the Director, the President appoints, with the advice and consent of the Senate, an additional judge for the court on which the Director serves. If Judge Bates were to leave the position as Director and resumes his duties on the court, the President would not appoint a judge for the first vacancy after Bates' return.

President Obama, like President Clinton, granted Norton senatorial courtesy to recommend federal district court judges and other federal law enforcement officials in the District. Norton and her Commission are proud that D.C. has a full court, with all 15 judges sitting on the district court here, and they are moving quickly to fill the additional seat that Judge Bates' appointment will create. Norton's Commission will now vet and interview applicants for the opening and will send several applicants to the Congresswoman, who will then make her recommendation to President Obama. Applications are available online on Norton's website at: US district court judge questionnaire.

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 Federal Law Enforcement Nominating Commission, C/O District Office of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, 90 K Street, NE, Suite 100, Washington, DC 20001, by 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, July 17, 2013.

In March, the Senate confirmed the nomination of Ketanji Brown Jackson, whom Norton recommended to President Obama, to the district court here. 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 16 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; 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: June 17, 2013