Norton Federal Law Enforcement Nominating Commission Accepting Applications for Upcoming Vacancy on the 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 Reggie B. Walton will take senior status on December 31, 2015, creating a vacancy.

Applications are due before 5:00 p.m. on January 11, 2015. The Commission, chaired by Pauline Schneider, a past president of the D.C. Bar and consisting of 17 D.C. residents, will vet and interview applicants for the vacancy 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: https://norton.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/norton-evo.house.gov/files/US%20District%20Court%20Judge%20Questionnaire%20and%20Waiver.doc. Applicants must submit two completed hard-copies of the application and one USB flash drive (thumb drive) containing the application to: Leslie Freeman, Ballard Spahr LLP, 1909 K Street NW, 12th Floor, Washington, DC 20006-1157. Applicants who have submitted an application within the past 12 months may simply provide a cumulative update of relevant information since the date of their last application. If there is no update, applicants must so indicate to the Commission.

President Obama, like President Clinton, granted Norton senatorial courtesy to recommend candidates for federal district court judges and other important federal law enforcement officials in the District. President Obama has nominated and the Senate has confirmed all ten of Norton's recommendations for district court judges—Amit Mehta, Ketanji Brown Jackson, Amy Berman Jackson, James E. Boasberg, Rudolph Contreras, Beryl A. Howell, Casey Cooper, Tanya Chutkan, Randolph Moss, and Robert Wilkins, who was the first of Norton's recommendations to President Obama for a vacancy on the district court and who has since been elevated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.