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Norton Thanks Senate for Confirming Three D.C. Superior Court Judges

June 24, 2016

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today thanked her colleagues in the Senate for voting to confirm three D.C. Superior Court nominees—Julie H. Becker, Steven N. Berk, and Elizabeth C. Wingo. Norton particularly thanked the Republican and Democratic leaders on the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs for working to move the nominations through the Senate. A total of seven Superior Court nominees have been confirmed this Congress, the first local judges confirmed since 2013. The confirmations clear a long-standing backlog of Superior Court nominations, and there are currently no pending Superior Court nominations.

“I am grateful to our Republican and Democratic friends who were instrumental in helping us get the Senate to confirm these highly-qualified judges, ensuring our busy Superior Court is fully staffed,” Norton said. “It has been difficult for our friends in the Senate, who work so well and closely with us, to get D.C. judges confirmed, considering the far more numerous Article III district and court of appeals judges. It takes work and time to get the attention of the Senate, considering that those confirmed are judges for both civil and criminal cases. I cannot overemphasize the importance of these confirmations, as well as other recent Superior Court confirmations, and our gratitude to our Senate allies on the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.”

D.C. Superior Court and Court of Appeals judges are the District’s only trial and appellate judges, and as Article I judges, they must be confirmed by the Senate. Before the National Capital Revitalization and Self-Government Improvement Act of 1997, the District paid for the D.C. Courts, even though the judges were nominated by the president.

The D.C. courts, which consist of the Superior Court and the Court of Appeals, adjudicate local criminal and civil matters. The Home Rule Act of 1973 established the District of Columbia Judicial Nomination Commission (JNC), whose members are appointed by D.C. and federal government officials. The JNC makes three recommendations to the president for each vacancy on the D.C. courts, and the president appoints, with the advice and consent of the Senate, one of the three.