Author: Sara Reynolds
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Ballotpedia releases federal vacancy count for December
In this month’s federal vacancy count, Ballotpedia tracked nominations, confirmations, and vacancies from December 3, 2019, to January 2, 2020. Ballotpedia publishes the federal vacancy count at the start of each month. HIGHLIGHTS Vacancies: There have been three new judicial vacancies since the November 2019 report. There are 72 vacancies out of 870 active Article…
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December 2019 breakdown of state legislative party membership: 52.1% Republicans, 46.6% Democrats
December’s partisan count of the 7,383 state legislators across the United States shows 52.1% of all state legislators are Republicans and 46.6% are Democrats, which is consistent with November. Ballotpedia tallies the partisan balance of state legislatures at the end of every month. This refers to which political party holds the majority of seats in…
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Kansas governor announces supreme court appointment
Kansas Governor Laura Kelly (D) appointed Judge Evelyn Wilson to succeed Justice Lee Johnson on the Kansas Supreme Court. Johnson retired on September 8, 2019. Wilson is Kelly’s first nominee to the seven-member supreme court.At the time of her supreme court appointment, Wilson was the chief judge for the Third Judicial District in Shawnee County, Kansas. She first joined the…
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U.S. Senate confirms 50th nominee to a U.S. Circuit Court judgeship
The U.S. Senate confirmed two nominees to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. Overall, the Senate has confirmed 174 of President Trump’s judicial nominees—120 district court judges, 50 appeals court judges, two Court of International Trade judges, and two Supreme Court justices—since January 2017. At the end of the 115th Congress in…
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SCOTUS releases first opinion of the 2019-2020 term
On December 10, the U.S. Supreme Court released its first opinion of the 2019-2020 term. In Rotkiske v. Klemm, the court affirmed the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit, holding that the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act’s (FDCPA) “statute of limitations begins to run when the alleged FDCPA violation occurs, not when…
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U.S. Supreme Court accepts new case about Delaware judicial selection
On December 6, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the case Carney v. Adams, which concerns judicial selection in Delaware, during its October 2019-2020 term. As of December 9, 2019, the court had agreed to hear 58 cases this term. As of December 2019, when the governor of Delaware filed a petition before the U.S. Supreme Court, Article IV,…
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Bold Justice: Twas the night before arguments…
Bold Justice: Twas the night before arguments… Twas the night before arguments, and all through the court, not a brief was stirring, not even about tort; the robes were hung by the bench with care, in hopes that the justices soon would be there… Welcome to the December 9 edition of Bold Justice, Ballotpedia’s newsletter…
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Washington governor announces supreme court appointment
Washington Governor Jay Inslee (D) appointed Judge Raquel Montoya-Lewis to succeed Chief Justice Mary Fairhurst on the Washington Supreme Court. Fairhurst is retiring on January 5, 2020, for health reasons. Montoya-Lewis is Inslee’s second nominee to the nine-member supreme court. At the time of her appointment to the state supreme court, Montoya-Lewis was a judge…
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Vermont governor announces supreme court nomination
Vermont Governor Phil Scott (R) nominated Judge William “Bill” Cohen to succeed Marilyn Skoglund as a justice on the Vermont Supreme Court. Skoglund retired on September 1, 2019. Cohen was Gov. Phil Scott’s (R) second nominee to the five-member supreme court. At the time of his state supreme court appointment, Cohen was a superior court…
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170 federal judicial confirmations during Trump administration
The U.S. Senate has confirmed six new nominees to U.S. District Court judgeships. Overall, the Senate has confirmed 170 of President Trump’s Article III judicial nominees—two Supreme Court justices, 48 appellate court judges, 118 district court judges, and two U.S. Court of International Trade judges—since January 2017. At the end of the 115th Congress in…