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Senate confirms circuit court nominee Eric Miller over Dem objections
Source: Associated Press
Senate confirms circuit court nominee over Dem objections
By LISA MASCARO and GENE JOHNSON
February 26, 2019
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s nominee for a lifetime seat on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was confirmed in a party-line vote Tuesday as Republicans broke a longstanding tradition by approving someone opposed by both of his home-state senators.
Eric Miller, a Seattle attorney and former clerk for conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, was confirmed 53-46 as the Republican-led Senate continues its drive to reshape the federal judiciary in the Trump era. The 9th Circuit oversees Western states and is often a target of Trump’s complaints about the judicial branch, though legal scholars say its reputation as a liberal bastion is outdated.
“Eric Miller has a distinguished record in both public service and private practice,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said in a written statement. “He holds degrees from Harvard and the University of Chicago. And his legal experience includes prestigious clerkships on our nation’s highest courts.”
Miller is the first judge confirmed in a century over the objections of both home-state senators, upending a tradition that granted local constituents, through their senators, a say on federal court appointments in their states, said Carl Tobias, a constitutional law professor at the University of Richmond School of Law in Virginia.
Miller drew opposition from Democrats — including Washington Democratic Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell — over a perceived hostility to tribal rights, among other issues. The 9th Circuit, which has 23 active judges, includes most of the nation’s tribes.
-snip-
By LISA MASCARO and GENE JOHNSON
February 26, 2019
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s nominee for a lifetime seat on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was confirmed in a party-line vote Tuesday as Republicans broke a longstanding tradition by approving someone opposed by both of his home-state senators.
Eric Miller, a Seattle attorney and former clerk for conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, was confirmed 53-46 as the Republican-led Senate continues its drive to reshape the federal judiciary in the Trump era. The 9th Circuit oversees Western states and is often a target of Trump’s complaints about the judicial branch, though legal scholars say its reputation as a liberal bastion is outdated.
“Eric Miller has a distinguished record in both public service and private practice,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said in a written statement. “He holds degrees from Harvard and the University of Chicago. And his legal experience includes prestigious clerkships on our nation’s highest courts.”
Miller is the first judge confirmed in a century over the objections of both home-state senators, upending a tradition that granted local constituents, through their senators, a say on federal court appointments in their states, said Carl Tobias, a constitutional law professor at the University of Richmond School of Law in Virginia.
Miller drew opposition from Democrats — including Washington Democratic Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell — over a perceived hostility to tribal rights, among other issues. The 9th Circuit, which has 23 active judges, includes most of the nation’s tribes.
-snip-
Read more: https://apnews.com/77281f9c37dc42b9bd1c3fe7fdb22ecf