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Washington BladeThe White House has withdrawn the nomination of an attorney who could have been the first openly gay person to sit on a federal appellate court, according to a notice posted late Thursday.
The nomination of Edward DuMont to the U S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit was tagged as a “withdrawal sent to the Senate” amid seven other judicial nominees sent to Congress. A White House spokesperson didn’t respond to a request to comment on the withdrawal.
President Obama first nominated DuMont, an appellate litigation partner at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, to the position on April 14, 2010, but the Senate never took action on the nomination during the 111th Congress. Obama renominated him to the position this year, but his nomination never even saw a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. His nomination had languished for more than 18 months without the taking Senate taking action.
In place of DuMont, Obama announced in the same notice he was nominating “Richard Gary Taranto, of Maryland, to be United States Circuit Judge for the Federal Circuit, vice Paul R. Michel, retired.”
Fred Sainz, vice president of communications at the Human Rights Campaign, said, “We’re confident that the White House will nominate — and the Senate will confirm — other well-qualified attorneys to the federal bench.”
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