Norton's Judicial Recommendations Renominated by Obama

Press Release

The Office of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) announced today that President Barack Obama has renominated Norton's recommendations for U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia judges, D.C. Superior Court Judge James "Jeb" E. Boasberg and Amy Berman Jackson. Obama, on Norton's recommendation, nominated Boasberg and Jackson in the 111th Congress, but Senate Republicans blocked confirmation of all judicial nominees approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee after the 2010 elections, including Boasberg and Jackson. Norton said that the across-the-board block of all those judges had been based on timing and the Senate end-of-session calendar, not on the qualifications of those judicial nominees. All nominations expire at the end of a Congress.

Norton testified in support of the two judges who were unanimously reported by the committee. "I am convinced that Boasberg and Jackson would already be sitting had time not run out for their consideration on the Senate floor," Norton said. "They are two of the finest lawyers in the District's particularly outstanding legal community, and I am confident that they will be confirmed this Congress. I appreciate the work of my law enforcement commission, which is made up of D.C. residents, who screen all of the candidates eligible for these judicial appointments."

The Senate has already confirmed Norton's recommendations for U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, Ronald Machen, and for U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia judges, Beryl A. Howell and Robert L. Wilkins. Norton also recommended Edwin D. Sloane for U.S. Marshal for the District of Columbia, and on Friday she attended his swearing-in ceremony.

President Obama extended Norton senatorial courtesy to recommend candidates for important federal law enforcement positions in the District. The Congresswoman established a 17-member Federal Law Enforcement Nominating Commission, made up of D.C. residents from every Ward, chaired by Pauline Schneider. Norton established the commission to investigate the qualifications and backgrounds of candidates and to make recommendations, from which she then selects her final choices to submit to the President.

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