Your Friday Morning Digital Dump!

Hi kids, let's see what's happening around town this morning:

1.  Kathy Williams investiture.

2.  Poor David Boden.

3.  Republicans don't like the federal courts anymore (related -- happy 10th birthday, Patriot Act!).

4.  Good federal judges matter.

5.  More Jeremy Alters.

(Of course he has to file suit first!)

Senator Leahy Speaks Out on Behalf of Stalled SD FL Judicial Nominations

As David noted the other day, Chief Judge Moreno has started writing letters in hopes of getting Kathy Williams and Bob Scola confirmed as judges sometime this century.

And Glenn Sugameli, a DC wonk who has done great work on this issue, passed along this floor statement by Senator Leahy in which the Senator quotes Judge Moreno's letter and highlights the larger context in which very qualified nominees are being held up for no good reason:

Recently, Chief Judge Moreno of the Southern District of Florida wrote to the Senate leaders urging that they expedite action on two nominations to fill judicial emergency vacancies in that district. Both Kathleen Williams and Robert Scola are among the many judicial nominees who were reported unanimously by the Judiciary Committee, yet both are being delayed for no good reason.

Chief Judge Moreno writes:

 [T]he judicial shortage with three vacancies in our district is becoming acute. For this reason, I ask your assistance in expediting both confirmations. The Judiciary Committee has found the nominees qualified and the people of South Florida eagerly await their service. 

Both of these nominees have the support of their home State Senators— Senator NELSON, a Democrat, and Senator RUBIO, a Republican. The two Senators have set aside partisan actions, and the Senate Judiciary Committee has set aside partisan actions by voting for the nominees unanimously. Why should they be held up because of partisan actions on this floor?

 Good question -- anyone have an answer?

Kathleen Williams Renominated to Fill Judge Hurley's Seat.

 

 Yawn -- the judicial appointment crisis continues as Obama renominates 40 plus judicial candidates, including our own federal public defender Kathleen Williams (originally nominated back in July):

The Obama administration sent the dozens of nominations -- 23 of which an official categorized as "emergency" nominees -- back to the Senate, where they will be considered anew by the Judiciary Committee. They may face an additional round of committee hearings, a Senate aide said, but that will be determined by Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and the ranking Republican, likely to be, according to a Senate aide, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa).

Hearings or no, the committee will have to vote on each candidate again before sending them back to the Senate floor for final consideration. And with more Republicans in the chamber than there were for the past two years, the nominees' chances may be slimmer.

Among those nominated again include 18 who had previously cleared the committee but were not confirmed by the Senate at large. That list includes contested figures like University of California law professor Goodwin Liu, Obama's nominee for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, as well as California magistrate judge Edward Chen, nominated for the District Court for the Northern District of California. Twenty-four other renominated candidates never got a committee vote. 

Marco Rubio, full of ambition, needs to do something that might actually help some people down here and push this nomination for a floor vote.

(Updated to include better photo per Rick's not-so-subtle hint).

SFL Friday -- My Bonnie Better Lie Way the Hail Over the Ocean

Like that freaky old gypsy in Drag Me to Hell, Cavs owner Dan Gilbert has apparently cursed all of South Florida with a form of revenge known as "Tropical Storm Bonnie."

Thanks for being such a d$%k, Dan.

So get with your loved one (or ones), hunker down, start serving libations early and roll with the weekend -- but make sure to buy lots of batteries first.

I had a reading comprehension question in connection with this article from the Herald, about an FHP officer who apparently wrote hundreds of bogus tickets:

Lawrence, who was based in Miami-Dade, wrote the tickets to boost his overall count reported to superiors, prosecutors said. FHP has said it doesn't set quotas for tickets.

What part am I missing here? Why can't prosecutors ascertain the relationship between the "overall count reported to superiors" and an officer's job evaluations, pay raise evaluations, or other performance incentives at FHP?

In other news, consider this:

Approximately half of all Americans say they have sex at least once a week.

Now that is just gross -- have you seen what half of all Americans look like?

All I can say to send you off on a wet, dreary weekend is to get on the right side of that statistic, stay safe and let's hope Kathleen Williams gets confirmed sometime before the end of President Obama's third term (congrats!!!!).

Have a great weekend!