Senators send White House names for judicial vacancies

By Bill Rankin

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Trying to solve a judicial logjam, Georgia’s two senators have told President Barack Obama who they’ll allow to be considered as nominees for three longstanding vacancies on the federal courts in Atlanta.

Republican Sens. Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson on Tuesday wrote White House Counsel Kathryn Ruemmler that they would not hold up Atlanta lawyer Mark Cohen if he is nominated to fill a vacancy on the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. They also said they would not block U.S. Magistrate Linda Walker and Atlanta lawyer Jill Pryor if they are nominated to the U.S. District Court.

The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts has declared the vacancies “emergencies.” The 11th Circuit vacancy has been open since August 2010 while the district court seats have been unfilled since February 2009 and January 2010.

Cohen is a partner with the firm Troutman Sanders who served as both executive counsel and chief of staff during then-Gov. Zell Miller’s second term. More recently, Cohen served as lead counsel for the state defending the voter ID law, which was upheld on appeal. On Wednesday, Cohen declined to comment.

A year ago, Obama nominated Walker and public defender Natasha Perdew Silas to fill the district court vacancies. But Chambliss and Isakson never submitted a “blue slip” for Silas, effectively blocking the Senate from considering her. Because the Judiciary Committee treated Walker and Silas as a package, it never scheduled their confirmation hearings.

In December, the Senate returned both names to the White House, which must now decide whether to renominate them. Walker, who has served as a U.S. magistrate since 2000 and is a former Fulton County attorney, declined comment. Pryor, a partner with the firm Bondurant Mixson & Elmore, also declined to comment.

Carl Tobias, a University of Richmond law professor who tracks the judicial nomination process, said the senators’ overture to the White House is “helpful.” But he noted that presidents generally pick their own nominees for the appellate courts and defer more to home-state senators to fill district court vacancies.