Judge Julie Carnes cleared a U.S. Senate procedural vote Thursday, setting up a confirmation vote Monday to fill a long-vacant seat on the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta.
Carnes is now a U.S. District Court judge in Atlanta, nominated by President George H.W. Bush in 1991. Her elevation to the appeals court was part of a deal among President Barack Obama and Georgia’s Republican senators to fill several judicial vacancies. Thursday afternoon’s cloture vote was 68-23.
Atlanta attorney Jill Pryor, for the 11th Circuit, and four district court nominees also await floor action after clearing a Senate committee. The most controversial nominee, Georgia Court of Appeals Judge Michael Boggs, remains stuck in committee limbo as Democrats and liberal outside groups have assailed his record in the state House on issues such as abortion and keeping the old state flag with the Confederate battle emblem.
Adam Jentleson, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, would not say why Carnes’ nomination moved before the others on the floor. Reid “is steadily working through the backlog” of nominees, Jentleson wrote in an email.
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