Failed District Court Nominees
Bush nominated 23 people for 23 current or future federal district judgeships who never were confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Like the appellate court nominations mentioned above, many of these nominees were blocked by Democrats in the Senate Judiciary Committee, which was controlled by the Democrats four out the eight years that Bush was in office. Twenty-one of these twenty-three nominees were blocked in the Democratic 110th Congress. Republicans claimed at the time that the Democrats were trying to keep these district court positions open for a future Democratic president to fill. Eventually, Bush declined to make nominations for 23 other current or future federal district judgeships in the 110th Congress.
Of the 23 federal district judgeship vacancies with actual nominees in place, 2 eventually were filled with a different Bush nominee, 14 so far have been filled with Barack Obama nominees, 4 remain open, 1 became moot when the district judge decided not to retire and 2 never ended up becoming vacant because the district judge who had it never received confirmation to be elevated to an appellate court. In addition, two of Bush's 23 failed district court nominees, Oregon's Marco Hernandez and Illinois' John J. Tharp, were subsequently renominated by Obama to federal district judgeships. They both were confirmed in the 112th Congress.
The failed Bush district court nominees:
- United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island
- Lincoln D. Almond (judgeship later filled by Obama nominee John J. McConnell, Jr.)
- United States District Court for the Northern District of New York
- Mary Donohue, followed by Thomas Marcelle (judgeship later filled by Obama nominee Mae D'Agostino)
- United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
- Carolyn P. Short (judgeship was to become vacant when Judge Gene E. K. Pratter was elevated to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit but Pratter was forced to withdraw due to Democratic opposition and was replaced by Judge Paul S. Diamond.)
- Carolyn P. Short (judgeship was to become vacant when Judge Paul S. Diamond was elevated to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit but Diamond never was confirmed to that post before Bush's presidency ended.)
- United States District Court for the District of Delaware
- Colm F. Connolly (judgeship later filled by Obama nominee Leonard Stark)
- United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina
- Thomas Alvin Farr (judgeship still open)
- United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
- David J. Novak (judgeship later filled by Obama nominee John A. Gibney, Jr.)
- United States District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia
- William J. Powell (judgeship later filled by Obama nominee Gina Marie Groh)
- United States District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana
- David R. Dugas (judgeship later filled by Obama nominee Brian Anthony Jackson)
- United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi
- J. Richard Barry (judgeship later filled by Obama nominee Carlton W. Reeves)
- United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan
- Daniel P. Ryan (judgeship later filled by Bush nominee Stephen Joseph Murphy III)
- United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee
- Gustavus Adolphus Puryear (judgeship later filled by Obama nominee Kevin Hunter Sharp)
- United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
- John J. Tharp (judgeship later filled by Obama nominee Sharon J. Coleman) (Nominated by Barack Obama on November 10, 2011 to a different seat on the Northern District and confirmed on May 14, 2012)
- United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin
- Timothy G. Dugan (judgeship vacancy became moot when Judge Rudolph T. Randa decided not to retire in January 2009)
- United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin
- J. Mac Davis (judgeship still open)
- United States District Court for the Central District of California
- James Edward Rogan (judgeship later filled by Obama nominee Jacqueline H. Nguyen)
- United States District Court for the District of Hawaii
- Frederick W. Rohlfing III (judgeship later filled by Bush nominee J. Michael Seabright)
- United States District Court for the District of Oregon
- Marco A. Hernandez (Nominated by Barack Obama on July 14, 2010 to the same position and confirmed on February 7, 2011)
- United States District Court for the District of Colorado
- Gregory E. Goldberg (judgeship still open)
- United States District Court for the District of Wyoming
- Richard H. Honaker (judgeship later filled by Obama nominee Nancy D. Freudenthal)
- United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida
- William F. Jung (judgeship later filled by Obama nominee Charlene Edwards Honeywell)
- United States District Court for the District of Columbia
- Jeffrey Adam Rosen (judgeship later filled by Obama nominee James E. Boasberg)
- Michael E. O'Neill (judgeship later filled by Obama nominee Amy Berman Jackson)
Read more about this topic: George W. Bush Judicial Appointment Controversies
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