Sixth Circuit Judicial Nomination Agreement
Negotiations between Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee Patrick Leahy and President George Bush resulted in a reshuffling of judicial appointments, according to the Legal Times.
President Bush withdrew the nomination of Stephen Murphy to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and instead nominated him to the Eastern District of Michigan. In Murphy's place, the President nominated Helene White, a Michigan Court of Appeals judge whose nomination by President Bill Clinton in 1997 to the Sixth Circuit was blocked by the Senate for four years. According to the Alliance for Justice's blog, as part of the agreement, Senator Leahy agreed to consider the nomination of Raymond Kethledge to the other vacancy on U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. AFJ has more about the nominees here.
Follow the links for information from the White House about nominees Stephen Murphy, Helene White, and Raymond Kethledge. Senator Leahy released this statement on the Senate's consideration of judicial nominees, which discusses what he deemed "a significant development that can lead to filling the last two vacancies on the Sixth Circuit before this year ends." He noted that there are now 12 circuit court vacancies, the lowest number in at least a decade, and a reduction from the 32 vacancies in the summer of 2001.