Senate Confirms New D.C. Judges But Calls for Reform Continue

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Senate voted last week to confirm judges to D.C. Superior Court to relieve what Washington’s congressional delegate called a judicial "vacancy crisis."

The senators confirmed Administrative Law Judge Rupa Ranga Puttagunta and Magistrate Judges Kenia Seoane Lopez and Sean C. Staples to 15-year terms as associate judges.

The job elevations prompted Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, Washington’s non-voting House member, to renew her calls to overhaul the process to appoint D.C. judges. She says the current process is too slow, sometimes depriving residents of access to the courts.

"I am pleased the Senate confirmed the first local D.C. judge today," Norton said in a statement. "However, the deficiencies of this system, which requires D.C. to wait for congressional action to staff its own local courts, have long been apparent and are contributing to a decline in public safety."

Before last week’s confirmations, there were 16 vacancies among 62 judicial seats in Superior Court. Three vacancies out of nine seats remain on the D.C. Court of Appeals.?

Current procedures require the president to nominate D.C. judicial candidates. The Senate then decides whether to confirm them, similar to federal judicial nominations.

Norton has introduced a bill that would eliminate the need for Senate confirmation. Instead, judicial nominations to D.C. courts would take effect after 30 days if there were no congressional objections.

The bill was approved by the House Oversight and Reform Committee in December but awaits a final vote by the full House and Senate.

The Senate also has started confirmation procedures for four additional D.C. judicial nominees, meaning as many as seven vacancies could be filled.

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