Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Confirm Conrad to the 4th Circuit
From the RoundTable blog
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Carl Tobias
Tobias is a professor at the University of Richmond School of Law.
In early May, President Bush nominated U.S. District Judge Glen Conrad to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit. Bush should have nominated Conrad in June 2007 when Virginia Sens. John Warner, a Republican, and Jim Webb, a Democrat, first suggested the jurist. The senators must now cooperate with their colleagues to guarantee that the 110th Senate expeditiously confirms Conrad because the 4th Circuit has four vacancies on the 15-member court.
Bush too long ignored the bipartisan, cooperative endeavors of the home-state senators who recommended that the White House nominate one of five very qualified consensus candidates. Both senators compiled this list of talented individuals through a careful, lengthy selection process that the lawmakers adopted.
When the Senate convened in January 2007, Warner and Webb implemented efforts to suggest highly competent candidates for Bush.
They promptly interviewed a dozen people and asked several Virginia bar organizations to evaluate them. Warner and Webb carefully worked together to ensure the nomination of an outstanding Virginian.
The attorneys examined are well qualified to serve on the 4th Circuit, which hears 99 percent of appeals from Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina and South Carolina. Those recommended are intelligent, hard-working and independent and possess balanced temperaments. The senators evaluated many prospects and personally interviewed 12.
On June 12, 2007, Warner and Webb suggested five people whom they found "eminently qualified": Conrad, a pair of Virginia Supreme Court justices, a law professor and a practicing attorney. The senators were "fully prepared to strongly support" and recommend to their Senate colleagues for confirmation any of the five whom Bush might have chosen. This bipartisanship, which should promote swift approval, is rare because divisive partisanship has long plagued appellate selection.
Conrad is intelligent, industrious, ethical and independent, while he has balanced judicial temperament. He has spent his entire legal career in the federal judiciary.
After Conrad graduated from the Marshall-Wythe School of Law at the College of William and Mary in 1974, he served for a year as a law clerk to U.S. District Judge Ted Dalton. From 1976 until 2003, he was a magistrate judge in the Western District. Since September 2003, he has served as district judge. In late June, a majority of the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Federal Judiciary rated Conrad well qualified, its highest ranking.
Virginia's senators must work with their colleagues to expedite Conrad's confirmation. They should ask Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the Judiciary Committee chairman, to schedule a July hearing. The panel should fully assess the nominee and vote on him before the August recess. Then, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., ought to schedule a prompt floor debate and vote.
The Senate must carefully evaluate the nominee while conducting prompt committee hearings and a vote, then a floor debate and vote. Conrad's record suggests that senators should quickly confirm him.
