On December 31, 2005, United States District Judge Malcolm Jones Howard of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina took senior status.
As of today (12/4/19) that seat has remained vacant for 5087 days or 13 years, 11 months, 5 days.
Today, the Senate invoked cloture on the nomination of Richard Ernest Myers II to that seat by a vote of 74 to 22. A final confirmation vote is scheduled for tomorrow. Myers could receive his commission from Trump as early as tomorrow, which would officially end the vacancy.
Thankfully, due to changes to the Senate rules by Senator Reid and Senator McConnell, this sort of travesty will likely never come close to happening again.
Once this seat is filled, the longest vacancy will be on the United States District Court for the Central District of California, to a seat vacated by United States District Judge Audrey B. Collins on August 1, 2014.
Obama failed at almost everything… I still wonder if the Clintons had a hand in delaying so many judges during the Obama admin. Because losing the judiciary was the first thing Carville thought of on election night when Trump got elected.
He failed at that also. He lost the house in 2010 and I think he only won in 2012 by using the IRS to stop republicans orgs. And then Trump wins in 2016.
He rammed an unconfirmable nominee (Thomas Farr) down G.W. Bush’s throat.
Then when Obama was elected, he used the Senate rules to prevent confirmation of two different and well qualified nominees.
When Trump took office, Burr again rammed Farr down Trump’s throat. When the REPUBLICAN Senate refused to confirm Farr, Burr FINALLY relented and permitted the nomination of Myer.
This is 100% Senator Burr’s fault.
Thankfully, the change to the cloture threshold by Senator Reid and the reduction of post cloture debate time by Senator McConnell will prevent a single Senator from engaging in such abusive conduct again.
Myers is well qualified for this post, currently holding a named Chair at the University of North Carolina and serving as a member of the Federalist Society. He was born in Kingston, Jamaica and immigrated to the United States as a child, becoming a naturalized United States Citizen.
