Judicial nominations do not get much attention these days, but the Trump administration continues to put forward strong judicial nominees, and the Senate is continuing to consider and confirm them. On Wednesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a nominations hearing to consider five district-court nominees, including three supremely well-qualified nominees for seats in Ohio: Michael Jay Newman, James Ray Knepp II, and J. Philip Calabrese. All three have prior judicial experience, either as magistrate judges or state-court judges, and all three have the intellect to be effective federal judges. And while some Democrats continue to complain about Trump’s judicial nominees, all three of these nominees for Ohio have the support of both Senator Rob Portman, a Republican, and Senator Sherrod Brown, a Democrat. This should mean that all three are confirmed rather quickly — as they should be.
[Disclosure: I served on the bipartisan judicial-advisory committee that recommended potential nominees for open seats on federal district courts in Ohio to Senators Portman and Brown.]