Judge Sonia Sotomayor, President Obama's nominee to the Supreme Court, met with Senators on Capital Hill this week.  Judge Sotomayor, a United States Court of Appeals Judge for the Second Circuit, was nominated to our nation's highest court last week.  Judge Sotomayor will appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee during hearings that will explore her professional record.  She has twice appeared before the committee, during her district court and court of appeals nominations.  She was voted out favorably on both occasions.  Commentators expect her hearings to occur before Congress recesses in August.
 
This week, two nominees to the federal courts of appeal were voted out of the Senate Judiciary Committee.  United States District Court Judge David Hamilton, nominee to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, was voted out of committee on a party-line vote 12-7.  United States District Court Judge Andre Davis, nominee to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, was also voted out but by a larger 17-2 margin.  During the same session, President Obama's pick to head the Civil Rights Division in the Department of Justice, Thomas Perez, was also voted out of committee by a 17-2 vote.
 
There were no additional nominees to the federal courts this week, although various Senators have begun announcing their top choices.  Senators Sheldon Whitehouse and Jack Reed have urged President Obama to support Rhode Island Supreme Court Judge Rogeriee Thompson for the First Circuit Court of Appeals as well as attorney Jack McConnell to a seat on the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island.  And, just this week Senators Mark Warner and Jim Webb announced their top choice for the Virginia vacancy on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, Virginia Supreme Court Justice Barbara Keenan.

4 Judicial nominees pending
0 Pending on Senate floor 
4 Pending in committee
0 Confirmations overall
15 Court of Appeals Vacancies
55 District Court Vacancies
70 Total Federal Court Vacancies
(1 SC Vacancy pending)