Federal judicial update: Arkansas’s senators have sent three names to the White House for each of three coming vacancies on the federal bench, two in Little Rock and one in South Arkansas. Another one is soon in the offing in Fort Smith.
I originally asked if the senators would release the names, as U.S. Rep. John Boozman did when he was the point on federal appointments during a Republican administration. They didn’t respond. Eastern District Judges Bill Wilson and Jim Moody are taking senior status to create the openings in Little Rock.
But insiders told me the nominees: Chris Heller, Amy Russell and Denise Reid Hoggard, all of Little Rock, for Moody’s seat. Then, Appeals Court Judge D.P. Marshall of Jonesboro, Chip Welch of North Little Rock and Mariam Hopkins of Little Rock for Wilson’s seat. Candidates for the western district seat that Judge Harry Barnes is retiring from are Judge Jim Hudson of Texarkana, Magistrate Caroline Craven of Texarkana and Susan Hickey, long-term law clerk to Barnes.
Many, particularly among the disappointed,were curious if Amy Russell, the wife of Sen. Pryor’s staff chief, Bob Russell, would be among the finalists. It’s not so much the family connection that interests, though Russell took an active role in the selection process. It’s her past financial support for George W. Bush. Don’t Democratic presidents generally tap Democrats for judgeships?
UPDATE: I never got a return call from Pryor’s office and somehow I think I may be on their DNR list henceforth. But once I broke the news, Lincoln’s office put it out in the form of a joint release with Pryor. It’s on the jump.