WASHINGTON, D.C. (WSAU) — A nominee has been selected for Wisconsin’s vacant 7th Circuit Court judgeship, but there are two things that may keep that nominee from getting confirmed quickly. That’s according to Senator Ron Johnson.
Donald K. Schott is a partner in the Madison, Wisconsin office of Quarles & Brady LLP., and has litigation experience at the state and federal trial court and appellate levels. He was born in Lynwood, California and raised in Port Edwards, Wisconsin.
Democratic Senator Tammy Baldwin supports Schott’s nomination, saying, “It is past time to put an end to the longest-standing federal court vacancy in the country.” There has been a vacancy on this court since 2010, making it the longest court vacancy in the U.S. In a statement, Baldwin says, “Don Schott earned bipartisan support from Wisconsin Federal Nominating Commission, including from my commissioners and Senator Johnson’s.”
That doesn’t match what Senator Johnson is saying. The Republican Senator says he’s not going to rush to support someone prematurely. “I’m going to give Mr. Schott a fair evaluation. Until he’s nominated, I can’t take a look at his FBI file.”
Johnson is also critical of Senator Baldwin for how she handled the nomination process. “It was very unfortunate that Senator (Tammy) Baldwin completely short-circuited the commission that worked so well. Working cooperatively and in a bipartisan fashion, we got two very good judges appointed to both the eastern and western district of Wisconsin, and when we’re working on 7th Circuit, all of a sudden she completely short-circuited the process and sent all of the people that applied to the White House, and really messed up the process.”
Johnson says the current session of Congress will end soon, meaning there won’t be much time for Senators to fully vet new judge candidates and go through the confirmation hearing process. “The White House has delayed so long, and we’re getting into election season, and I’m not sure how many judges are actually going to be voted on, even in terms of confirmation or even go through the committee at this point in time.”
A statement from Senator Baldwin’s office says Senator Baldwin and Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson each selected three commissioners and required that any nominee have the support of at least five commissioners. Schott apparently has met that threshold.
Johnson doesn’t rule out getting through the judge confirmation process on short notice, but says he will still fully review Schott’s file and background before taking a position on his nomination.
(Listen to our interview with Senator Johnson about this and several other topics at our website, here.)
