A Pair Of ‘Exceedingly Qualified’ Judicial Nominees
Senate Confirms 18th And 19th Court Of Appeals Nominees This Congress
SENATE MAJORITY LEADER MITCH McCONNELL (R-KY): “Yesterday, the Senate voted to confirm two more of President Trump’s fine circuit court nominees. Michael Scudder and Amy St. Eve -- both of Illinois, both exceedingly qualified, and both carrying the bipartisan support of the Judiciary Committee.” (Sen. McConnell, Floor Remarks, 5/15/2018)
“Legal observers have praised President Donald Trump’s two most-recent nominees to the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, singling out their experience and intelligence as well as the White House’s efforts to gain bipartisan support for the nominees. Trump this month nominated Michael Scudder Jr. and Amy St. Eve of Illinois to fill vacant seats on the Seventh Circuit, which covers federal court districts in Wisconsin, Indiana and Illinois. Scudder, who has handled civil litigation at the Chicago office of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom LLP since 2009, previously served in the White House Counsel’s Office. St. Eve has been a judge in the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago since 2002.” (“Latest 7th Circuit Nominees Scudder, St. Eve, Seen As Well-Qualified, Experienced By Many Legal Observers,” Cook County Record, 2/27/2018)
- “The two nominees are fine choices and highly qualified, according to Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond in Virginia…. Carrie Severino, chief counsel and policy director for the Judicial Crisis Network, agreed that Scudder and St. Eve bring experience and intelligence to the bench … ‘President Trump’s appellate nominees have been a truly outstanding selection of the best and brightest young lawyers in America,’ Severino said.” (“Latest 7th Circuit Nominees Scudder, St. Eve, Seen As Well-Qualified, Experienced By Many Legal Observers,” Cook County Record, 2/27/2018)
Nominees: ‘My Job Is Not To Make The Law. My Job Is To Apply The Law’, ‘Just Give It Its Plain Meaning’
SEN. MIKE LEE (R-UT): “What would you do when you approach a case and the statutory provision in question in that case leads to an outcome that you personally struggle with, that you find difficult to accept?” … MICHAEL SCUDDER: “I really believe that in interpreting a statute that you should start with the language and interpret it and just give it its plain meaning and the chips will fall where they fall. And Congress can take it up and respond to it from there.” (U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing, 3/21/2018)
SEN. MIKE LEE (R-UT): “What do you do when you’re interpreting a statute that leads to an outcome that makes you uneasy or alternatively that makes you question whether Congress could have intended that result?” JUDGE AMY St. EVE: “When interpreting a statute I start with the plain language of the statute and don’t think about what the outcome is. I am interpreting the statute and what the meaning of it is on its face.” … SEN. LEE: “Absent an ambiguity, why would it be a good thing to reach a conclusion that you feel makes you uncomfortable because that’s where the text takes you? Tell us what dynamic that plays within our republic.” JUDGE AMY St. EVE: “My job is not to make the law. My job is to apply the law. So I have to follow the law as Congress has made it.” (U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing, 3/21/2018)
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SENATE REPUBLICAN COMMUNICATIONS CENTER
Related Issues: Nominations, Judicial Nominations
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