Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Law Pryor ready with federal judge picks
Posted by Max Brantley on Wed, Jul 20, 2011 at 10:08 AM
Two of them we mentioned earlier — Jane Duke, first assistant on the U.S. attorney's staff who has been acting U.S. attorney, and Kris Baker, a partner in the Quattlebaum law firm in Little Rock and former federal law clerk. The third is Public Service Commission Chairman Colette Honorable. Honorable is black.
I mention race because President Obama has made a push for diversity on the federal bench, but has shown little progress on that front in Arkansas. On three judicial vacancies so far, two white men have been confirmed and a white woman, Judge Susan Hickey of El Dorado, is before the Senate for confirmation. The two U.S. attorneys and two federal marshals appointed in Arkansas have all been white men.
UPDATE: Pryor announced the names in his weekly conference call. He said all brought "unique backgrounds," but all "could serve with distinction." Sen. John Boozman joined Pryor in recommending the three.
ALSO: Pryor said he was one of the first, if not THE first, to sign on to the Gang of Six spending plan, which he said hoped would become a Gang of 60. He said it is "real" and "meaningful," with $3.6 trillion in cuts over 10 years, plus an "initial down payment" of $500 million in cuts that would be painful. "But most people understand we need to tighten our belts." He added, "We hope this will be THE bipartisan vehicle people can rally around." He said the "cut, cap and balance" plan approved by the House last night was not good for Arkansas or the country. He said a central flaw was that it wasn't a bipartisan effort. He said it's time to stop pushing things that "sound good on bumper stickers," but "are never going to go anywhere." In response to questions, he said he thought the Aug. 2 deadline for lifting the debt ceiling was "real" and there were real consequences for failure to act. He defended including tax revenue in a compromise plan, particularly by closing "loopholes" and "giveaways."
Speaking of...
-
Kris Baker of Little Rock confirmed for federal judgeship
May 7, 2012It took some doing, but the Senate today finally confirmed 14 pending judgeship nominations, including that of Kris Baker of Little Rock for a vacancy for a federal judgeship for the Eastern District of Arkansas. /more/
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Sen. Mark Pryor is running for re-election in 2014
April 19, 2012If there'd ever been any doubt, Sen. Mark Pryor has been quietly making it official that he'll seek re-election in 2014. /more/
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Time for Boozman to speed up judicial nominee
March 6, 2012Coincidence. I wrote Glenn Sugamelli this morning. /more/
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Pryor will split with Boozman on contraception vote
February 29, 2012Three cheers for U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor. He apparently will not be spooked by the Republican claque into voting for a terrible bill to give employers leeway to deny any sort of medical service they find objectionable. /more/
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Arkansas judgeship caught in Republicans' holdup
February 28, 2012Glenn Sugameli, staff attorney for Judging the Environment, Defenders of Environment, updates me periodically on progress of federal judicial nominations. /more/
- More »
Comments (5)
Showing 1-5 of 5
When Senator Pryor says "bipartisan" you know it's not about us except for the looting.
Here's a first vague leak of what the gang of six has up their sleeve.
GANG OF SIX SETS TOP PERSONAL TAX RATE BETWEEN 23% AND 29%
PLAN LOWERS CORPORATE TAX RATE TO MAXIMUM OF 29% MINIMUM OF 20%
SENATORS' PLAN URGES 'REFORM' OF MORTGAGE, CHARITY TAX BREAKS
like
dislike
To quote Han Solo, "I've got a very bad feeling about this."
Good to see that they are sending tax breaks to those poor beleaguered corporations who need it so badly. There are currently 29 U.S. corporations hoarding more cash than the U.S. Treasury.
http://www.salon.com/news/great_recession/…
Mega-ditos there Silver & Eureka. With a name like Pryor, it can't be good. I think I've read about 7 books on FDR recently and he really stumbled when he decided to reduce the deficit in 1937 or 38. The US economy reversed and headed right back to the bad years of the Depression.
No one likes paying taxes and I don't want DC to have a blank check, but anything is better than torpedoing this slow moving, delicate recovery. I read today that the government is closing 800 computer data centers over the next 4 years. How many people will that throw out of work? Bet those jobs pay a lot better than gutting chickens. And of course NASA just laid off 8000, they laid off 1400 last year. Will they mow your lawn or roof your house?
Everyday we're looking more and more like the old USSR. I'm noticing a lot of products I use are suddenly missing from the shelf at the grocery store. I passed the St. John's breadline today and it's doing great business. And I'm noticing much better dressed people standing in line to get their free sack lunch.
Why are the "job creators" being so mean to us? Obama & Pryor and the Gang are fixin to compromise us back to 1932. Where is their pay cut? Where is their misery?
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