Arkansas Blog

The legal rumor mill is really cranking about the spate of appointments to be made by the Obama administration from a pool of Democratic lawyers eight long years in the wilderness. Three federal judges and two U.S. attorneys are expected to be named after Obama takes the oath (and probably only after a new attorney general is in place.) Another federal bench opening is also rumored in the not-too-distant future.

I confirmed today with U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln staff a report that she's been interviewing applicants for the district court bench and asking each to fill out a questionaire, fairly unusual in the experiece of local lawyers who keep up with these things. A spokesman said Lincoln wouldn't divulge names, specifics of conversations or specific questions, other than to say they were the sorts of questions that could be expected from the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Too many names to shake a stick at on these jobs. But I still like the odds on Little Rock lawyer Michael Barnes, son of retiring Judge Harry Barnes, for the U.S. attorney's job in Little Rock.