WASHINGTON — Two Colorado lawyers nominated for the federal bench faced no obvious opposition Tuesday at a Senate hearing, but it was unclear how quickly approvals would proceed.
Senators on the Judiciary Committee largely heaped praise on Christine Arguello and Philip Brimmer, as well as nominees from California, Florida and Maryland.
“This is an impressive group of nominees,” said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah.
But the hearings, which followed months of stalemate on nominees for U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado, offer little guarantee that vacancies will be filled.
No date was set for the Judiciary Committee to vote on whether to send the nominees’ names to the Senate floor. The earliest a committee vote could occur is Sept. 18.
After that there is only about three weeks to get a vote from the full Senate. The Senate could recess by Oct. 8.
Republican Sen. Wayne Allard of Loveland said he did not anticipate any GOP objections, “but you never know.”
“Everybody is going to work as a team to make sure that the road is smooth going forward,” said Democratic Sen. Ken Salazar of Denver.
Once the Senate adjourns, any nominations not taken up this year will not be carried over to the 2009 session under a new president.
Senators had very few questions for Arguello, a Democrat, and Brimmer, a Republican, at the hearing, usually an indication there are no objections. Arguello, during questioning from committee chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said she would treat each person appearing before her bench as equally important.
Asked about removing himself from cases with a conflict, Brimmer said he’d set up a system where he would be alerted of such a situation.
At the hearing, Allard and Salazar praised the two nominees.
“From my conversations with Mr. Brimmer, it is clear that he recognizes the proper role of the judiciary,” Allard said.
Arguello previously worked for Salazar, when he was Colorado’s attorney general and she served as his chief deputy.
“Her life story really is a personification of the American dream,” Salazar said during the hearing, describing her upbringing in southern Colorado as the daughter of a railroad worker.
Arguello’s and Brimmer’s names were added to the list of potential federal judges up for approval after Allard agreed to support Arguello and Salazar agreed to back Brimmer.
The U.S. District Court of Colorado is authorized to have seven active judges. It has only four after Judges Louis Babcock and Walker D. Miller went on senior status and Judge Phillip Figa died this year.
Anne C. Mulkern: 202-662-8907 or amulkern@denverpost.com
