Federal Nominating Commission: Now Accepting Applications

As Dean Kearney noted in an earlier post, I am serving as chair of the Federal Nominating Commission for the United States Attorney position in the Eastern District of Wisconsin.  The Commission completed its first item of business this past week by approving the questionnaire to be used by applicants.  The forms and instructions are available here.  (The link also contains the nearly identical questionnaire to be used by applicants for the Western District judicial opening.)  Applications are due at noon on March 2.

In reviewing the questionnaire, I am glad that I myself am not an applicant — we are asking applicants to gather and present a large quantity of information about themselves in a short period of time.  I hope that well-qualified attorneys will not be deterred by this process.  There is, of course, a delicate balance to strike: on the one hand, we do not wish to deter applicants through an unduly onerous process; but, on the other hand, it is critical for the Commission to have adequate information to assess the competence and integrity of all of the candidates for such an important position of public trust.  I hope that we have struck the balance appropriately.

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O’Hear to Chair the Federal Nominating Commission

Since 1979, Wisconsin’s senators have used some form of what they term a “Federal Nominating Commission” to recommend individuals for vacant federal judgeships and U.S. Attorney’s positions. (One can see the current charter from the senators here.) Whether this approach is good public policy is a worthy question, but not my topic here.

Rather, I wish to make an observation concerning leadership of the Federal Nominating Commission: Where there is a vacancy, the charter calls for the dean of the law school in the federal judicial district (Marquette in the Eastern District and the UW-Madison in the Western District) or his designee to chair the commission. I have thus chaired the commission on occasions in the past.

With respect to the current vacancy in the U.S. Attorney’s position in the Eastern District, occasioned by the departure of Steve Biskupic, L’87, for private practice, I this week exercised my option to delegate my responsibilities. This occurs from time to time (e.g., the late Dean Howard B. Eisenberg tapped our colleague, Professor Peter K. Rofes, on one occasion in the 1990s, and a similar thing has occurred on occasion in the Western District).

Specifically, I have turned to my colleague, Michael M. O’Hear, Professor of Law, Associate Dean for Research, and (least relevantly) managing editor of this blog. My principal reason, besides other demands on my attention, is my belief that Professor O’Hear — a leading legal academic in the area of criminal sentencing — is unusually well qualified to help guide this search.

I hope that Professor O’Hear will consider using this blog as one of the means of disseminating information about the Federal Nominating Commission’s important undertakings. In all events, the commission’s recommendation of four to six individuals to serve as the U.S. Attorney in Milwaukee is due to the senators under the charter near the end of March.

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Biskupic Stepping Down

Our graduate and adjunct faculty member Steven Biskupic announced yesterday that he is stepping down from his post as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, effective January 9.  Steve made us proud over his six years of distinguished service in this important position, winning convictions in many high-profile public corruption cases.  It is customary for U.S. Attorneys to resign after a new President is elected, but this is one instance in which the community may be ill-served by the custom.  Best wishes, Steve, in your new endeavors!

Steve’s counterpart in the Western District, Erik Peterson (who is also a Marquette alum), has not yet announced his plans.

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