Dec. 15, 2009 – The Senate Judiciary Committee has voted unanimously to recommend confirmation of President Barack Obama’s nomination of Madison attorney William Conley to replace Judge Barbara Crabb in the Western District of Wisconsin.
In October, President Obama nominated Conley to replace Judge Crabb, who is taking senior status. The committee’s Dec. 10 vote forwards Conley’s nomination to the full Senate for a confirmation vote.
In August, Conley was one of three individuals advanced for the President’s consideration by U.S. Senators Herb Kohl and Russ Feingold from among six candidates recommended in June by Wisconsin’s Federal Nominating Commission.
Both Senators Kohl and Feingold serve on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
According to the White House, Conley is a partner in the law firm Foley & Lardner LLP, where he specializes in commercial litigation, appellate and antitrust law. He received his B.A. and his J.D. from the University of Wisconsin at Madison in 1978 and 1982. After graduating from law school, he clerked for Judge Thomas Fairchild on the Seventh Circuit. The American Bar Association gave Conley a unanimous rating of “well qualified” for the position.
When President Obama nominated Conley in October, Senator Kohl said, “Bill Conley has a solid legal background, a sharp intellect and a depth of experience with our country’s judicial system. He will bring those same talents to his role as a federal judge, and I look forward to his confirmation by the Senate.”
“I congratulate Bill Conley on his nomination and look forward to helping move his nomination through the Senate,” Senator Feingold added. “His impressive legal credentials make him well qualified to fill this seat and his 25 years of experience in private practice will ensure the people of Western Wisconsin are well served. And I am once again pleased Wisconsin’s collaborative process of judicial selection has produced another fine nominee.”
Commission membership and activities in 2009
On March 31, 2009, Kohl and Feingold activated the Federal Nominating Commission to fill the vacancy created by the Judge Barbara Crabb’s decision to take senior status in the Western District of Wisconsin. On April 1, the commission issued a call for applications for the position and 21 individuals applied to replace Judge Crabb. On June 8, the commission announced its list of six recommended candidates to replace Judge Crabb.
For openings in the Western District of Wisconsin and on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, the commission was chaired this year by University of Wisconsin Law School Dean Kenneth Davis. For the Eastern District of Wisconsin, the commission was chaired by Marquette University Law School Professor Michael O’Hear.
Pursuant to the commission’s charter, Kohl appointed four attorneys to this year’s commission: Stephen Glynn and Nathan Fishbach, both of Milwaukee, Christine Bremer Muggli, of Wausau, and Michelle Behnke, of Madison. Feingold also appointed four attorneys: Ken Calewarts of Green Bay, Chuck Curtis of Madison, Peg Lautenschlager of Fond du Lac, and Harvey Temkin of Madison.
This year’s commission was rounded out by attorneys Susan Hansen of Milwaukee and Thomas Sleik of La Crosse, both appointed by Diane Diel, who at the time was president of the State Bar of Wisconsin.
Staff support for the commission was provided by the State Bar’s government relations team.
In addition to the Western District judicial position formerly held by Judge Crabb, the commission this year recommended candidates for four other vacant federal positions subject to presidential appointment, including a vacancy on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago, the judicial seat in the Western District of Wisconsin formerly held by retired Judge John Shabaz, and the U.S. attorney positions for both the Western and Eastern districts.
Commission history
The Wisconsin Federal Nominating Commission has been making recommendations to Wisconsin’s United States senators since 1979.
According to Article II, Section 2 of the United States Constitution, the president "shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint" federal judges. The president also appoints United States attorneys. By tradition, the president defers to the recommendations of the home state’s U.S. senators for these positions.
In 1979, Wisconsin’s two United States senators, William Proxmire and Gaylord Nelson, established the Wisconsin Federal Nominating Commission, a tradition that has continued to the present day under Kohl and Feingold. Democratic and Republican senators have used the commission for every federal judicial and U.S. attorney vacancy in the past 30 years, under both Republican and Democratic administrations.
By
Adam Korbitz, Government Relations Coordinator, State Bar of Wisconsin
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