June 8, 2023 – U.S. Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) have agreed to recommend to the White House two candidates for consideration to fill a vacancy on the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Wisconsin.
The candidates are Byron Conway and Brown County Circuit Court Judge Marc Hammer.
Conway, who practices personal injury law, is a shareholder with Habush Habush and Rottier in Green Bay. Hammer, who practiced in Green Bay and De Pere from 1989 to 2008, was appointed to the circuit court by Governor Jim Doyle in 2008. He was re-elected in 2008 and 2015.
About the Commission
Johnson and Baldwin re-established the bipartisan Federal Nominating Commission’s charter in March 2023 to recommend candidates for vacancies on the U.S. District Courts in Wisconsin, certain vacancies on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, and U.S. attorneys in Wisconsin.
Jeff M. Brown , Willamette Univ. School of Law 1997, is a legal writer for the State Bar of Wisconsin, Madison. He can be reached by
email or by phone at (608) 250-6126.
The State Bar of Wisconsin will continue to provide administrative support to the commission. The Hon. Charles Clevert, Jr., and former State Bar President Paul Swanson co-chair the commission.
The other members of the commission are: William Curran; Richard Esenberg; Jeffrey Mandell; and Christine Bremer Muggli.
Since 1979, the Wisconsin Federal Nominating Commission has made recommendations to Wisconsin's U.S. senators. The commission is re-established at the beginning of each new Congress.
Under Article II, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution, the U.S. President "shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint" federal judges. The president also appoints U.S. attorneys.
The president traditionally defers to the recommendations of the home state's U.S. senators regarding these appointments.
In 1979, Wisconsin's two U.S. senators, William Proxmire and Gaylord Nelson, established the Wisconsin Federal Nominating Commission. Senators from both parties have relied upon the commission for every federal judicial and U.S. attorney vacancy in Wisconsin over the past 30 years, under both Republican and Democratic presidents.
