July 3, 2024 – The White House today announced that President Joe Biden will nominate Green Bay attorney Byron B. Conway to a vacant judicial seat on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin.

Byron B. Conway

Conway, who previously served on the State Bar of Wisconsin’s Board of Governors (2013-18), is a personal injury attorney and a shareholder at Habush Habush & Rottier. He graduated from Marquette University Law School in 2002 and holds a B.A. from Santa Clara University (1998). He has been at Habush since 2006.

The bipartisan Wisconsin Federal Nominating Commission established by Sen. Ron Johnson (R) and Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D) recommended Conway.

“Our bipartisan Wisconsin Federal Nominating Commission delivered highly qualified nominees that have the experience and temperament to serve on the federal bench, and I was proud to join Senator Johnson in recommending Green Bay’s Byron Conway for District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin to the White House,” said Senator Baldwin in a statement.

“I am glad that the White House followed our recommendation and look forward to reviewing the additional materials on Mr. Conway and am hopeful that our bipartisan pick can get confirmed expeditiously.”

The White House announced Conway’s nomination with two other federal district court nominees, and one nominee to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.

These choices “fulfill the President’s promise to ensure that the nation’s courts reflect the diversity that is one of our greatest assets as a country – both in terms of personal and professional backgrounds,” the White House press release states.

“This will be President Biden’s fifty-second round of nominees for federal judicial positions, bringing the number of announced federal judicial nominees to 251.”

In 2019, Judge William Griesbach took senior status on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, Green Bay Division, leaving the vacancy.

About the Federal Nominating Commission

Sen. Johnson and Sen. Baldwin reestablished the Wisconsin Federal Nominating Commission in 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.

The State Bar of Wisconsin provides administrative support to the six-person commission, comprised of Wisconsinites who are members of the State Bar.

Senator Baldwin appointed Retired Judge Charles N. Clevert, Jr., Christine Bremer Muggli of Bremer & Trollop Law Offices, S.C., and Jeffrey A. Mandell of Stafford Rosenbaum L.L.P.

Senator Johnson appointed former State Bar President Paul Swanson of Steinhilber Swanson L.L.P., William Curran of Curran Law Office, and Richard Esenberg of the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty.

The Wisconsin Federal Nominating Commission has been making recommendations to Wisconsin's U.S. senators since 1979.

According to 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. By tradition, the president defers to the recommendations of the home state's U.S. senators for these positions.

In 1979, Wisconsin's two U.S. senators, William Proxmire and Gaylord Nelson, established the Wisconsin Federal Nominating Commission, a tradition that has continued to the present day. 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.