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Year later, judge pick still awaits Senate nod
Brown looks to hasten Pearson’s confirmation
YOUNGSTOWN
In July 2009, just a few weeks after U.S. District Court Judge Peter C. Economus left his Youngstown-based judicial seat, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown recommended a replacement to President Barack Obama.
Five months later, Obama nominated Benita Pearson, the federal magistrate selected by Brown to replace Economus, as a district-court judge to the Senate for confirmation.
On Feb. 11, the Senate Judiciary Committee recommended to the full Senate the appointment of Pearson.
Yet a year after Obama recommended Pearson, the Senate hasn’t voted on her appointment.
The delay is being caused by Senate Republicans who “have blocked final confirmation votes for her and dozens of other U.S. District Court nominees,” said Meghan Dubyak, spokeswoman for Brown, a Democrat from Avon. “Sen. Brown will continue to work to ensure that her nomination is approved before the Senate adjourns for the holidays.”
Under Senate rules, at least 60 members must agree to end debate on bills and federal appointments in order for votes to be taken on the Senate floor. A simple majority is then needed for approval once at least 60 members agree to close debate.
The office of outgoing U.S. Sen. George V. Voinovich, a Republican, did not return a request by The Vindicator to comment on Pearson.
But Voinovich — who helped Brown select members to a bipartisan selection committee to screen applicants for this position — previously endorsed the recommendation of Pearson.
When asked to comment on the delay, Pearson said: “Given my position in front of the U.S. Senate and my respect for the Senate members, I can make no comments on the record on their process.”
The delay in Pearson’s nomination is part of a bigger issue.
Before Thursday, there were 38 federal judicial nominees approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee waiting for a vote by the full Senate. Some of those nominees were approved by the committee nearly a year ago.
On Thursday, the Senate approved four nominees.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat from Nevada, and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky, negotiated a deal that would lead to the approval of other nominees, primarily those unanimously approved by the judiciary committee, according to Politico, a national political news website.
That may not help Pearson, approved 12-6 by the committee along party lines with all Democrats voting for her and all Republicans voting against her.
If the Senate doesn’t confirm judicial nominees by the end of the month, they go back to Obama, who would have to renominate them again in 2011.
Pearson, of Solon, 47, has been a federal magistrate for Ohio’s Northern District, based in Akron, since August 2008, and previously spent eight years as an assistant U.S. attorney with its organized crime and public-corruption task force.
The district-court judicial seat has been empty since Judge Economus went to senior status in July 2009.
That has left the responsibilities of handling the federal-district-court docket in Youngstown to U.S. Magistrate Judge George J. Limbert and to federal judges based in Akron and Cleveland.