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Nominations
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Executive Nominations and Confirmations

The Senate Judiciary Committee is responsible for conducting hearings on nominations to fill executive positions within the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Commerce, the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission, the Office of National Drug Control Policy, the United States Parole Commission, United States Sentencing Commission.  Following confirmation hearings during which nominees are asked questions by the members of the Committee, a nomination is listed for consideration by the Judiciary Committee during an Executive Business Meeting.  If a majority of the Committee orders an executive nomination to be reported to the full Senate for consideration, the nomination is placed on the Executive Calendar.  If a majority of the Senate votes in favor of an executive nomination, the President is notified and the nomination is confirmed.

Executive nominations that are considered by the Senate Judiciary Committee include:

  • Department of Justice
    • Deputy Attorney General
      David W. Ogden (Confirmed on March 12, 2009)
    • Administrator and Deputy Administrator, Drug Enforcement Administration
    • Administrator, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
    • Director, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
    • Director, Bureau of Justice Assistance
    • Director, Community Relations Service (four-year term)
    • Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation (10-year term)
    • Director, Office for Victims of Crime
    • Director, U.S. Marshals Service
    • Inspector General
    • Special Counsel, Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices (four-year term)
  • Department of Homeland Security
    • Assistant Secretary, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, John Morton (Confirmed on May 12, 2009)
    • Director, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Alejandro Mayorkas (Confirmed on August 7, 2009)

  • Department of Commerce
    • Under Secretary, Intellectual Property/Director, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, David J. Kappos (Confirmed on August 7, 2009)

  • Executive Office of the President
  • Foreign Claims Settlement Commission
    • Chair (full-time, three-year term, nominated from among Commissioner members)
    • Members (part-time, three positions, three-year term)

  • Office of National Drug Control Policy
  • United States Parole Commission
    • Members (five positions, six-year term)
      Cranston Mitchell, Commissioner, (Confirmed on August 7, 2009)

  • United States Sentencing Commission
    • Chair (full-time, six-year term, nominated from among Commission members)
      William K. Sessions III (Confirmed on October 21, 2009)
    • Vice Chair (full-time, three positions, six-year term, designated from among Commission members)
    • Commissioners (part-time, seven positions, six-year term)
      Ketanji Brown Jackson

  • State Justice Institute, Board of Directors
    • Director (part-time, 11 positions, three-year term)
noteworthy

Did You Know?  The Federal Judiciary Act of 1789 required Supreme Court justices, in addition to presiding on the Supreme Court, to "ride the circuit," and preside over circuit court cases.  The death of James Iredell, one of the original Supreme Court Justices, was said to be due in part to illness caused by harsh weather conditions when riding the circuit.  Supreme Court justices continued to "ride the circuit" until 1891.

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