The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit is a federal court located in Richmond,Virginia,with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:
James Harvie Wilkinson III is an American jurist who serves as a United States circuit judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. His name has been raised at several junctures in the past as a possible nominee to the United States Supreme Court.
Dennis Wayne Shedd is a former United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
Kermit Victor Lipez is an American lawyer who serves as a senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.
Paul Victor Niemeyer is a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and a former United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland.
George Steven Agee is a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and a former justice of the Supreme Court of Virginia.
J. Rich Leonard is the dean of the Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law since July 2013. He previously served as a U.S. bankruptcy judge for the Eastern District of North Carolina and was chief judge from 1998 until 2005. Leonard was also a former federal judicial nominee to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina.
Susan Bieke Neilson was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit,and before that,a state trial judge in Michigan.
William Byrd Traxler Jr. is an American jurist who currently serves as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
Diana Jane Gribbon Motz is a senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
During President Bill Clinton's first and second terms of office,he nominated 24 people for 20 federal appellate judgeships but the nominees were not processed by the Republican-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee. Three of the nominees who were not processed were nominated after July 1,2000,the traditional start date of the unofficial Thurmond Rule during a presidential election year. Democrats claim that Senate Republicans of the 106th Congress purposely tried to keep open particular judgeships as a political maneuver to allow a future Republican president to fill them. Of the 20 seats in question,four were eventually filled with different Clinton nominees,fourteen were later filled with Republican nominees by President George W. Bush and two continued to stay open during Bush's presidency. Senator Harry Reid,the Democratic leader of the United States Senate during the 110th Congress,and Senator Patrick Leahy,the Democratic leader of the Senate Judiciary Committee under Reid,repeatedly mentioned the controversy over President Clinton's court of appeals nominees during the controversy involving the confirmation of Republican court of appeals nominees during the last two years of Bush's second term. Republicans claimed that Democrats were refusing to confirm certain longstanding Bush nominees in order to allow a future Democratic president in 2009 to fill those judgeships.
Glen Edward Conrad was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia and a former federal judicial nominee to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
During President George W. Bush's two term tenure in office,a few of his nominations for federal judgeships were blocked by the Senate Democrats either directly in the Senate Judiciary Committee or on the full Senate floor in various procedural moves,including the first use of a filibuster to block a Federal Appeals Court nominee. Republicans labeled it an unwarranted obstruction of professionally qualified judicial nominees.
During George H. W. Bush's term in office as the president of the United States of America,he nominated 11 individuals for 10 different federal appellate judgeships who were not processed by the Democratic-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee. The Republicans claim that Senate Democrats of the 102nd Congress on purpose tried to keep open particular judgeships as a political maneuver to allow a future Democratic president to fill them. All 10 of the judgeships were eventually filled with Clinton nominees,although one nominee,Roger Gregory,was nominated by Clinton and then renominated by President George W. Bush. None of the nominees were nominated after July 1,1992,the traditional start date of the unofficial Thurmond Rule during a presidential election year. Senator Orrin Hatch,the Republican leader of the Senate Judiciary Committee during the 106th Congress mentioned the controversy over President George H.W. Bush's court of appeals nominees during the following controversy involving the confirmation of any more Democratic court of appeals nominees during the last two years of President Bill Clinton's second term.
James Arthur Beaty Jr. is a former United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina,and a former nominee to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
Deborah Havis Koss Chasanow is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland.
Stephanie Dawn Thacker is a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
