Judge Jane Stranch of the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit plans to take senior status, opening an opportunity for President Joe Biden to flip a seat on an court dominated by Republican appointees.
Stranch is the fourth appellate judge to announce their intent to semi-retire this month, as progressives call on more judges to step down and provide Biden vacancies to fill at the circuit level, one step below the Supreme Court.
A source familiar with the matter confirmed the judge’s decision to seek senior status, which allows for a reduced workload, upon confirmation of a successor.
Stranch was appointed to the Tennessee seat in 2010 by Barack Obama. The Sixth Circuit is based in Cincinnati.
Republicans have appointed 10 of the active judges on the court. But Biden, a Democrat, has so far placed three judges, including Rachel Bloomekatz, who was confirmed in July.
Home-state senator support isn’t needed to move circuit court nominees forward, but it can often ease their paths to confirmation with often bipartisan support in the chamber narrowly controlled by Democrats.
Andres Mathis, another Sixth Circuit Biden appointee, experienced a prolonged journey to confirmation after Tennessee GOP Sens. Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty said they weren’t properly consulted before he was nominated in 2021. Both senators voted against confirmation, which was by one vote.
Blackburn emphasized the importance of home-state senator input.
“The White House’s lack of meaningful consultation with Senator Hagerty and me during previous nomination processes has been extremely disappointing, and I hope that they will take this longstanding bipartisan tradition seriously as we move forward to fill Judge Stranch’s seat,” Blackburn said in a statement to Bloomberg Law.
Another Sixth Circuit vacancy in Tennessee, created by Judge Julia Smith Gibbons who announced plans to semi-retire last year, is pending without a nominee.
New Pathways
Stranch’s intent to take senior status is the latest in a string of announcements by circuit judges who opened pathways for Biden to appoint their successors.
The list includes Fourth Circuit Judge James Wynn Jr., an Obama appointee, who recently announced plans to step down from his role as an active judge. And Seventh Circuit Judge Ilana Rovner, the first woman appointed to the Chicago-based court, also announced plans. Eleventh Circuit Judge Charles Wilson, a Clinton appointee, plans to take senior status no earlier than Dec. 31, 2024.
Progressives have stressed the need for more Democratic-appointed circuit court judges to step away from active status, to aid Biden’s goal of reshaping the appellate courts.
Stranch spent the bulk of her career before the bench at the law firm Branstetter Stranch & Jennings in Nashville, with a focus ranging from labor and employment issues and class action.