Two Ninth Circuit Nominees Among the Next Up for Judicial Confirmation Hearing

Eric Miller of Perkins Coie (from left). Multnomah County Circuit Judge Karin Immergut and Richard Hertling of Covington & Burling.

Four Trump administration judicial nominees—two of whom are for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit—are slated to have a confirmation hearing next week, as Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee continue to forge ahead on advancing the president’s court picks while Congress is in recess.

Perkins Coie partner Eric Miller and federal magistrate judge Bridget Bade top the group of nominees who are expected to field questions on Wednesday, according to an aide on the Senate Judiciary Committee. Miller and Bade are up for seats on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

The Senate panel also plans to hear from Karin Immergut, an Oregon state court judge who was nominated to a federal district court there, as well as Richard Hertling, of counsel at Covington & Burling and President Donald Trump’s choice for a seat on the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.

Details for next week’s hearing are subject to change. A committee spokesperson noted on Thursday that the panel has not yet announced the nominees who will attend.

If the hearing proceeds as anticipated, it will take place despite that most lawmakers will be absent from Washington, D.C., as they campaign ahead of the 2018 midterms. Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee have protested the decision from the panel’s Republicans to convene hearings during the recess. Still, Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, has moved forward with hearings for these nominees, including one this past week for a Fourth Circuit nominee—Williams & Connolly partner Allison Jones Rushing—and five district court picks.

The Senate has now confirmed 29 of Trump’s nominees to federal appeals courts, and 53 of the administration’s picks to U.S. district courts.

Here’s a look at the nominees slated for next week's hearing:

Eric Miller, nominated to the Ninth Circuit in July, has been a partner at Seattle-based Perkins Coie since 2012, heading the firm’s appellate practice. He reported earning around $417,600 in 2017 on his financial disclosure form, obtained by the National Law Journal. He also indicated he earned $4,000 in teaching income from the University of Washington.

Miller has argued around 16 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, according to his firm page, including some cases as an assistant to the U.S. solicitor general.He worked at the SG’s office between 2007 and 2012. Before that, he held other government posts, with stints at the Federal Communications Commission and the Justice Department’s Civil Division and Office of Legal Counsel. Miller clerked for Justice Clarence Thomas from 2000-2001, placing him among a handful of Trump judicial nominees—including Rushing—who have come from Thomas’ chambers.

Bridget Bade, tapped in August to join the Ninth Circuit, has served as a magistrate judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona since 2012. If confirmed, Bade would replace Judge Barry Silverman, who took senior status in October 2016. Before becoming a magistrate judge, Bade was an assistant U.S. attorney in Arizona, working on civil and appellate matters. She had previously spent over a decade in the private sector, working as a shareholder from 1995 to 2005 at the firm Beshears Wallwork Bellamy and from 2005 to 2006 as a special counsel at Steptoe & Johnson.

Karin Immergut was named in June as Trump’s pick for a district judgeship in Oregon. She’s currently a Multnomah County Circuit Court judge, appointed to the seat in 2009. Before that, she served as the U.S. attorney for Oregon, appointed to the post by former President George W. Bush. Immergut, who started off her career as a Covington & Burling associate in Washington, D.C., was also a prosecutor on Ken Starr’s independent counsel probe.

Richard Hertling, up for a seat on the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, was nominated in May. Hertling, a Washington, D.C., lobbyist and previously a longtime Capitol Hill lawyer, is of counsel at Covington. In filings reported by the National Law Journal, he disclosed earnings of around $286,000 in 2017, and $276,000 in 2016. He identified Microsoft, the Motion Picture Association of America, Qualcomm Inc. and the National Association of Broadcasters as some of his clients at Covington. He told the White House of his interest in a federal judgeship, including for a seat on the Court of Federal Claims, as early as February 2017, according to his Senate questionnaire.

Read more:

Allison Rushing, Fourth Circ. Nominee, Defends Experience Before Senators

Covington Lobbyist, Up for Federal Claims Judge, Reveals Firm Pay

Qualcomm Asks 9th Circuit to Intervene in $5B Class Action

DOJ Drums Up Second Threat to a Circuit Court Over DACA Deadline