Alabama Judge Nomination Sparks Tension
With the death of Supreme Chief Justice Antonin Scalia, the fight over judicial appointments to federal judgeships has only grown more intense. Alabama’s seat on the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta has been vacant for two years. Earlier this month, President Barack Obama nominated federal judge Abdul Kallon to fill the seat.
Several prominent lawyers, judges, and U.S. Representative Terri Sewell held a press conference on Saturday in downtown Birmingham in support of Judge Abdul Kallon’s nomination to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Sewell, who is a lawyer and has worked with Judge Kallon, said that his nomination will will a vacancy in the court and a void in diversity among federal judges. There are only two African American federal judges in Alabama, and only one African American judge on the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The case for increasing the number of black federal judges in the state of Alabama is clear,” Sewell stated. “The selection of this nation’s federal judges should not be a partisan issue.”
Federal judges are nominated by the President and then confirmed or rejected at a Senate hearing. Following Kallon’s nomination by President Obama, Alabama Senators Jeff Sessions and Richard Shelby released a joint statement opposing the choice.
Kallon is currently a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama. Both Shelby and Sessions supported his nomination to that seat back in 2009.
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals serves Alabama, Florida, and Georgia. According to the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, the court’s case backlog is considered a ‘judicial emergency.’
‘The Abandons’ is a sudsy soap opera dressed up in spurs and a cowboy hat
On the surface it's a gorgeous, hardscrabble Western, awash in stark landscapes, grubby faces, bar fights and banditry. But scratch away the grime, and you expose the pure, glitzy soap opera beneath.
Sudanese paramilitary drone attack kills 50, including 33 children, doctor group says
Thursday's attack is the latest in the fighting between the paramilitary group, the Rapid Support Forces, also known as the RSF, and the Sudanese military, who have been at war for over two years.
Russia unleashes drone and missile attack on Ukraine as diplomatic talks continue
Russia unleashed a major missile and drone barrage on Ukraine overnight into Saturday, after U.S. and Ukrainian officials said they'll meet on Saturday for talks aimed at ending the war.
Takeaways from the latest special election and what it means for control of the House
There was yet another sign this week of a potential 2026 wave that could hand control of the House of Representatives to Democrats.
West Virginians question National Guard deployments after attack on 2 of their own
Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom was fatally shot in Washington, D.C., while Air Force Staff Sergeant Andrew Wolfe was seriously wounded. Trump says the deployments are necessary to fight crime, but others disagree.
Trump official signals potential rollback of changes to census racial categories
Trump officials are reviewing changes to racial and ethnic categories that the Biden administration approved for the 2030 census and other federal government forms, a White House agency official says.
