Op-Eds and Blogs

<b> Originally printed in The Wall Street Journal, May 15th, 2013 </b> In January, for the first time since the Benghazi terrorist attack of Sept. 11, 2012, Hillary Clinton faced the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to testify about the attack. In response to my persistent questioning about what the State Department knew about the nature of the attack, the former secretary of state famously exclaimed: "What difference, at this point, does it make?" New testimony by State Department whistleblowers and an Interim Progress Report prepared by five House Committees show what a huge difference it makes when members of the administration ignore repeated warnings of growing danger, deny requests for additional security and then attempt to cover up their negligence. That dereliction of duty ultimately resulted in the death of four Americans.

Mauston attorney William T. Curran was one of six named this week to the Wisconsin Federal Nominating Commission, which is charged with moving federal nominations forward, including vacant federal judgeships in Wisconsin. Curran was one of three attorneys tapped for the commission by Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, who worked with Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin, who named the other three members, to create the commission. “No reservations,” Curran said about accepting the invitation from Johnson. “I’ve done it before, so I know the drill.” The commission is charged with naming candidates for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern and Western districts of Wisconsin, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and federal attorneys for the state’s Eastern and Western districts.

Sens. Tammy Baldwin and Ron Johnson have agreed to establish a six-member commission to recommend candidates for filling federal judicial vacancies in Wisconsin. The Wisconsin Federal Nominating Commission will be responsible for advising the senators on nominees to serve on the U.S. District Court and the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. The panel also will consider candidates to serve as U.S. attorney for the eastern and western districts of the state. The senators chose three members each from the Wisconsin State Bar to serve on the commission. Baldwin appointed Michelle Behnke, a past president of the state bar; Frederic Fleishauer, a former Portage County circuit judge; and Barbara Zack Quindel, a labor lawyer. Johnson named William Curran, with Curran, Hollenbeck; Orton, S.C.; Richard Esenberg, president and general counsel at the Wisconsin Institute for Law; Liberty; and Paul Swanson, a partner in the Oshkosh firm of Steinhilber, Swanson, Mares, Marone & McDermott. Baldwin, D-Madison, who last November became the first woman from Wisconsin and first openly gay person to be elected to the Senate, said filling judicial vacancies has been a top priority since she was sworn in in January.

Washington, D.C. – Wisconsin’s two US Senators have reached an agreement that could pave the way to fill key state vacancies on the federal bench after a lengthy partisan impasse in the confirmation process. The new system gives Republican Sen. Ron Johnson more say in the process than he had under the old system. Vacancies include Wisconsin’s designated seat on the Seventh Circuit US Court of Appeals in Chicago and other federal judgeships. The new agreement between Democrat Tammy Baldwin and Republican Johnson alters the makeup of a state nominating commission long used by Wisconsin senators to screen applicants for federal judge and US Attorney and recommend finalists for the White House to choose from.