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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowIndiana’s judicial nominees to 7th Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana cleared another hurdle on their confirmation paths Thursday, as all three judges received favorable votes from the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee.
Indiana Northern District Court Magistrate Judge Joshua P. Kolar, St. Joseph Superior Judge Cristal C. Brisco and Elkhart Superior Judge Gretchen S. Lund are now in line for votes from the full Senate after their nominations advanced through the committee.
Without discussion, Kolar advanced with a 16-5 vote, Brisco a 14-7 vote and Lund a 20-1 vote at the committee’s executive business meeting Thursday.
All three nominees, and a slew of others, were formally renominated by the Biden administration after Senate Republicans returned their names to the White House on Dec. 20.
There were 20 judicial nominees up for votes at Thursday’s meeting.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, noted that the committee was going through some of the nominees for a third or fourth time.
Kolar received an initial committee vote in September 2023 while Brisco and Lund made their initial committee appearances last month, although a vote on their nominations was never taken before Thursday.
Carl Tobias, a University of Richmond School of Law professor, said before Thursday’s committee meeting that he thought Kolar, Brisco and Lund would have relatively easy votes compared to some of the other judicial nominees.
“I think they could be confirmed in February,” Tobias said.
Kolar was nominated in July 2023 to fill the vacancy on the 7th Circuit created by the 2022 death of Judge Michael Kanne.
Brisco and Lund are seeking to fill the Northern District vacancies created by Judges Theresa Springmann and Jon DeGuilio taking senior status on Jan. 23, 2021, and July 17, 2023, respectively.
Tobias reiterated that all of Indiana’s nominees seem well-qualified, had successful hearings and received strong support from Indiana Republican Sens. Todd Young and Mike Braun.
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