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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe nomination of James Sweeney II to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana is scheduled for a vote Thursday by the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary.
Sweeney, partner at Barnes & Thornburg, was nominated for the federal bench by President Donald Trump in November 2017 and appeared before the judiciary committee Jan. 10. The vote on his appointment to the Southern Indiana District Court is set for 10:30 a.m. Feb. 8.
If approved by the committee, Sweeney’s nomination will proceed for a vote by the full Senate. He would then be the second nominee the judiciary committee has recommended to fill the empty seat in the Southern Indiana District Court which was created when Judge Sarah Evans Barker took senior status about three and a half years ago. In 2016, the committee, approved Winfield Ong by a unanimous voice but the Senate never voted on his nomination.
Along with his testimony, Sweeney did submit answers to written questions from Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-Rhode Island, Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, and Kamala Harris, D-California.
Whitehouse and Harris focused on a judge’s role in applying the law and following precedent. Hirono asked whether Sweeney had ever sexual harassed anyone or entered into a settlement because of such behavior. He answered no to both questions.
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