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The path for U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana Magistrate Judge Joshua Kolar to fill a vacancy on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals now comes down to just one vote after the Senate Judiciary Committee endorsed his nomination Thursday.
Kolar’s nomination advanced through the Judiciary Committee by a 16-5 vote. His nomination will now go before the full Senate to fill the vacancy created by the death last summer of Judge Michael Kanne.
Carl Tobias, a University of Richmond School of Law professor, reiterated that he thought Kolar would be confirmed by the full Senate this year, likely some time in the fall.
“It’s clear he’s going to get a strong bipartisan vote,” Tobias said.
Kolar previously appeared before the committee Sept. 6 and took questions from several senators during a hearing.
There was no discussion about Kolar prior to the committee’s Thursday vote.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, did single out Indiana Republican Sens. Todd Young and Mike Braun, as well as Republican Sens. Roger Marshall and Jerry Moran from Kansas, for their efforts in working with the White House to bring forward nominees to fill judicial vacancies in a bipartisan manner.
“I hope others will follow the examples set by the senators from Indiana and Kansas,” Durbin said, noting there are still 44 district court vacancies eligible to be filled in states with at least one Republican senator.
Of those 44 vacancies, only four nominees have been announced so far, Durbin said.
Tobias said he didn’t know what Kolar’s final confirmation vote totals will look like, but he predicted they will be strong like they were for Judge Doris Pryor, who was confirmed to the 7th Circuit last year.
The Senate sent Pryor — who had been a magistrate like Kolar — to the 7th Circuit with a 60-31 vote.
Tobias said he hoped there would be movement in the Senate to fill other federal judicial vacancies.
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