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Western District awaits new judicial appointments

By: dmc-admin//April 6, 2009//

Western District awaits new judicial appointments

By: dmc-admin//April 6, 2009//

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Although Magistrate Judge Stephen Crocker was not one of the four finalists for U.S. District Court Judge John C. Shabaz’s seat in the Western District of Wisconsin, he is happy that the position is one step closer to being filled.

For the last year, Crocker has been sharing the majority of Shabaz’s workload with Western District Court Chief Judge Barbara B. Crabb, and an appointment cannot come soon enough.

“The sooner we can bring a new district judge in, the better for all concerned,” Crocker said. “We’ve adjusted, but it’s been quite difficult to keep up.”

On March 30, the state’s Federal Nominating Commission selected former state Supreme Court Justice Louis B. Butler Jr., La Crosse County Circuit Court Judge Ramona A. Gonzalez, William M. Conley of Foley & Lardner, LLP, and Stephen J. Meyer of Meyer Law Office as finalists for Shabaz’s seat.

A spokesperson from Sen. Herb Kohl’s office said he will be reviewing the recommendations in early April, and confer with Sen. Russ Feingold about which candidate or candidates to forward to President Barack Obama.

Sharing the Load

Since Shabaz took a leave of absence in February 2008, Crocker said his caseload has almost doubled. In terms of “recordable events” coming to his court, Crocker had 576 civil cases and 958 criminal cases in 2007.

Last year, he had 1,382 civil cases and 1,419 criminal cases.

Crabb also saw increases in her assignments with 371 civil cases and 84 criminal cases in 2007, compared to 533 civil and 165 criminal cases last year.

She recently announced she will seek senior status to allow for a second appointment to be made. At the time of her decision, she said she expects to still handle one-third of the judicial caseload in semi-retirement.

In an article in Wisconsin Law Journal last week, Crabb, 70, indicated that her move will allow the court to better utilize its judicial resources.

Kohl’s office announced on Tuesday that it had activated the Federal Nominating Commission to seek applicants for Crabb’s district court seat.

The court is also in the process of trying to get approval for the new clerk of courts, Peter A. Oppeneer, to serve as a part-time magistrate judge.

In the meantime, Crocker said the court is already assigning trials to whoever succeeds Shabaz.

“Any patent lawsuit where the parties decline jurisdiction is not going to Judge Crabb and we’re leaving them open, under the assumption that a new judge will get them,” Crocker said.

He said the court is scheduling trials for February and March 2010, with the expectation that one or both of the new judges will be in place.

“Maybe our Christmas present will be that the court will be at full strength by then,” Crocker said.

Deep Pool

Crocker was one of 14 applicants for Shabaz’s seat and said he has not given any thought about whether he plans to apply for the second vacancy.

University of Wisconsin Political Science Professor Charles Franklin suggested that the pool of candidates seeking Crabb’s spot will be similar to those who applied for Shabaz’s seat.

“I do think with the opening of a second seat, some of the also-rans now have a second opportunity,” Franklin said. “I would be surprised if we don’t see the same list of names coming forward for the second seat.”

Franklin added that given the district’s need for relief, the commission, senators and White House will be looking for “workhorses and not show horses.”

Neither he nor Crocker ventured a guess as to which of the four current finalists will be appointed, though the magistrate judge said any one of the candidates would be “welcomed with open arms.”

After the initial group of applicants was revealed on March 3, Waukesha County Circuit Court Judge J. Mac Davis suggested that Butler had an inside track after losing last year’s state Supreme Court election.

Last year, Davis applied for the Shabaz’s seat and was nominated by President George W. Bush, but the nomination expired in January and he did not re-apply.

Regardless of who gains the appointment, Crocker said it will be the first step in getting back to a more typical workload.

“We are all looking forward to getting two new Article III judges in and up to speed, so we can get back to something which approaches normal,” Crocker said.

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