August 4, 2003
We applaud the Wisconsin Federal Nominating Commission and its co-chairs, Dean
Joseph Kearney and Professor Frank Tuerkheimer, for completing its work on an
expedited schedule and making a recommendation of four candidates for the
vacancy on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.
Our goal in insisting on using the Commission for this important vacancy was to
remove
the judicial selection process from partisan politics as much as possible. We
are proud of the role that the Commission has played in filling judicial
vacancies in Wisconsin over the past 24 years, and we thank Chairman
Sensenbrenner for working with us to appoint this Commission and supporting its
work.
We each plan to interview the four candidates recommended by the Commission this
month and then decide together which names to pass on to the White House. If
the White House nominates a candidate from the slate that we recommend, the
nominee will have our full support and we will do everything we can to expedite
his or her confirmation.
