The fight over a key federal court boiled over on Capitol Hill last week as Republicans blocked another Obama administration nominee to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
Georgetown law professor Cornelia Pillard on Nov. 12 became the third D.C. Circuit nominee to get caught up in the politics of the U.S. Senate. Republicans thwarted the nominations of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld partner Patricia Millett on Oct. 31 and, in March, New York County, N.Y., district attorney’s office general counsel Caitlin Halligan. The D.C. Circuit nomination of Robert Wilkins, now a judge in Washington’s federal district court, is also expected to be blocked.
