Senate Republicans questioned a Biden appellate nominee over her productivity as a district judge, pressing her on why she hasn’t moved cases faster.
Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and John Kennedy (R-La.) led the GOP grilling of Nancy Maldonado on Wednesday at her Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing to a seat on the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.
They zeroed-in on her record over nearly two years as a judge for the Northern District of Illinois, which includes Chicago.
They complained about her civil case docket, which included 125 motions pending longer than six months as of last Sept. 30, according to the latest available statistics. That was higher than other trial court judges in the district, before which 672 motions were pending in 1,726 cases. Republicans say she also ranked high among judges in the entire Seventh Circuit and nationally for motions pending.
“Help me understand why you have such an abysmal record in moving cases. It costs a lot of money to litigate and people are paying lawyers and time is money,” said Kennedy.
Maldonado said she’s “still working” at reducing the number of motions before her and pushed back on criticism of her record, saying she stresses the quality of her decision-making.
“I stand by my record and I give parties what they need,” she said in a tense exchange with Kennedy. “I’m regularly in my courtroom. I’m regularly issuing decisions. I just came on at a very difficult time when there was a backlog in the courts.”
She explained that she inherited 300 cases with existing motions when she took the bench in October of 2022. Covid-related disruptions in court operations, colleague retirements, and a regular stream of new cases added more to her docket.
The Columbia Law graduate was previously a partner at Miner, Barnhill & Galland in Chicago and a former clerk for former US District Judge Rubén Castillo on the Northern District of Illinois.
If confirmed, Maldonado would replace Ilana Rovner, the first woman appointed to the Seventh Circuit. She announced in January that she would take senior status, a form of semi-retirement.
—With assistance from Suzanne Monyak and Tiana Headley
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