Senate Judiciary Hearing on DOJ’s Hughes Nomination to Federal Circuit Uncontroversial

Todd M. Hughes, currently a deputy director at the U.S. Department of Justice, faced only one inquisitor in the June 19 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on his nomination to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Hughes and fellow nominee Raymond T. Chen, Patent and Trademark Office solicitor, were nominated to the court by President Obama on Feb. 7 (27 DER A-6, 2/8/13) to fill vacancies created when, respectively, Judges Richard Linn and William C. Bryson assumed senior status (219 DER A-7, 11/14/12).

Chen was approved by the committee in a unanimous voice ...