Isle nominee gets
Senate hearing
The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing yesterday on President Bush's nominee to the Hawaii federal court, but no action on the nomination is in sight as Congress works toward adjourning for the year.
J. Michael Seabright: Awaits action in Senate on his nomination as a federal court judge
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, the committee's chairman, noted yesterday that Seabright has been nominated to a seat that has been vacant nearly five years.
"I am hopeful that the Senate will move quickly on his nomination, and I am confident that Mr. Seabright will ably fill that long-vacant seat," Hatch said in his statement.
The next step is for the committee to take up the nominees in an executive business meeting, said Margarita Tapia, press secretary for Hatch and the committee. No such meeting has been scheduled, she said.
If approved by the committee, Seabright's nomination would move to the full Senate for confirmation.
But Congress is at the end of a lame-duck session, and if Seabright isn't confirmed before it ends, his confirmation would be delayed until the new Congress convenes, or possibly scuttled altogether.
If Seabright's nomination doesn't make it to the Senate floor, he and 11 others nominated to federal judicial posts that are pending before the committee would be sent back to the White House, Tapia said. President Bush could then renominate them or choose other nominees, she said.
"This Congress isn't over yet," Tapia said. "We're optimistic there will be some action on the judicial nomination front this year."
Seabright received an enthusiastic introduction yesterday from Hawaii Sens. Daniel Akaka and Daniel Inouye. The two island Democrats are not members of the Judiciary Committee.
Akaka noted in his statement to the committee that Hawaii is experiencing a "judicial emergency" because the federal court is short-staffed.
Hawaii's chief judge, U.S. District Judge David Ezra, noted recently that the lack of a fourth judge has put his district in "crisis," forcing delays, especially in federal civil trials.
Seabright, who introduced his wife, Margaret Sun Dho Ahn, a deputy state attorney general, and their children, Kate and Nick, to the committee, said he would reserve comment until the Senate takes action.
"I think at this point I'm honored to be nominated, and now, we'll just have to wait and see," he said.
Seabright, 45, has prosecuted several high-profile cases in Hawaii, including the bribery case against Honolulu liquor commissioners and the money-laundering case against former Bishop Estate trustee Lokelani Lindsey. He also prosecuted former state Sen. Milton Holt in a campaign spending-related case.
If confirmed, Seabright would succeed U.S. District Judge Alan Kay, who took semiretired senior status in January 2000.