{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://norton.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/norton-says-republican-senate-confirms-third-dc-district-court-nominee", "Norton Says Republican Senate Confirms Third D.C. District Court Nominee Without Input from Residents, Comprising Half of All Senate-Confirmed District Court Nominees", "2017-11-28", "2017", "2017-11", "Democrat", "House", "DC", "Eleanor Norton", "N000147", "norton.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON, D.C.\u2014Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) said that yesterday\u2019s Senate confirmation of Dabney Langhorne Friedrich to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia means that half of the six Senate-confirmed district court nominees this year were for the D.C. district court.\u00a0 The other three confirmed nominees were from states with two Republican senators.\u00a0 Norton said the high volume of D.C. district court confirmations shows that the Trump Administration and Senate Republicans are fast-tracking D.C. nominees due to the District\u2019s lack of Senate representation.\u00a0 Thus far, the Senate Judiciary Committee has been observing the traditional \u201cblue-slip\u201d process for district court nominees, which requires both home-state senators to sign off before the committee will consider a nominee.\nUnlike the last three administrations, the Trump administration has not provided Norton with any role in the nomination of federal district court judges and federal law enforcement officials in the District.\u00a0 Norton repeatedly protested and her office worked with the offices of Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and committee member Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), who then requested that all D.C. district court nominees meet with Norton before their committee votes.\n\u201cBy excluding D.C. from the nominating process, the Trump administration is treating the D.C. district court like a patronage center without regard to the D.C. residents who these federal officials must serve,\u201d Norton said.\u00a0 \u201cAlthough the District lacks Senate representation, we had senatorial courtesy in Democratic administrations and courtesy of consultation from the George W. Bush administration.\u00a0 I now meet with President Trump\u2019s nominees, thanks to working with Senate Democrats on the Judiciary Committee, who have insisted that at least that courtesy take place.\u00a0 However, I will continue to insist that the Trump administration fully incorporate D.C. in the nominating process.\u201d\nIn March, Norton wrote Trump requesting that he extend her the courtesy of consulting on the appointment of key federal officials in D.C.\u2014including federal district court judges, the U.S. Attorney and the U.S. Marshals\u2014the same courtesy extended to her by President George W. Bush.\u00a0 Presidents Clinton and Obama extended Norton \u201csenatorial courtesy\u201d to recommend these federal officials in the same manner as Democratic senators, and all of Norton\u2019s recommendations were D.C. residents or committed to residing in the District during their terms.\u00a0 Using the senatorial authority granted by Presidents Clinton and Obama, Norton formed her Federal Law Enforcement Nominating Commission, comprised of distinguished lawyers and laypeople from every ward, chaired by Pauline Schneider, a former president of the D.C. Bar, to screen and recommend candidates.\u00a0 Norton interviewed commission-vetted candidates and submitted names to the president from a list recommended by the commission.\nTo date, Trump has nominated five officials for positions in D.C.\u2014four to the federal district court and the U.S. Attorney\u2014but four of the five are not D.C. residents.\u00a0 Friedrich is not a D.C. resident.\u00a0 Under federal law, in nearly every U.S. jurisdiction, federal district court judges, U.S. Attorneys and U.S. Marshals are required to reside within the jurisdictions where they have been appointed\u2014but no such residency requirement exists for officials serving in the District.\u00a0 In April, Norton introduced a bill to require these officials serving in D.C. to live in D.C.\u00a0 The bill is part of her \u201cFree and Equal D.C.\u201d series of legislation, which insists on equal rights for D.C. residents, which is possible under the Home Rule Act even before the District achieves statehood.\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://norton.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/norton-says-republican-senate-confirms-third-dc-district-court-nominee"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9229620918631554, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}