Senate confirms LA County Judge Anne Hwang to federal bench

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Anne Hwang was confirmed Monday to a federal judgeship in the Central District of California by a 48-43 vote of the U.S. Senate.

The vote on President Joe Biden's nominee was divided along partisan lines. Nine senators did not vote.

The Senate voted 51-48 on Nov. 20 to cut off debate on her nomination, with U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-ME, crossing party lines to support Hwang. U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, I-WV, who has played a wild card role in Biden's contested nominations in recent months, did not vote on the motion to cut off debate.

Appointed to the state court in 2019 by Gov. Gavin Newsom, Hwang previously worked for a dozen years as a federal public defender in the Central District and became chief deputy federal public defender in 2018.

Before that, she was an associate at Irell & Manella LLP and graduated from USC Gould School of Law in 2002.

Hwang will replace Senior U.S. District Judge George H. Wu, an appointee of President George W. Bush. He took senior status Nov. 3.

She faced no questions during her Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in July. The committee vote was 11-10, with all 11 Democrats voting for her and all Republicans against.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, has been pushing Biden's judicial nominees forward despite attempts by Senate Republican Leader John Thune, R-SD, to slow down the process with procedural maneuvers and lobbying by President-elect Donald Trump urging GOP senators to block Biden's judicial nominees.

Democrats struck a deal during the week before Thanksgiving in which they agreed to give up trying to confirm Biden's four remaining circuit court nominees in exchange for Senate Republicans throwing up fewer procedural roadblocks to an undetermined number of district court nominees for Senate floor votes.

Those nominees include State Bar Judge Cynthia Valenzuela Dixon, nominated to another Central District vacancy, and Alameda County Superior Court Judge Noel Wise, picked to fill a vacancy on the Northern District of California. The Senate voted 50-49 to cut off debate on their nominations last month, with Manchin not voting.

Senate floor votes are expected on the nominations of Valenzuela Dixon and Wise soon, perhaps this week. "We hope to move them through as quickly as possible," Schumer said Monday.

Democrats have until Jan. 3, 2025, to confirm Biden's outstanding judicial nominations, when Republicans will take control of the Senate following their victories in the Nov. 5 elections, ending a four-year run during which Democrats controlled the chamber by a narrow majority.

Two other Biden nominees, U.S. Magistrate Judge Benjamin J. Cheeks of San Diego - nominated for a Southern District vacancy - and Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Serena R. Murillo - picked for a Central District vacancy - had confirmation hearings Nov. 20 before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

They still need approval by the committee and the full Senate before this session of Congress ends.

A third Biden nominee for the Southern District, San Diego County Superior Court Judge Rebecca S. Kanter, has not had a judiciary committee hearing.

Carl W. Tobias, a professor at the University of Richmond School of Law, said Cheeks and Murillo were not part of the pre-Thanksgiving deal but may be confirmed if they can get judiciary committee and floor votes by Jan. 3. Kanter, he said, is doomed.

"Democrats are out of time for Kanter because she never had a [judiciary committee] hearing" even though Biden nominated her in January, he added. She had been nominated to fill the seat of Senior U.S. District Judge William Q. Hayes of San Diego, an appointee of President George W. Bush.

The vacancy created by Hayes, who took senior status in August 2021, will be filled by Trump.