Judiciary
seventh Circuit nominee faces questions on motions backlog
U.S. District Decide Nancy Maldonado of the Northern District of Illinois has the seventh-highest backlog of motions pending for not less than six months amongst all federal judges on the trial stage. (Picture by the U.S. District Court docket for the Northern District of Illinois, PD US Courts, by way of Wikimedia Commons)
A nominee to a federal appeals court docket primarily based in Chicago defended her document as a district choose when Republican senators criticized her case backlogs throughout a Senate Judiciary Committee listening to final week.
U.S. District Decide Nancy Maldonado of the Northern District of Illinois has the seventh-highest backlog of motions pending for not less than six months amongst all federal judges on the trial stage, Republicans stated in the course of the listening to. She at the moment has 125 pending motions.
Law360, Courthouse News Service and Reuters have protection.
Maldonado has been nominated to the seventh U.S. Circuit Court docket of Appeals at Chicago. If confirmed, she could be the primary Hispanic choose on the seventh Circuit.
Maldonado’s motions backlog is worse than some other district choose within the seventh Circuit, Republican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana stated in the course of the listening to. In accordance with Reuters, Kennedy requested: “You actually consider all the opposite district judges within the seventh Circuit, you’re the one which should be promoted primarily based on this document?”
Maldonado stated she was assigned about 300 circumstances with pending motions when she grew to become a federal choose in August 2022, and her caseload elevated to 360 after the retirement of three judges.
Maldonado stated she is “a really concerned choose,” in accordance with protection by Law360. “I commute with my legislation clerks on drafts. It’s not generally probably the most speedy course of,” she stated.
Maldonado has been rated well qualified by the ABA Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary.
