Federal Iowa judicial nominees pass through Senate Judiciary Committee

Federal Iowa judicial candidates U.S. Magistrate Leonard Strand and Rebecca Fifth Judicial District Judge Ebinger will next go before the U.S. Senate for a vote but that vote may not come until 2017. Sen. Chuck Grassley, chairman of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, introduced the two Wednesday during a nominations hearing and both were approved, along with two other nominees for courts in New York and California.

'I'm biased of course, but I must say in my humble opinion Judges Strand and Ebinger are two of the best judicial candidates President Obama has nominated during his presidency,” Grassley said in a statement to the committee on Wednesday.

Grassley recommended Strand for the Northern District vacancy and Ebinger for the Southern District after an extensive effort by a Judicial Selection Commission that Grassley formed when two judges in each district announced they would take senior status. Pres. Obama nominated the two in July and September.

Grassley introduced Jeff Goodman, one of those commissioners, who attended the hearing on Wednesday.

Carl Tobias, a University of Richmond School of Law professor and federal judiciary expert, said Wednesday he doesn't see the Iowa nominees getting a Senate vote until 2017 and that's based on nominations this year. There have only been eight judges approved this year. He again pointed out that Ebinger has 11 nominees, some for emergency vacancies, ahead of her. Strand has one who was nominated before him.

Tobias said the only way they could get a vote earlier is if Grassley bumps them ahead of many others.