Senate will vote on 8th Circuit Court of Appeals nominee Jane Kelly next week

Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals nominee Assistant Federal Public Defender Jane Kelly is expected to get a vote by the U.S. Senate next week.

Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, made the announcement Thursday after the Senate floor schedule was released. The day or time next week is to be determined by the majority leader and Republican leader of the Senate. They will discuss the nomination in executive session and have the regular 30 minutes of debate and then take a vote.

The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee approved Kelly last month by a bipartisan voice vote. If confirmed next week, Kelly will become only the second woman to serve in the history of the appeals court and the first public defender to serve on the bench since 1891. Pres. Obama has appointed 100 former prosecutors to the federal bench.

Harkin recommended Kelly, a public defender since 1994 with the Northern District of Iowa, in late 2012 to Pres. Obama to replace now retired Judge Michael Melloy. Kelly was formally nominated by the President Jan. 31.

Kelly's nomination has moved more quickly through the process than other Pres. Obama's judicial nominees. Sen. Chuck Grassley told Senate Democrats on Thursday to "Quit crying," in regards to their criticism over judicial nominees getting "slow-walked" in the Senate just before two of Obama's federal district judge nominees, Analisa Torres and Derrick Kahala Watson, were confirmed. Grassley said he was "tired of these crocodile tears being shed."