Two Iowa federal judge nominees go before Senate Judiciary Committee next week

Sen. Chuck Grassley, chairman of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, on Wednesday announced that a nominations hearing for Iowa federal judge nominees U.S. Magistrate Leonard Strand and Fifth Judicial District Judge Rebecca Ebinger is scheduled for next week.

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.

The Northern District has been declared a judicial emergency because there is only one active judge, Chief Judge Linda Reade.

The nominees will have a hearing before the judiciary committee on Wednesday, Grassley said in a statement. The committee is responsible for approving the President's Article III judicial nominations, including nominees to the U.S. Supreme Court, 13 circuit courts and 94 district courts, including Iowa's two district courts.

'Both Judge Strand and Judge Ebinger have impeccable credentials and have been through a rigorous application process, by both my commission and the White House,” Grassley said in a statement. 'I appreciate the White House working with me to move these outstanding Iowans forward. I look forward to seeing both nominees next week before my committee.”

Grassley and other Republicans have taken some heat in recent months from Democrats and groups supporting the courts, saying they have been 'obstructionists” by not allowing judge nominees to get a Senate vote and fill the 67 vacancies in courts across the country.

Carl Tobias, a University of Richmond School of Law professor and federal judiciary expert, said Wednesday that Strand and Ebinger will skip ahead of other nominees in line for a hearing. Strand will only skip one that was nominated before him, but Ebinger will be jumping over 11 who were nominated before her.

Grassley previously said he wouldn't do that, but Tobias said other chairs in the past have moved their recommendations forward over others.