BENCHED

Who’s To Blame For Openly Gay Judicial Nominee Edward DuMont Not Getting A Hearing?

When President Barack Obama nominated Edward DuMont to serve as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, it seemed that DuMont might become the first out gay appellate judge in the country. But after waiting more than 18 months for a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on his nomination, DuMont formally asked Obama to withdraw his nomination because, “drawing the process out further does not seem either sensible for me or fair to the Federal Circuit, which has important work to do and deserves to be able to address it with a full complement of active judges.” So are the committtee’s Republicans or Democrats to blame for holding up his hearing?

According to Chris Geidner at Metro Weekly:

Democratic committee spokespeople have said that Republicans had held up the nomination, although Republican committee spokespeople pointed out that the chairman of the committee, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) could call for a hearing on the nomination at any time.

Geidner told Queerty that appellate court nominee Victoria Nourse has also been held up indefinitely from serving on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Because she co-authored the Violence Against Women Act with Vice President Joe Biden, one has to wonder about the politics at play in her and DuMont’s case.

Goodwin Liu also got held up as a Ninth Circuit nominee but now she’s a Justice on the California Supreme Court, so perhaps DuMont’s loss here will yield an eventual high gain later down the line.

Don't forget to share:

Help make sure LGBTQ+ stories are being told...

We can't rely on mainstream media to tell our stories. That's why we don't lock Queerty articles behind a paywall. Will you support our mission with a contribution today?

Cancel anytime · Proudly LGBTQ+ owned and operated