Raag Singhal confirmed!

The vote was 76-17.  Congratulations to our newest federal judge!  Woohoo!

Raag Singhal to be confirmed today (UPDATED)

Most of the country will be focused on the impeachment vote today. But the Trump judge machine is still operating and another slate of district judges will be confirmed today, including our own Raag Singhal this afternoon. Judge Singhal is great, so say what you will about Trump, but we are getting a good one!

UPDATE -- looks like it will actually be tomorrow (Thursday).

Breaking: Gov. DeSantis Appoints SDFL AFPD and AUSA to State Court Bench, Elevates Former AUSA

Assistant Federal Public Defender Ayana Harris and AUSA Miesha Darrough are joining the state court bench, two of four new County Court judges named today by Gov. Ron DeSantis. Former AUSA and current County Court Judge Robert Watson is being elevated to the Circuit Court, along with two other County Court judges. The Governor just made the announcement at a press conference at the University of Miami, where he presented his latest seven judicial appointees.

Harris is a Howard Law grad and has been a member of the Florida Bar since 2002. She first served as a state public defender and since 2008 has been an Assistant Federal Public Defender.

Darrough is also a graduate of Howard University Law School and has been a member of the Florida Bar since 2005. She served as an Assistant State Attorney from 2005 to 2014, including as a felonies Division Chief. Darrough then joined the U.S. Attorney’s Office, where she is currently Special Counsel to U.S. Attorney Ariana Fajardo Orshan.

Watson is a Stanford Law grad and has been a Florida lawyer since 2003. He practiced at Steel Hector & Davis and Holland & Knight before serving as an AUSA from 2011 to 2016. After two years at Kobre & Kim, he was appointed to the County Court by then-Gov. Rick Scott in January 2019.

Congratulations to all of the appointees!

In defense of former Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin

So the outgoing Kentucky Governor did the right thing and issued a bunch of pardons as some of  his last acts in office, and the local prosecutors are not happy about it.  From the Washington Post:

Former Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin (R) on Friday night defended his controversial pardons as reflections of America’s foundational “support for redemption,” a statement that followed a Republican state leader’s call for a federal investigation into Bevin’s actions.
The former governor, who lost his bid for reelection in November, made national headlines this week after he pardoned hundreds of people during his final days in office, including a man convicted of reckless homicide, a child rapist and a woman who threw her newborn in the trash. In one case, Bevin pardoned a man convicted of homicide who was the brother of one of the former governor’s campaign donors.
The pardons outraged local attorneys and prosecutors, who said they were not consulted during the process. As the backlash continued to build Friday, Republicans in the Kentucky state Senate issued a statement blasting Bevin.

He responded:

On Friday, Bevin responded to his critics in a series of 20 tweets. He said he spent “hundreds of hours” reviewing pardon applications and made each decision based on the “set of facts, evidence, lack of evidence, supporting documents, reasons and unique details.”
Bevin added it was “highly offensive and entirely false” for anyone to suggest “political or financial considerations” played a role in his decisions.
“The criminal justice system is intended to find the proper balance between justice for the victims and rehabilitation for the offenders. When it is not possible to guarantee more of either being accomplished by further incarceration, it is reasonable for a person to be considered for either a commutation or a pardon,” Bevin wrote. “This is never an exact science. … The entire criminal justice system hinges upon the judgment of third parties.
Bevin, a devout Christian, also strongly defended himself from charges he endangered public safety.
“Not one person receiving a pardon would I not welcome as a co-worker, neighbor, or to sit beside me or any member of my family in a church pew or at a public event,” he wrote. “No community is either more or less safe now, than it was before the pardons and commutations given over the past four years.”

Good for Bevin and shame on the critics. We put way too many people in jail for way too long. The fact that the Governor used his pardon power as it was intended should be applauded. If we are serious about criminal justice reform, we should be encouraging this sort of behavior.

A new hope

There's been a lot of talk about how the new judges (both district and circuit) will be on criminal justice issues.  One of those judges, Roy Altman, is already distinguishing himself as independent, smart, and not just another government rubber-stamp.  Here's his latest order (which demonstrates those qualities), dismissing a hung count after trial.