Wilhelmina Wright's chances in Congress for federal judgeship said to be good

U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who, along with fellow Minnesota Sen. Al Franken, recommended Wright, said in an interview this week that she is hopeful Wright will be confirmed before the end of the year. Prof. Carl Tobias of the University of Richmond in Virginia, who follows judicial nominations, said he thinks it will take longer, but believes Wright will be confirmed by March.

Wright is a rising judicial star nationally and is believed to be on President Obama's radar. She was just a year behind First Lady Michelle Obama at Harvard University Law School, graduating in 1989, and serves on several prestigious boards in Minnesota. She is the only jurist in Minnesota history to serve as a state district court judge, appellate court judge, and state Supreme Court justice. She would become the first black female federal judge in Minnesota history.

Klobuchar and Franken both sit on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which held a hearing on her nomination last month.

"She did a good job in the hearing, she was very prepared and we appreciated her humble manner," Klobuchar said. "At this point, we don't expect any problems except the general issue of gridlock, and I am a specialist at getting around that."

Klobuchar calls Wright a "no-drama nominee." She told the Senate judiciary committee in July that "she'll make a fine district judge." Then in a friendly nod toward Sen. Charles Grassley, judiciary committee chair and a Republican, Klobuchar added, "You would even like her in Iowa."

Said Grassley, "You have had several Republicans from Minnesota call me in support of her nomination."

Wright's supporters include former U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman. "I fully support her nomination and have communicated that to my former colleagues," Coleman said in an e-mail Wednesday. U.S. Rep. Erik Paulsen's office confirmed that he too had told Grassley he endorsed Wright's nomination.

The judiciary committee is expected to vote on the nomination Sept. 17.

Klobuchar noted that Grassley has two Iowans in the pipeline whom he is trying to get approved as federal judges. So that is likely to help Wright get confirmed as part of a package.

Fourteen judicial nominees are ahead of Wright awaiting a Senate confirmation vote.

Prof. Tobias noted that the political standoff in the Senate has led to the confirmation of only four federal judges this year and that the Senate is on track to have the fewest confirmed judges approved since 1969. Of those four, three were from Texas, which has two Republican senators and where there was a huge backlog of cases. One federal judge was approved from Utah, which also has two Republican senators.

In the 113th Congress (2013 and 2014) when the Democrats controlled the Senate, more than 100 judges were confirmed and the slowdown in confirmations this year with the Republicans now in the majority "is kind of a payback for that," Tobias said.

Randy Furst 612-673-4224 Twitter: @randyfurst