This morning Judges Gerety and Tomasi appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee for their confirmation hearings. Judge Mello is expected to visit with the Committee next week. The hearings went quickly and were without any controversy. Due to the press of Senate business as the session winds down, neither interview lasted for more than 15 minutes and both were conducted before two or three of the five committee members. I’m sure the confirmation votes will be unanimous once the other members are briefed on the conversations. Each judge was asked a different set of questions though. Judge Gerety was asked about sitting in the family division and about consistency in sentencing. Judge Tomasi was asked about what becoming a judge requires one to ‘give up”. He was also asked about bias in favor of the state because of his tenure as an assistant attorney general. He assured the committee that is not an issue.
I mentioned S. 101 in yesterday’s post. I can report that the House Judiciary Committee voted the bill out with a small amendment designed to remove any doubt in a paragraph dealing with the court’s authority in waiving part of a surcharge. It will pass the House and I’m confident the Senate will concur.
Thanks for reading. Have a great spring weekend. The session will resume on Monday afternoon in what we all hope is the last week.