Judge breezes through committee appearance
Merriam on way to likely US Appeals court confirmation
Newly appointed federal district Judge Sarah A.L. Merriam had no difficulty Wednesday with questions from members of the U.S. Senate judiciary committee on the way to what appears will be an easy confirmation to a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Merriam, a former federal public defender and U.S. Magistrate Judge, was confirmed as a U.S. district judge in October. President Joseph P. Biden nominated her a month ago for elevation to the federal appeals court in New York. Her committee appearance started the Senate confirmation process.
Even as Merriam appeared at the Senate, the White House was running background checks on two prospective nominees for a third Connecticut seat on the circuit court — one a member of the state Supreme Court and a second a member of the Yale Law School. For years, it had been accepted that Connecticut had two seats on appeals court, which takes cases from Connecticut, Vermont and New York. But U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-conn, said earlier this year his research shows Connecticut has historically had three appointments and that New York’s senior U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer agreed to give one up.
Blumenthal and fellow Democrat U.S. Sen. Christopher Murphy recommended Merriam to the White House for both the district and circuit judgeships and, in doing so, repeated Biden’s call to diversify the federal judiciary with what the president has called non-traditional judges. Biden has said he incudes federal defenders such as Merriam in his diversity goals.
“I thought she did incredibly well,” University of Richmond law professor Carl Tobias, who tracks federal judicial nominations, said of Merriam’s committee appearance.
“She was calm. She was articulate. She talked about her work as a federal defender, as a magistrate judge and as a federal district judge. She seemed clear about the role of a judge, saying she would apply the law and the facts, apply precedent,” Tobias said. “None of the questions from the GOP senators came as a surprise to her. So I would say she is in great shape. I think she will be quickly confirmed.”
Merriam’s nomination to the appeals court is moving forward with unusual speed as Democrats, who narrowly control the Senate, seek to confirm her before the midterm election contests heat up and they risk losing control of the chamber in November. Observers of the confirmation process predict she will be endorsed by the Judiciary Committee by June and confirmed by July.
Blumenthal, a member of the committee, introduced Merriam, who was a law clerk for former governor and federal appeals court Judge Thomas Meskill and U.S. District Judge Alvin Thompson.
“She’s a litigator’s litigator,” Blumenthal told the committee. “She has shown her dedication to the law, not just to winning in court, but to fairness and justice as a public defender for eight years, as a litigator
in private practice, and then as a judge magistrate. I spent a good deal of my career in federal court. I consider myself a trial lawyer. She’s the kind of trial lawyer and judge that I would like to have participating in any matter where I was involved.”
Merriam took questions from Utah Republican Mike Lee about the immigration status of litigants in labor standards cases and about rights not specifically enumerated in the Constitution. Some of the committee’s toughest questioners were not present during her appearance.
Merriam would replace U.S. Circuit Judge Susan Carney, former deputy general counsel at Yale University, nominated by President Barak Obama and confirmed in 2011. Merriam’s elevation opens another seat on the federal district court.
Merriam, who grew up in New Haven, attended Georgetown University as an undergraduate and law school at the University of Connecticut and Yale University. Prior to becoming an assistant federal defender, she served as an associate at the law firm of Cowdery, Ecker & Murphy in Hartford.
She also worked as political director to a state employee union local and managed or helped manage campaigns for two Democratic U.S. senators — Murphy and former U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd.