U.S. Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper on Friday recommended three men to the White House to fill an upcoming vacancy on Colorado’s seven-member federal trial court.

The candidates are U.S. Magistrate Judges S. Kato Crews and Gordon P. Gallagher, as well as Sundeep K. “Rob” Addy, an attorney in private practice. Whomever the Biden administration nominates will succeed U.S. District Court Judge William J. Martínez, an appointee of Barack Obama who is taking a form of semi-retirement known as senior status.

Although presidents appoint federal judges, senators exert significant influence over the process, more so with trial court vacancies. Prior to this latest round of candidates, Bennet and Hickenlooper have contributed to the nomination of three district court candidates and the appointment of one of them, Judge Regina M. Rodriguez.

The other two nominees, Charlotte N. Sweeney and Nina Y. Wang, have not yet received Senate confirmation. Sweeney, a workers’ rights attorney, has been waiting since August for a vote, the longest of any of Biden’s nominees. Wang, a magistrate judge who Biden nominated in January, still has not received a hearing before the Senate’s judiciary committee.

Spokespersons for Bennet and Hickenlooper’s offices declined to comment on the record on Friday about the reasons for the delay.

Gallagher previously appeared on the shortlist for the district court nomination that ultimately went to Wang. Based in Grand Junction, he has been a federal magistrate judge since 2012 and is also a criminal defense attorney. Gallagher was previously a deputy district attorney for Mesa County and is a 1996 graduate of the University of Denver’s law school.

Crews has been a magistrate judge in the Denver courthouse since 2018. Prior to that, he helped found a Greenwood Village-based law firm that handles business litigation and defends employers against civil lawsuits. Crews graduated from the University of Arizona’s law school and early in his career was an attorney in the U.S. National Labor Relations Board’s Denver office. 

Addy is a partner at the firm of Bartlit Beck and has been involved in cases across 18 federal trial courts and three federal appeals courts. Recently, he helped the Colorado Attorney General’s Office investigate Aurora’s police and fire departments, ultimately finding a pattern of racial bias and excessive force. Addy graduated from the University of Texas School of Law and is a former journalist for PBS.

The vacancy date is Feb. 10, 2023, when Martínez will take senior status.