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Kato Crews advances out of Senate Judiciary Committee along party lines

By Michael Karlik 05/11/2023 | updated 2 years ago

President Joe Biden’s latest nominee to be a federal trial judge in Colorado, S. Kato Crews, advanced out of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday with a party-line vote of 11-10.

The committee acted on Crews’ nomination only after U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., returned to Washington, D.C. on Wednesday following an extended absence. The 89-year-old Feinstein was hospitalized for shingles in February and arrived more than an hour late to the committee meeting, where she received a standing ovation from her colleagues.

Prior to the vote, some Republican senators indicated they did not believe Crews, who has served as a federal magistrate judge since 2018, was qualified for a lifetime appointment to the U.S. District Court. Their criticism stemmed from an exchange at Crews’ March confirmation hearing in which he was unable to recall the U.S. Supreme Court decision Brady v. Maryland, which obligates prosecutors to disclose evidence favorable to the defense.

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said Crews was one of a handful of nominees “so beyond the pale” that they “could not have a prayer of even getting a single Republican vote on this committee.”

“When asked about Brady v. Maryland … first-year criminal law, you learn about Brady,” Cruz said, proceeding to misgender Crews, “she said, ‘I’m sorry. I don’t know what Brady is.’ That’ll be a problem if she’s ever presiding over a criminal case. There are a number of members of this committee who have tried criminal cases. Do you know what Brady is? Of course you do. Because if you’re remotely competent, you know what it is.”

Crews practiced in civil law prior to his appointment as a magistrate judge. In Colorado, magistrate judges do not resolve evidentiary disputes implicating Brady.

“One response during a hearing does not negate a lifetime of service,” fired back U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., who chairs the judiciary committee. Durbin pointed out that a committee of the the American Bar Association has rated Crews “well qualified,” and he referenced Crews’ record of trying 18 cases, presiding over half a dozen trials as a magistrate judge and issuing 1,700 orders and recommended decisions in cases.

If confirmed, Crews will succeed U.S. District Court Judge Raymond P. Moore, a Barack Obama appointee who is stepping down to become a semi-retired senior judge next month.

To date, Biden has appointed four of the seven active judges on Colorado’s federal trial court. For the first time, the district court bench now includes former magistrate judges – who are hired by the court to assist with caseloads and handle many of the same duties as their presidentially appointed counterparts. Crews would be the third magistrate judge ever to become a district judge in Colorado.

U.S. Magistrate Judge S. Kato Crews testifies at his confirmation hearing to be a district court judge on March 22, 2023.
Michael Karlik

Reporter

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