District of Columbia Superior Court Judges Patricia Broderick and Neal Kravitz are approaching the end of their first terms on the bench and are seeking reappointment, according to an announcement from the local commission that reviews D.C. judges.
The District of Columbia Commission on Judicial Tenure and Disabilities is asking for public comment by May 31 on Broderick and Kravitz's performance over the past 15 years. The associate judges' terms will expire October 21, and the commission is required to submit a report to the White House by August 21.
Broderick and Kravitz will be automatically reappointed for a second 15-year term if the commission finds them "well qualified." If they're found "qualified," President Barack Obama can renominate them for consideration by the U.S. Senate, which confirms the District's local judges. If they're found "unqualified," they can't be reappointed.
Broderick currently handles a felony case calendar in the criminal division. She previously served in the family and civil divisions, and presided over juvenile delinquency cases.
Before she was sworn in to Superior Court in 1998, Broderick spent 16 years as a federal government lawyer. She served in the local U.S. attorney's office; the U.S. Department of Justice's money laundering and asset forfeiture sections; and the Office of Financial Enforcement at the U.S. Department of Treasury. In the years immediately leading up to her nomination, she was special counsel to DOJ's Violence Against Women Office.
Kravitz serves in the civil division. He's previously handled calendars in the criminal and family divisions and also sat by designation in the District of Columbia Court of Appeals.
Kravitz, who also joined the court in 1998, began his career in the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia. His other experience included serving as executive director of the New Hampshire Public Defender; a staff attorney at the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs; principal deputy Democratic special counsel to the Senate Whitewater Committee; and counsel to the Justice Department's assistant attorney general for civil rights.
The seven-member commission is led by U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler. Other members include four local attorneys – William Lightfoot of Koonz, McKenney, Johnson, DePaolis & Lightfoot; Jones Day's Noel Francisco; Shirley Ann Higuchi of the American Psychological Association; and Jeannine Sanford of the D.C. nonprofit called Bread for the City – and two non-attorneys – Michael Fauntroy and Michael deVere Williams.
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