Updated at 1:54 p.m.
The District of Columbia Judicial Nomination Commission announced Monday morning that it is sending the names of three attorneys to the White House for consideration to fill a vacancy on the District of Columbia Court of Appeals.
President Barack Obama will have 60 days to choose a nominee to fill the seat vacated by now-retired Judge Vanessa Ruiz, who stepped down from the bench effective Sept. 1.
Sixteen attorneys applied for the vacancy. The three candidates recommended to the White House are Roy McLeese III, chief of the appellate division of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia; District of Columbia Superior Court Judge Neal Kravitz; and private practice attorney Geoffrey Klineberg.
McLeese has led the appellate division since 2005. He was deputy chief from 1990 to 2005. From 1997 to 1999, McLeese also served in the Office of the Solicitor General as an assistant to the Solicitor General. In the summer and fall of 2010, McLeese served as acting deputy solicitor general while deputy Michael Dreeben was on leave.
Kravitz was appointed to the Superior Court bench in 1998. The year before his appointment, Kravitz worked at the Justice Department as counsel to the assistant attorney general for civil rights. Kravitz’s career included three years as principal deputy Democratic special counsel to the Senate Whitewater Committee and six years at the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia.
Klineberg is a partner at Washington’s Kellogg, Huber, Hansen, Todd, Evans & Figel, handling mostly appellate litigation and administrative law. Klineberg represents clients before the Federal Communications Commission, the U.S. Supreme Court and other appellate and district courts. From 2005 to 2008, Klineberg chaired the D.C. Bar’s Legal Ethics Committee, and has been a member of the committee since 2001.
“It’s an honor to be included on this list with Mr. McLeese and Judge Kravitz,” Klineberg said. “I’m thrilled to have this opportunity to move forward.”
McLeese and Kravitz declined to comment.
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