Obama's federal judicial pick for the Western District of Wisconsin gets nominated a third time

January 5, 2011

Wisconsin: On Wednesday, January 5, the White House announced that President Barack Obama renominated his pick for a new federal judge to the United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin, former Wisconsin state Supreme Court Justice Louis Butler. Butler was originally nominated by President Obama in 2009, but due to the Republican Senate minority blocking a floor vote on some of the President's nominations, his name was returned. Butler was again nominated in 2010 and for the second time the Senate Judiciary Committee endorsed his nomination, but the nomination expired at the end of the 111th Congress. This resulted in Butler being nominated a third time, a move that was expected according to Lynn Becker, spokeswoman for U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.), a member of the Judiciary Committee.

Butler's name was originally sent to the President by Senator Herb Kohl and former Senator Russ Feingold as a replacement for Judge John C. Shabaz, who assumed senior status on January 20, 2009. As of now the United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin only has one active judge, Chief Judge William Conley.