President Donald Trump sent the Senate a new nominee for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit on Tuesday, choosing Arkansas Supreme Court Justice Cody Hiland for the seat previously sought by U.S. District Judge Lee Rudofsky. In the same notice, the White House withdrew Rudofsky’s nomination and identified both men as nominees to succeed Judge Bobby E. Shepherd of Arkansas.
The change comes after Rudofsky had already appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Sept. 30. The White House formally sent his nomination on Sept. 14. Hiland’s nomination starts a separate confirmation process for the same seat. The withdrawal concerns Rudofsky’s proposed move to the appeals court. He remains a federal district judge in Arkansas.
What happened in the Senate
The White House’s withdrawal notice gave no reason for the change. Home-state senators can weigh in through a Senate Judiciary Committee practice known as the blue slip. In 2017, committee chair Chuck Grassley announced an Eighth Circuit hearing for a nominee who lacked a positive response from one of his home-state senators.
The committee’s public Nov. 17 agenda still listed Rudofsky as of Wednesday afternoon Pacific time, even though the White House had announced the withdrawal. That listing gives no hearing date for Hiland. A new committee entry or hearing notice would show where his nomination stands. The full Senate would have to confirm him before he could take the seat.
Hiland is currently an associate justice on the Arkansas Supreme Court. He previously served as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas. The Senate confirmed him for that job in 2017.
A seat on a seven-state appeals court
The Eighth Circuit hears appeals from federal district courts in Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota. It holds court in St. Louis and St. Paul. Its rulings bind federal trial courts across the circuit. Appeals typically go to a panel of three judges, who review how a lower court applied the law. The panel works from the existing record and does not hear witnesses. For most federal cases that reach a circuit court, the panel’s decision is the last ruling the parties receive.
The appeals court’s public roster still listed Shepherd among its active judges Wednesday. The White House described him as retiring in both nomination notices. Neither notice set a date for Hiland to take over. The court posts its argument calendars separately from the Senate’s confirmation schedule.
