Posted on: Thursday, April 28, 2005
Senate confirms judicial nominee
By Dennis Camire
Advertiser Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — J. Michael Seabright won unanimous Senate confirmation yesterday for a lifetime appointment as a U.S. District judge in Hawai'i despite ongoing partisanship in the chamber over President Bush's judicial nominees.
Seabright, 46, an assistant U.S. attorney in Hawai'i, will fill the fourth full-time seat on the Hawai'i federal court. It has been vacant since January 2000.
"Obviously, I was honored to be nominated by the president and extremely honored to be confirmed by the Senate today," he said. "I simply look forward to starting the job and serving."
Seabright didn't know when his swearing-in would take place.
The position pays $158,100 annually.
The confirmation can't be soon enough for U.S. District Judge David Ezra, chief of the Hawai'i federal court.
"We have a huge number of immigration cases, criminal cases and our civil caseload is quite heavy," Ezra said. "Our workload is constantly expanding.
"Our district has been running at a 25 percent deficit for many years without the necessary fourth judgeship being filled," he said. "Judge Seabright will fill that vacancy and give us the opportunity to bring our court up to full staffing and significantly reduce the time necessary for civil cases in particular to be brought to court."
The Senate vote was 98-0. (Democrats Joseph Biden of Delaware and Max Baucus of Montana did not vote.)
Both of Hawai'i's Democratic senators — Dan K. Inouye and Daniel K. Akaka — praised Seabright on the Senate floor yesterday.
"His broad experience in prosecution, from violent crimes to government corruption, has provided him a balanced perspective on the criminal justice system that will continue to serve him well as he prepares for this next phase in his public service career," Inouye said.
Akaka said he was pleased that someone as qualified as Seabright would fill the federal court seat that had been vacant for so long.
"I have heard from jurists and a number of attorneys in Hawai'i about the need to fill this judicial vacancy," he said.
Seabright has prosecuted high-profile federal white-collar and corruption cases in Hawai'i.
Among them are the prosecution of eight former Honolulu liquor inspectors found guilty of accepting bribes from bars; former Bishop Estate trustee Lokelani Lindsey on money-laundering charges; and former state Sen. Milton Holt and former state House Speaker Daniel Kihano in separate campaign-spending cases.
Bush first nominated Seabright in late 2004. The Senate Judiciary Committee held a confirmation hearing in November. Although Seabright's nomination was not controversial, it died at the end of the last Congress in January when the Senate took no further action on it.
In February, Bush included Seabright among 20 judicial nominees he sent to the Senate for confirmation during this congressional session.
Senate confirmation of White House judicial nominees is one of the most contentious issues in Congress. The Democrats' ability to use filibusters to stall a few nominees for federal appeals courts has led the majority Republicans to threaten divisive parliamentary tactics that would exacerbate the bitter partisanship that has developed in the chamber.
Seabright worked in private practice in Honolulu from 1984 to 1987 and then became a federal prosecutor in Washington. He moved back to Hawai'i in 1990. Seabright is married to Margaret Sun Dho Ahn, a deputy state attorney general. The couple has two children.
The confirmation ends the long process to find a replacement for U.S. District Judge Alan Kay, who took senior status here in 2000. Kay and U.S. District Judge Sam King are still on the bench as senior judges, working part time.
Bush nominated Honolulu attorney Frederick "Fritz" Rohlfing III in January 2002 to the vacancy, but the American Bar Association rated him unqualified to be a federal judge. Rohlfing last year asked Bush to withdraw the nomination.
Gov. Linda Lingle later submitted the names of Seabright, Attorney General Mark Bennett and Ted Hong to the White House for the vacancy. Hong earlier was nominated by Lingle to the Circuit Court bench, but the state Senate rejected the appointment.
Lingle, Bennett and Hong all applauded Bush's selection of Seabright when it was announced last year.
Staff writer Ken Kobayashi contributed to this report.
