Michael P. Boggs, insurance defense litigation
Mark H. Cohen, corporate governmental compliance
"The GOP can still use something called the "blue-slip process" as a de facto filibuster on nominations. Here's how: When the president is considering a potential judicial nomination, the senators from the state where the judge would serve are given a blue slip of paper. If both senators do not return their blue slips, the nominee is not allowed to move on to a vote in the Senate judiciary committee.
"It is because of the blue-slip process, for example, that Obama recently nominated two candidates to serve on the federal bench in Georgia who raised the hackles of liberals: Georgia Court of Appeals Judge Michael Boggs and Atlanta attorney Mark Howard Cohen. Boggs voted to keep the Confederate battle emblem as a prominent part of Georgia's state flag when he was a Georgia legislator in the early 2000s. Cohen helped defend Georgia's voter ID law, which voting rights advocates say makes it harder for poor people and minorities to vote."
Elizabeth Warren: We Need to Stop Packing the Courts With Corporate Judges
By Erika Eichelberger
Mother Jones
Feb. 6, 2014
On Thursday morning, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) called on President Barack Obama to nominate more judges to the federal bench who have backgrounds serving the public interest instead of corporate America.
Of Obama's judicial nominations so far, just ten—fewer than four percent—have worked as lawyers at public interest organizations, according to a report released Thursday by the Alliance for Justice, a network of civil rights organizations. Only 10 nominees have had experience representing workers in labor disputes.
Eighty-five percent have been either corporate attorneys or prosecutors. At an event Thursday sponsored by several civil rights organizations, including the Brennan Center for Justice and the Alliance for Justice, Warren called for more balance in the system.
"Power is becoming more and more concentrated on one side," she said. "Well-financed corporate interests line up to fight for their own privileges and resist any change that would limit corporate excess… We have an opportunity to…fight for something that balances the playing field in the other direction."
Warren noted that now is the perfect time to take up that fight. Obstruction by Senate Republicans has stalled the confirmation of many of the president's judicial nominees over the years. More federal judgeships remained vacant during Obama's first term than during President George W. Bush's, and there are still more than 50 vacancies on the federal bench that need to be filled. "So it's unsurprising that the president and a majority of the Senate gravitated to nominating corporate lawyers…that most conservative senators could not object to," Warren said. In November, however, the Senate voted to put an end to GOP obstruction by ending the filibuster for judicial nominations. Now it only takes a simple majority of the Senate to confirm nominees to the federal bench. Theoretically, that means that Obama can nominate progressive candidates with experience representing the average American, and Democrats will be able to confirm those nominees without any Republican votes.
On Jan 16, the president nominated four lawyers with public interest backgrounds to fill district court vacancies in Illinois, Washington, Nevada, and Missouri. Two of those nominees have significant trial experience representing plaintiffs in corporate wrongdoing cases, one is a former public defender, and one comes from criminal defense.
But there are still roadblocks that may prevent the president from nominating progressive candidates. The GOP can still use something called the "blue-slip process" as a de facto filibuster on nominations. Here's how: When the president is considering a potential judicial nomination, the senators from the state where the judge would serve are given a blue slip of paper. If both senators do not return their blue slips, the nominee is not allowed to move on to a vote in the Senate judiciary committee.
It is because of the blue-slip process, for example, that Obama recently nominated two candidates to serve on the federal bench in Georgia who raised the hackles of liberals: Georgia Court of Appeals Judge Michael Boggs and Atlanta attorney Mark Howard Cohen. Boggs voted to keep the Confederate battle emblem as a prominent part of Georgia's state flag when he was a Georgia legislator in the early 2000s. Cohen helped defend Georgia's voter ID law, which voting rights advocates say makes it harder for poor people and minorities to vote.
71 % of Obama's Judicial Nominees Are Corporate Attorneys - Sen. Elizabeth Warren is Not Happy
by Ray Pensador
Daily Kos
Feb 06, 2014
Every day we learn about the multiple ways large corporations are destroying democracy in this country (or whatever is left of it). They are bribing politicians, poisoning our air and water, pushing for the passage of cookie-cutter legislation specifically designed to undermine workers' rights, constitutional rights, women's rights, and regulations against predatory practices.
When people object to the abuses and take legal action, more often than not, the judicial system ends up finding in favor of offending corporations in a host of issues.
Given this reality, it is truly alarming to learn that when it comes to judicial nominees of a Democratic president, "corporate attorneys outnumber all other kinds of attorneys by three to one," as reported by the Huffingon Post: "Elizabeth Warren To Obama: Stop Putting Forward So Many Corporate Judicial Nominees."
And incredibly, a new AFJ report ("Broadening the Bench") referenced in the article "found that just 3.6 percent of the president's nominees have a background in public interest organizations."
Speaking at an event hosted by Alliance for Justice, a left-leaning association of more than 100 groups focused on the judicial system, Warren said the federal bench is currently dominated by judges who previously worked for large firms representing corporate interests. She lamented that little has changed under Obama.
"We face a federal bench that has a striking lack of diversity," Warren said. "President Obama has supported some notable exceptions but ... the president's nominees have thus far been largely in line with the prior statistics."
~snip~
"Power is becoming more and more concentrated on one side," she said. "Professional diversity is one way to insulate the courts from corporate capture."
~snip~
"It matters that someone has represented people other than corporate clients," she said. "That they've had real experience with people who can't afford lawyers. That they've had real experience trying to fight for the public interest.
[The emphasis is mine]...
Michael P. Boggs, insurance defense litigation
Judge Michael P. Boggs was appointed to the Court of Appeals of Georgia on January 6, 2012 by Governor Nathan Deal. On July 31, 2012, Judge Boggs was elected state-wide to serve a six-year term beginning in 2013. Prior to his appointment, Judge Boggs served as a Superior Court Judge for the six-county Waycross Judicial Circuit having been elected to an open seat in 2004. He was re-elected without opposition in 2008. Judge Boggs was raised in Waycross and now lives in Pierce County with his wife Heather, a kindergarten teacher in the Ware County public school system.
Judge Boggs obtained his undergraduate degree in Political Science and Psychology from Georgia Southern College in 1985. He earned his Juris Doctor degree from Mercer University's Walter F. George School of Law in 1990. While in law school, Judge Boggs was a member of the Moot Court Board and participated on the ABA Moot Court competition team. At Mercer, Judge Boggs was inducted into the Order of Barristers and was elected to the Student Government Association.
Following his graduation from law school, Judge Boggs joined the Atlanta law firm of McKenzie & McPhail where he practiced property insurance defense litigation until 1992...
Mark H. Cohen, corporate governmental compliance
Partner, Atlanta
Mark is a partner in the Atlanta office of Troutman Sanders. He specializes in civil and administrative litigation concerning government and regulatory issues, as well as advising on procurement matters, rule-making and corporate governmental compliance.
v Mark came to Troutman Sanders in January 1999, after an extensive legal career in state government. He spent 13 years as an assistant and senior assistant attorney general, representing a variety of government agencies in state and federal court, both in trial and on appeal, and providing advice to state and local agencies on a wide variety of matters, including education, election and voting rights, professional licensing, health care and law enforcement. He also worked closely with members of the Georgia General Assembly in formulating congressional and legislative reapportionment plans which were submitted to the United States Department of Justice.
Mark was appointed by Governor Zell Miller as the first chief state administrative law judge, where he was responsible for the formation of the Office of State Administrative Hearings, the agency charged with conducting licensing and regulatory hearings for the majority of state agencies. Mark next served on Governor Miller’s senior staff during Governor Miller’s second term, both as executive counsel and chief of staff...
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