After nearly two years, Senate confirms Kansan to fill federal appeals court vacancy
The Senate on Thursday voted to confirm Kansan Richard Federico to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, filling a seat that has been vacant for nearly two years.
Federico, who has served as a federal public defender in Kansas since 2017, was nominated by President Joe Biden in July. He also worked as a military judge in the Navy Reserve Trial Judiciary and served in the Navy’s JAG corps both as a prosecutor and as a defense attorney.
“I appreciated the opportunity to meet with him in Kansas and Washington, D.C. to discuss his commitment to practice judicial restraint by relying on the Constitution and the relevant statutes Congress passed when presiding over cases,” said Sen. Jerry Moran, a Kansas Republican. “Congratulations to Judge Federico on his confirmation.”
The Senate confirmed Federico 61-29, for the lifetime appointment, which handles cases from Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah and Wyoming.
While he had the support of Kansas’ Republican senators, some conservatives opposed the nomination because of some cases Federico took on while serving as a federal public defender.
Sen. Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican, voted against Federico’s nomination in the Senate Judiciary Committee after criticizing Federico over a 2018 child pornography case in which Federico’s client pleaded guilty to one count of distributing child pornography and sentenced to 13 years in prison.
Public defenders are assigned clients and don’t get to choose them. Federico, who was tasked with getting the best outcome for his client, pushed for a lower prison sentence.
Since using Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s sentencing decisions in child pornography cases to oppose her nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court, Hawley has made child pornography cases a centerpiece when opposing judicial nominees he deems “soft on crime.” He argued that Federico should have requested a more severe sentence for his client.
“He chose to be a public defender,” Hawley said at the time. “That’s fine, that’s his choice. But that’s not a get out of jail free card in the sense that that means we can’t ask about your choices as a lawyer. He could have recommended any number of a range of sentences.”
Federico was Biden’s second choice for the 10th circuit court. He originally nominated Jabari Wamble, an assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Kansas and the son-in-law of Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, a Kansas City Democrat.
Wamble was nominated in 2022 and his nomination never got a hearing in the Judiciary Committee. He was nominated in 2023 to be a federal district court judge in Kansas, but Wamble withdrew his name from consideration after failing to win the approval of the American Bar Association, which conducts independent peer evaluations of judges nominated for certain federal courts.
While the ABA never issued a formal rating on Wamble, it said Federico was “well qualified” for the position.
