Two Picked for Western Federal Benches

(CN) - President Obama nominated an assistant federal public defender and a state court judge to the federal bench in Nevada and Yakima, Wash.

Richard Franklin Boulware II, an assistant public defender, was nominated to the U.S. District Court bench in Las Vegas. If confirmed, he will fill the vacancy created more than 2 years ago when U.S. District Judge Philip Pro assumed senior status.

Boulware graduated from Harvard in 1993 and got his law degree from Columbia in 2002. He worked as a trial attorney for Federal Defenders of New York from 2003 to 2007 and for the Federal Public Defender in Nevada since 2007.

In Washington, Superior Court Judge Salvador Mendoza Jr. was nominated to the judgeship in the state's Eastern District. If confirmed, he will fill the vacancy created on Nov. 1, 2013, when U.S. District Judge Lonny Suko assumed senior status.

Mendoza graduated from the University of Washington in 1994 and got his J.D. from UCLA in 1997.

There are 95 vacancies on U.S. District Courts, with 55 nominations pending, according to the uscourts.gov website, checked this morning.

Republicans have consistently refused to vote on President Obama's nominations, and the president has not made much of a deal about it.

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