The Associated Press
SEATTLE — A bipartisan committee will help select candidates for federal judgeships in Seattle.
At least two U.S. District Court judges — Robert Lasnik and Marsha Pechman — intend to take senior status early next year, and a third, Judge James Robart, will do so next June.
Senior status is a type of semi-retirement that typically means a reduced caseload and creates a vacancy on the bench.
Democratic Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell joined Republican U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert on Wednesday in announcing they had picked three Democrats and three Republicans for the committee, which will recommend candidates for President Barack Obama to nominate.
The Democrats are former U.S. Attorney Jenny Durkan, longtime defense lawyer John Wolfe and Ian Warner, a business lawyer who is on the monitoring team for the Seattle Police Department’s reform agreement with the Justice Department.
The Republicans are former U.S. Attorney Mike McKay, former state Attorney General Rob McKenna and former Weyerhaeuser executive Mack Hogans.
