MetNews "End of the Month" report

The MetNews has a useful page titled "End of the Month -- a monthly report on Where Things Stand [regarding] Judges, Lawyers under Scrutiny, Judicial Vacancies and Appointments and Bills Affecting the Legal Community." This is worth checking out periodically... well, monthly. Of particular interest to the appellate community is the comprehensive list of appellate court vacancies. So to start of this new year, here's what it shows:

A Monthly Report on Where Things Stand

First District
Presiding Justice James Marchiano retired from Div. One March 15.
Justice James Lambden retired from Div. Two July 31.

Second District
Presiding Justice Robert Mallano is retiring from Div. One and
Justice Steven Suzukawa from Div. Four Feb. 28.
Justice Frank Jackson retired from Div. Seven June 30.
Justice Orville Armstrong retired from Div. Five July 31.
Justice Kathryn Doi Todd retired from Div. Two on Jan. 22.
Justice Paul Coffee retired from Div. Six on Jan. 31 of [2011].

Third District
There has been a vacancy since Tani Cantil-Sakauye became chief justice in January 2011.
Those whose names have been sent to the Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation reportedly include
San Joaquin Superior Court Judge George Abdallah and Sacramento Superior Court Judges Thadd Blizzard, Helena Gweon, David Abbott, David DeAlba and Kevin Culhane.

Fifith District
Justice Rebecca Wiseman retired Oct. 31.

Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals

The nominations of John B. Owens and Michelle T. Friedland to the Ninth Circuit were held over by the Senate Judiciary Committee Dec. 19.
No new date for action by the committee has been set.
Owens was nominated Aug. 1 for the seat vacant since Dec. 31, 2004, when Judge Stephen Trott assumed senior status.
The 41-year-old litigator is a former federal prosecutor in Los Angeles and San Diego, where he headed the Criminal Division before joining Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP last year.
President Obama on Aug. 1 also nominated Friedland to the court. Like Owens, she is a Munger Tolles litigation partner. Friedland is based in San Francisco and Owens in Los Angeles.
If confirmed by the Senate, Friedland will fill a judgeship vacant since April 1, when Judge Raymond C. Fisher assumed senior status.
Friedland, 41, is a former lecturer at Stanford Law School, from which she graduated in 2000.

Update 1/7/14 -- in Obama Renominates Dozens of Judges, Including Two For Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the MetNews reports:

President Obama yesterday sent more than 50 judicial nominates to the Senate, including two for the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The bulk of the nominations, including those of John Owens and Michelle Friedland to the Ninth Circuit, are renominations that were necessitated when the Senate’s 2013 session adjourned without the president’s choices being voted on.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., wasted no time in scheduling committee votes for Thursday for Owens, Friedland, and 37 other nominees who have already had confirmation hearings.

In addition to Owens and Friedland, both litigation partners at Munger, Tolles & Olson, there are four district court nominees from California on the list—James Donato, Beth Labson Freeman, and Vince Girdhari Chhabria, in the Northern District and Cynthia Ann Bashant in the Southern District.