Rawlinson faces routine Senate queries today

Benjamin Grove

Wednesday, June 14, 2000 | 11:34 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Federal Appeals Court nominee Johnnie Rawlinson of Las Vegas is scheduled to field questions from a Senate committee today.

Rawlinson was recommended to serve on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals by Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev. President Clinton approved.

Now the Senate Judiciary Committee, and later the full Senate, must approve the nomination for it to be finalized. Today's public committee hearing is a routine step in the nomination process.

Rawlinson arrived in Washington Tuesday for briefing by Department of Justice officials to prepare for the committee hearing, Reid spokesman David Cherry said today.

Rawlinson could not be reached for comment today. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, is chairman of the committee.

Rawlinson, now a U.S. District Court judge for Nevada, has been through this process before when she was nominated for her current position.

The nation has 13 federal circuit courts of appeal. The 9th Circuit Court is the largest with 28 judgeships. The court hears cases from nine Western states including Nevada, plus Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.

The full Senate on May 24 approved two other Nevadans to a federal bench: U.S. Magistrate Judge Roger Hunt and Henderson Justice of the Peace Kent Dawson were approved as Nevada's seventh and eighth U.S. District Court judges.

Congress last year approved two new slots on Nevada's federal bench to help ease the caseload in one of the fastest-growing federal court systems in the nation.

One other Nevada judicial nominee remains to be approved, U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Linda Riegle of Las Vegas, also nominated for U.S. District Court.