Ensign to interview judges for two District Court seats

Friday, Feb. 16, 2001 | 11:36 a.m.

Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., and his staffers will spend part of a break in Senate action next week interviewing judges for two seats on the U.S. District Court in Nevada.

District Judge Mark Gibbons said Thursday that he had been contacted by Ensign and that a formal interview will take place next week. Gibbons also said Ensign had contacted District Judge Jim Mahan and had set up a formal interview next week with him too.

Ensign, as the state's ranking senator of the president's party, has the privilege of recommending political appointments, such as federal judges. The president must approve nominees and the Senate must confirm them.

Also, Ensign announced this week that he was recommending that current U.S. Marshal for Nevada, Jose Troncoso, a Democrat, continue in the position. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., tapped Troncoso for the post in 1997.

The 107th Congress began the year's legislative business in January and will be off for a week-long "President's Day Recess" starting Monday. Reid, the Senate's No. 2 Democrat, today left for a 10-day diplomatic trip to Kosovo, Morocco, Greece, Turkey and Portugal. Reid joins five other Democratic senators on the taxpayer-paid trip for discussions on security and economic issues with foreign leaders.

Reps. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., and Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., will spend the break in their home districts. Berkley plans to focus attention on dropout prevention legislation.

Gibbons will address the Legislature on Wednesday, updating state lawmakers about bills in Congress that affect Nevada. He also will meet with state mining leaders. Gibbons chatted briefly this week with new Interior Department Secretary Gale Norton about environmental rules implemented by the Clinton administration that hurt Nevada's mining industry.