By Jason Rantanen
On Wednesday, the Senate confirmed Kathleen McDonald O'Malley to fill the vacancy left by Judge Schall when he took senior status. Judge O'Malley currently serves as a U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of Ohio, and will be the only sitting Federal Circuit judge to have previously served as a district court judge. She was nominated for her first judgeship by President Clinton in 1994, prior to which she served in government and private practice. An earlier Patently-O discussion of Judge O'Malley is available here.
Two vacancies on the CAFC remain unfilled and although nominees were proposed during the 111th Congress (Jimmie Reyna and Edward DuMont), those nominations were not acted on.