Why It Matters

The DC Superior Court is hemorrhaging capacity. With nearly a quarter of its bench vacant and a backlog of roughly 4,000 cases, criminal trial dates are being pushed into late 2026. Cases that once moved in months now face 200-day delays; only half as many criminal cases are being closed compared to 2019. At the same time, the Trump administration is intensifying criminal enforcement in the capital, flooding already-strained courts with more prosecutions. A Senate hearing on DC Court of Appeals judicial nominations on Tuesday, June 23 offers a rare opportunity to move the needle, but only if the Senate acts quickly on the full slate of nominees waiting in the pipeline.

The Big Picture

DC Superior Court Chief Judge Anita Josey-Herring has publicly described the situation as a judicial vacancy crisis. The court is missing 13 of its 62 associate judge seats. Eleven nominations for DC Superior Court are pending in the Senate, with six awaiting a floor vote.

The District of Columbia Court of Appeals is also understaffed. Two seats on the appeals court opened due to the retirement of the Honorable Kathryn A. Oberly and the resignation of the Honorable Loren L. AliKhan.

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, chaired by Senator Rand Paul, will examine nominations of nine individuals to DC courts on June 23.

Two nominees are for the DC Court of Appeals: James Andrew Crowell IV and Stuart Gordon Nash. Seven are for the DC Superior Court: Loren L. AliKhan, Christopher Michael De Bono, Michael Christopher DiLorenzo, Sharon E. Goodie, Craig Edward Leen, Christine Michelle Macey, and John Barlow Timmer.

All nine are nominated by President Trump to 15-year terms

James Andrew Crowell IV is currently an Associate Judge in the Civil Division of the DC Superior Court. He was first nominated to that court in January 2019 and confirmed on August 1, 2019. Before his judicial appointment, he served as Director of the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys from 2017 to 2019, and spent eight years in the Army's Judge Advocate General Corps as Senior Trial Defense Counsel.

Stuart Gordon Nash is a Washington, DC litigation attorney and co-chair of the White Collar Defense and Investigations Team at Holland & Knight. He previously served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the DC U.S. Attorney's Office, was detailed as Counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee, and served as Counselor to the Attorney General. He clerked for Judge Samuel Ervin III of the 4th Circuit and Judge T.S. Ellis of the Eastern District of Virginia.

Some DC Superior Court nominees were nominated as early as April 2026. The DC Judicial Nomination Commission recommended Crowell and Nash as candidates for the DC Court of Appeals after opening applications in January 2026 and inviting public comments through March 6, 2026.

The Bottom Line

Trump's crime enforcement push in DC has highlighted the judicial vacancy crisis. More criminal cases are being prosecuted in the capital at the same time the courts lack the judicial capacity to handle them. The judicial vacancy crisis has been building for years, and the June 23 hearing represents the committee's formal action to advance the DC court nominations.

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