News & Events
Former U.S. attorney Kendall Coffey on panel to pick federal judges
February 27, 2009, The Miami Herald
By Jay Weaver
Kendall Coffey, a former U.S. attorney in Miami, will head the South Florida contingent of a newly appointed statewide commission in charge of recommending candidates for top federal prosecutor jobs and judgeships.
Coffey is among 56 members on the Federal Judicial Nominating Commission picked by Florida's two U.S. senators, Democrat Bill Nelson and Republican Mel Martinez.
The statewide panel, consisting mostly of lawyers and some lay people, will be chaired by Tampa attorney John M. Fitzgibbons. He is a former assistant federal prosecutor in Tampa and a former lawyer in the U.S. Justice Department's Public Integrity Section in Washington.
The commission will first review candidates to replace retiring U.S. District Judge Daniel T.K. Hurley, who was appointed to the federal bench in South Florida by former President Bill Clinton in 1994.
The commission will then turn its attention to filling the U.S. attorney's position in South Florida. It will soon seek candidates to replace R. Alexander Acosta, who is expected to leave this spring. Acosta, appointed by President George W. Bush in 2006, is applying to become the dean of Florida International University's law school.
The commission's final recommendations will be reviewed by Florida's senators, but ultimately, President Barack Obama will make the final selections.