Portman, Brown Announce Members of Bipartisan Commission to Recommend Candidates for Ohio Federal Judicial Vacancies

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senators Rob Portman (R-OH) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) today announced the members of the bipartisan judicial advisory commission that will assist them in identifying the best candidates to fill a vacancy on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.  The Southern District has court locations in Cincinnati, Columbus, and Dayton and serves more than five million Ohioans in 48 counties.  Portman and Brown today announce that the following lawyers will be serving on the bipartisan commission:

Christopher Walker (Commission Chair), Associate Professor of Law, The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law

Ted Adams, Vice President & Senior Counsel, L Brands

Jonathan Adler, Johan Verheij Memorial Professor of Law & Director, Center for Business Law and Regulation, Case Western University School of Law

Robert Alt, President and Chief Executive Officer, The Buckeye Institute

Mary Amos Augsburger, Executive Director, Ohio State Bar Association

Diane Brey, Deputy Legal Counsel, Governor John Kasich

Elizabeth Simmons Callan, Principal, Jackson Lewis P.C.

Rebecca Cull, Associate General Counsel, Xavier University

Paul De Marco, Founding Partner, Markovits, Stock, DeMarco 

Caroline Gentry, Partner, Porter Wright Morris & Arthur LLP

R. Sean Grayson, General Counsel, Ohio Council 8, AFSCME, AFL-CIO

Emily Houh, Professor of the Law, University of Cincinnati College of Law

Matt Jolson, Counsel, Nationwide Insurance

Scott Kane, Partner, Squire Patton Boggs

Peter Kirsanow, Partner, Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan & Aronoff, LLP

Leah Pappas Porner, Partner-In-Charge Columbus, Calfee, Halter & Griswold, LLP

Frederick L. Ransier, III, Partner (Ret.), Vorys, Sater, Seymour, and Pease LLP

Susan Thompson, Senior Assistant City Attorney, City of Columbus

The bipartisan advisory commission process was first established by Senator Brown and former U.S. Senator George Voinovich (R-OH), and Portman and Brown have carried on the tradition.  The senators are confident that the commissioners they are announcing today will provide informed and constructive counsel in choosing Ohio’s federal judges.

The President of the United States nominates U.S. district court judges taking into account recommendations from U.S. senators. Nominees must then be confirmed by the full U.S. Senate. Federal district courts are general trial courts that hear both civil and criminal cases.

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