BUFFALO, N.Y. — Three years...that's how long Western New York has been short a federal judge.
It's up to the White House to nominate a candidate to fill that position, and we're still waiting.
Anyone involved in the process will tell you it's lengthy. Candidates have to be vetted. They have to be presented to the White House with the proper forms and recommendations.
The White House, in turn, does their own critical examination. Then they present their nominees to the Senate for confirmation. And the Senators from the state in which that nominee resides gets to weigh in.
But it has been three years and two administrations since then Chief Federal Judge William Skretny stepped aside in March 2015 to assume a senior status with the U.S. Court.
2 On Your Side checked with the White House Press Office to see if any nominations for the Western New York judgeship are in the works. As of Tuesday evening, the White House did not return our phone calls or e-mails.
The vacancy is currently listed as a "judicial emergency." This essentially means that the current judges in the district have a considerable number of cases to hear at any given time. And we're told federal judges from Vermont have been asked to come in and hear cases to pick up some of the slack.
When U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer was in town, 2 On Your Side asked him where the nomination process stands.
"The White House has recommended somebody," admitted Schumer. "A republican. I've seen the name. I've told the White House I think this would be a good nomination for the federal bench. They haven't made the name public; so, I don't want to."
Once a nominee is presented by the White House, the senators from that nominee's home state are sent a "blue slip" in which they may submit a favorable or unfavorable opinion of a nominee.
Sen. Schumer tells 2 On Your Side he doesn't plan on submitting a negative opinion of the nominee he's heard about, "I think it's a good person. And I've checked him out with a lot of the Western New York legal community, and I think he's good."