Law Clerk Addict

There's been relatively little on the judicial nomination front (outside of the Supreme Court, that is), but here are a few items of note:

* Federal public defender Jeffrey Viken, one of President Obama's nominees to the District of South Dakota, had his Senate Judiciary Committee hearing last week.

* University of Richmond law professor Carl Tobias discusses a vacanacy on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit that has gone unfilled for more than 15 years.

* The St. Petersburg Times provides an overview of the very slow pace of President Obama's judicial nominations, with a particular focus on the impact on the Middle District of Florida, which has called in 20 judges from other district courts across the country to help manage a heavy backlog of civil cases.