The Senate Judiciary Committee has unanimously approved the nomination of Virginia Supreme Court Justice Barbara Keenan for the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Keenan must still be approved by the full Senate — just like U.S. District Judge Andre M. Davis, who was approved by the committee for a 4th Circuit seat back on June 4.

Sen. Ben Cardin’s frustration over the delay in getting a vote on Davis surfaced on Tuesday, when the Senate approved West Virginia’s Irene C. Berger as a federal judge in that state.

According to the Charleston (W.Va.) Gazette, Cardin complained that some Republican senators had placed anonymous holds on nominees.

“This is a deliberate effort to try to slow the pace,” he said. “I really think this is wrong, and people should know about this.”

The ranking Republican on the committee, Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., denied that Senate Republicans were “slow walking” Obama’s nominees.

“I’m not going to remain silent while the record is distorted,” Sessions said.

Fifty-five years of marriage is darned impressive.

So if Ed and Harriet Neufeld of Aspen Hill have found a fun date activity that gets them out of the house together, more power to them.

That said, their hobby is a little… weird.

As the Gazette tells us, the Neufelds, who are retired, go to the Montgomery County Circuit Court weekly to watch cases. “It’s better than television, I’ll tell you that much,” Ed Neufeld told the newspaper.

Really?

The Neufelds must either a) have a really low threshold for what’s entertaining or b) be particularly adept at picking exciting cases to watch. Newspaper reporters tend to cover only the most high-profile court cases, and even those are sometimes incredibly dull. (I imagine that the proceedings at which the sketch above was made, on the other hand, were fascinating.)

HT: ABA Journal.