Senate Democrats are are trying to get a unanimous consent agreement for the Senate to debate and vote on the nomination of Gerard Lynch to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit.

Lynch's nomination is relatively non-contentious. The Senate Judiciary Committee approved the nomination by voice vote on June 11.

There are four appellate court nominations, including Lynch's, and one district court nomination pending on the Senate's executive calendar.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick J. Leahy dropped a bill today that would create dozens of new appellate and district court judgeships.

"After years of debate and federal courts struggling to adjudicate cases despite the overwhelming burden of heavy caseloads, the time to enact a comprehensive federal judgeship bill is long overdue," Leahy said.

The legislation would establish four new judgeships on the 9th Circuit; two on the 2nd Circuit; and one judgeship each in the 1st, 3rd and 6th Circuit courts. It would create one temporary slot on the 3rd, 8th and 9th Circuit benches. The bill also would establish 38 permanent new district court seats across the country.

Former directors of a Latino legal advocacy group have attacked Alabama Republican Jeff Sessions' emphasis on the group's work as a means to criticize Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor.

In a letter, 11 former board members underscored that Sotomayor did not play a substantive role in the group's day-to-day activities, nor in the lawsuits it waged on behalf of Puerto Ricans.

"Neither the board as a whole nor any individual member selects any litigation to be undertaken or controls ongoing litigation," the former board members wrote.

Sotomayor served on the board of directors of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund -- now known as LatinoJustice PRLDEF -- from 1980 to 1992. Sessions and other Republicans have reached back past Sotomayor's subsequent 17 years as a federal judge to try to find something explosive in the group's history to hang around Sotomayor's neck.

Sen. Sam Brownback became at least the third Republican to announce he will vote against Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the Supreme Court.

"Judge Sotomayor has indicated through past rulings and in her writings that she believes the judiciary should take an activist role and make laws, instead of upholding the law," he said in a speech Wednesday on the Senate floor. "As Chief Justice [John G.] Roberts said, a justice should be an impartial umpire, not a player in the game. I am afraid Judge Sotomayor wants to be more of a player than an umpire."

Brownback, who is not running for a third term and is preparing to run for governor back home in Kansas, was a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee until this year.

The White House has released an endorsement letter for Sonia Sotomayor's Supreme Court candidacy, signed by 45 of her former clerks.

"As former law clerks to Judge Sotomayor, each of us can attest to her intellectual prowess, extraordinary work ethic, and commitment to the rule of law," the former clerks wrote. They sent their letter to Senate leaders and to all 20 members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Sotomayor, a 2nd Circuit appeals court judge and former federal district judge, is scheduled to begin making courtesy calls to those lawmakers tomorrow.

"Judge Sotomayor is an extraordinary judge and an extraordinary woman," the former clerks wrote. "Her combination of intellect, integrity, and vast experience will make her an outstanding Supreme Court justice."

The Justice Department filed a motion in the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals today asking the court to recall its mandate that the administration hand over dozens of photographs of detainees held in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The ACLU sought the pictures, which allegedly depict detainee abuse, in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. The administration initially agreed to comply with a 2nd Circuit order to turn over the photographs. But earlier this month, President Obama decided not to do so. On May 21, the Senate adopted an amendment to a fiscal 2009 supplemental spending measure that would exempt the photos from the FOIA law.

The government told the 2nd Circuit -- whose members include Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor -- that Solicitor General Elena Kagan has decided if that legislation is not enacted by June 9, the government will petition the Supreme Court to decide the case