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S 2854
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District of Columbia Judicial Nominations Reform Act

To amend the District of Columbia Home Rule Act to terminate the District of Columbia Judicial Nomination Commission, and for other purposes.

Introduced Sep 18, 2025

Latest action (Sep 18, 2025) Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

Referred to
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee
Policy area
Law
Issues
Criminal Justice

Summary

This bill would terminate the District of Columbia Judicial Nomination Commission and amend the District of Columbia Home Rule Act to allow the President to directly nominate judges without the Commission's recommendation. The bill would make conforming amendments to judicial appointment procedures and qualification requirements. These changes would take effect for appointments made after the bill's enactment.

AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.

Sponsor (1)
1 cosponsor

Actions (2)
  1. Sep 18, 2025 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. · senate
  2. Sep 18, 2025 Introduced in Senate

Similar bills (6)

Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.

  • HR 5125 — District of Columbia Judicial Nominations Reform Act of 2025 · Passed House Sep 18, 2025 · Cong. 119 87%
  • HR 9362 — District of Columbia Courts Judicial Vacancy Reduction Act · Introduced Jun 18, 2026 · Cong. 119 82%
  • S 4837 — District of Columbia Courts Judicial Vacancy Reduction Act · Introduced Jun 18, 2026 · Cong. 119 79%
  • HR 5179 — District of Columbia Attorney General Appointment Reform Act of 2025 · Introduced Sep 30, 2025 · Cong. 119 72%
  • HR 4574 — District of Columbia Courts Home Rule Act · Introduced Jul 21, 2025 · Cong. 119 65%
  • HR 3766 — To prohibit the District of Columbia from requiring tribunals in court or administrative proceedings in the District of Columbia to defer to the Mayor of the District of Columbia's interpretation of statutes and regulations, and for other purposes. · Introduced May 13, 2026 · Cong. 119 64%

Full text

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

September 18 (legislative day, September 16), 2025

Mr. Kennedy introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

A BILL

To amend the District of Columbia Home Rule Act to terminate the District of Columbia Judicial Nomination Commission, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the “District of Columbia Judicial Nominations Reform Act”.

SEC. 2. TERMINATION OF DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA JUDICIAL NOMINATION COMMISSION.

(a) Termination.—The District of Columbia Home Rule Act is amended by striking section 434 (sec. 1-204.34, D.C. Official Code).

(b) Conforming Amendments Relating to Appointment of Judges.—

(1) Designation of chief judges by president.—Section 431(b) of such Act (sec. 1-204.31(b), D.C. Official Code) is amended by striking “the District of Columbia Judicial Nominating Commission established by section 434” and inserting “the President”.

(2) Appointment by president.—Section 433(a) of such Act (sec. 1-204.33(a), D.C. Official Code) is amended by striking “Except as provided in section 434(d)(1), the President shall nominate, from the list of persons recommended to him by the District of Columbia Judicial Nomination Commission established under section 434,” and inserting “The President shall nominate,”.

(3) Qualifications of judges.—Section 433(b) of such Act (sec. 1-204.33(b), D.C. Official Code) is amended—

(A) by adding “and” at the end of paragraph (3);

(B) by striking paragraph (4) and redesignating paragraph (5) as paragraph (4); and

(C) in paragraph (4), as so redesignated, by striking “or of the District of Columbia Judicial Nomination Commission”.

(c) Other Conforming Amendment.—Section 11-1528(a)(2), District of Columbia Official Code, is amended by striking subparagraph (C).

(d) Clerical Amendment.—The table of contents of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act is amended by striking the item relating to section 434.

(e) Effective Date.—The amendments made by this section shall apply with respect to appointments made on or after the date of the enactment of this Act. <all>

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