WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate voted Monday to confirm William Scott Hardy, a Pittsburgh attorney who represents businesses on labor and employment matters, as a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania.
Mr. Hardy, 49, was approved by a 65-30 vote in the Republican-controlled chamber. Both Pennsylvania senators, Republican Pat Toomey and Democrat Bob Casey, voted to approve the nomination and released a joint statement after the vote.
“His more than two decades of litigation experience will enable him to excel in this new role,” Mr. Toomey stated. “I am confident he will be an impartial jurist who will serve the people of Pennsylvania with fairness and integrity.”
“He has been a respected attorney in Pittsburgh’s legal community for more than 20 years,” Mr. Casey stated. “And his intellect, experience and character have prepared him well to faithfully and independently administer justice for the people of the Commonwealth.”
Mr. Hardy’s confirmation — along with the Senate Judiciary Committee approval last week of another nominee — means all the vacancies in the 10-judge Western District court bench will likely be filled before the November election.
President Donald Trump’s administration has been working for years with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to reshape the U.S. judiciary with conservative judges.
In recent years, as many as six of the 10 judgeships were left empty at one time, requiring semi-retired judges to step in and address the caseload, said Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond who regularly follows Pennsylvania judicial nominees. Erie went five years without an active judge in its courthouse who was nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate, he noted.
“The two Pennsylvania senators and their selection panels, as well as Trump, deserve credit for filling those vacancies,” Mr. Tobias said. “The court will have the full complement of judges Congress has authorized and can better deliver justice in WDPA for litigants.”
The Senate has confirmed three other Western Pennsylvania district judges since last July.
In December, senators voted 66-27 to confirm Robert J. Colville, a 54-year-old judge on the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas, to the federal bench. That followed the unanimous confirmation in September of Stephanie Haines, a 49-year-old assistant U.S. attorney based in Johnstown, and the 80-14 vote to confirm J. Nicholas Ranjan, a 41-year-old Pittsburgh lawyer, in July 2019.
Mr. Hardy, a shareholder at Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart P.C., has defended employers in discrimination lawsuits brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and other investigations conducted by the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission, U.S. Department of Labor and National Labor Relations Board.
Mr. Hardy did not respond to a request for comment Monday.
He has conducted and overseen internal corporate investigations of alleged fraud, embezzlement, theft, discrimination and harassment. He has worked with businesses in health care, higher education, banking, transportation and manufacturing.
Before joining Ogletree Deakins in 2010, Mr. Hardy practiced for more than a decade at Cohen & Grigsby P.C. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Allegheny College in Meadville and his law degree from Notre Dame Law School.
Mr. Hardy was nominated in November 2019 to fill the vacancy left by Nora Barry Fischer, who took senior status, a form of semi-retirement for judges, in June 2019.
His nomination was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic; on March 13, the Senate Judiciary Committee postponed discussion on his nomination because too many senators skipped the hearing.
The committee eventually advanced his nomination on May 14 by a 14-8 vote in a largely remote hearing.
One last vacancy currently remains on the Western District bench — likely to be filled by one more nomination making its way to the Senate floor.
Last Thursday, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 17-5 to advance Christy Wiegand’s nomination to the full Senate. Ms. Wiegand, 44, an assistant U.S. attorney based in Pittsburgh, has prosecuted a variety of crimes, including large-scale drug trafficking, child exploitation, illegal firearms and fraud.
Ms. Wiegand recently prosecuted a case against a Pittsburgh man accused of distributing heroin and fentanyl that resulted in the deaths of drug users.
Mr. Tobias, the law professor, said Ms. Wiegand may be confirmed before senators leave next month for a six-week summer recess — but more likely after Labor Day when the Senate returns.
The spot opened up after Judge Peter Phipps was elevated last year to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, which is based in Philadelphia and has jurisdiction over Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware.
Mr. Phipps’ nomination to the appellate court generated controversy after Mr. Casey refused to back him, citing the judge’s lack of experience serving at the district court level. (Mr. Phipps spent less than a year as a district judge.)
Daniel Moore: dmoore@post-gazette.com, Twitter @PGdanielmoore
First Published: July 27, 2020, 11:29 p.m.
Updated: July 27, 2020, 11:36 p.m.
