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Judiciary committee debates courtroom experience as Felice Grama Kemp’s nomination moves to consent; roll call held and votes reserved
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Summary
The Judiciary Committee considered dozens of judicial nominations and placed many on a consent calendar. Felice Grama Kemp’s nomination drew extended questioning about her courtroom experience and writing samples; a roll call was taken and the chair directed that final votes be held until 3:00 p.m.
The Judiciary Committee met April 10 and advanced a broad consent calendar of judicial nominations while pausing for extended debate over one nominee.
Chair opened the meeting and, after hearing procedural motions, members agreed to place numerous governor’s nominations to the superior court on the consent calendar. The committee then debated the nomination of Felice Grama Kemp of Hamden to the superior court at length.
Representative Fishbein questioned whether Kemp’s experience demonstrated enough courtroom time and whether the committee had received adequate writing samples. “I take this process extremely serious,” Fishbein said, describing judicial selection as effectively “hiring a boss” and arguing the nominee had “no courtroom experience” and had not shown the types of in‑court work or writing the committee typically reviews.
Other members pressed the same theme in different ways. Representative Bitski said she was “impressed” by judges who could make calls at trial and worried about placing someone on the bench who had not been in a courtroom. Several members noted that courtroom familiarity — jury selection, evidentiary rulings and in‑trial decisionmaking — was a distinct skill set that matters for deployment to different divisions of the superior court.
The committee chair acknowledged those concerns but also urged the committee to consider a range of experience. He said Kemp’s supervision of complex litigation and experience working with large law firms could be an asset and that nominees often avail themselves of judicial training after appointment. "We need a diversity of experience on the bench," the chair said.
The committee took a roll call on Kemp’s nomination; the chair then instructed staff that recorded votes would be held until 3:00 p.m. for administrative processing. No final floor transmission was declared in the meeting record at that time.
The meeting proceeded to move a number of other judicial nominations to the consent calendar, including Campbell Barrett (Durham), Theodore Doolittle (West Hartford), Patrick Fahey (South Glastonbury), Sean McGinnis (Norwalk), Philip Miller (Glastonbury), Leah Pollard (Pomfret), Patrick Ring (Windsor), Rosemarie Weber (Granby), and Justine Whalen (Branford). Those names were read by the administrator as part of the consent calendar and ordered to be placed on consent without recorded objection.
The committee recessed after reading the consent calendar and holding roll-call votes; the chair said votes would be held until 3:00 p.m.
What’s next: The nominations placed on the consent calendar and any nominations with recorded roll-call votes will be processed according to committee procedure; Kemp’s final disposition was not resolved on the floor during this meeting and members indicated follow-up would occur.
