On April 22, 2010, the U.S. Senate unanimously confirmed The Honorable Denny Chin (currently sitting in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York) to fill a vacancy on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Below is the summary of the legislative action related to his nomination and confirmation:

Nomination: PN1O6O-111

Date Received: October 06, 2009 (111th Congress)
Nominee: Denny Chin, of New York, to be United States Circuit Judge for the Second Circuit, vice Robert D. Sack, retired.
Referred to: Senate Judiciary
Reported by: Senate Judiciary

Legislative Actions
Floor Action: October 06, 2009 – Received in the Senate and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Committee Action: November 18, 2009 – Committee on the Judiciary. Hearings held.
Committee Action: December 10, 2009 – Committee on the Judiciary. Ordered to be reported favorably.
Floor Action: December 10, 2009 – Reported by Senator Leahy, Committee on the Judiciary, without printed report.
Floor Action: December 10, 2009 – Placed on Senate Executive Calendar. Calendar No. 607.
Floor Action: April 15, 2010 – By unanimous consent agreement, the Senate proceed to executive session to consider nomination.
Floor Action: April 15, 2010 – Cloture motion presented In Senate.
Floor Action: April 20, 2010 – Cloture motion withdrawn by unanimous consent In Senate.
Floor Action: April 20, 2010 – By unanimous consent agreement, debate and vote 4-20-10.
Floor Action: April 22, 2010 – Considered by Senate pursuant to an order of April 20, 1010.
Floor Action: April 22, 2010 – By unanimous consent agreement, vote at 12 noon.
Floor Action: April 22, 2010 – Confirmed by the Senate by Yea-Nay Vote. 98 – 0. Record vote Number: 123.

Organization: The Judiciary
Control Number: 111PN0106000

Source: THOMAS (Library of Congress) (Screen clipping taken: 5/7/2010, 3:44 PM)

(Many times, links to the URL for the search results in the Library of Congress’s Thomas site end up not working, so I copied the text and provide it above.) The Congressional Record shows a report of the confirmation here (bottom right of the page).

The Wall Street Journal published a brief bio of Judge Chin when he was nominated in the Fall of 2009, noting that he is best known for “sentencing convicted Ponzi-scheme operator Bernard Madoff to 150 years in prison” earlier in 2009. See also, Benjamin Weiser, “Senate Confirms Federal District Judge for Appeals Court,” The New York Times, City Room (Apr. 22, 2010).

This confirmation is particularly interesting because Judge Chin currently presides over the Google Book Settlement case (Author’s Guild v. Google), which I’ve blogged about in the past. (Prior blog posts can be found archived together.) I have not found any information about when Judge Chin’s term begins on the Second Circuit, but note that he is currently listed as an active judge on the Second Circuit, effective 4/23/2010.

It remains to be seen who will be assigned to the Google Book Settlement once Judge Chin formally takes up his position as a judge of the Second Circuit, but the change will undoubtedly prove to be very interesting and may have a noticeable impact on the proceedings.