Ron Johnson reinforces his position on blocking President Biden's nomination of William Pocan to the federal bench in Green Bay

Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson said Friday there's no chance he'll change his position on blocking the nomination of Milwaukee County Circuit Judge William Pocan to an open seat on the federal court in Green Bay.

Without Johnson returning what's known as a blue slip, Pocan's prospects of gaining confirmation appear slim.

Johnson initially announced his opposition to Pocan the night before the Milwaukee County judge was due to appear for a confirmation hearing in front of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee.

Johnson said some within the Green Bay legal community raised the issue of Pocan not being locally based. He also accused Pocan of having "granted low bail for someone charged with violent felonies."

"There was a concern he didn't live in Green Bay and the minute he was nominated we heard a lot from the Green Bay legal community," Johnson said Friday after appearing at the Republican Party Hispanic Outreach Center on Milwaukee's near south side.

"They wanted somebody that is from their community, that resides there, is an integral part of that community," Johnson said.

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Johnson said around the time the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing was scheduled "we just got information on the low bail, which was kind of the final decision factor."

In his original statement announcing his opposition to Pocan, the senator referenced the Waukesha Christmas Parade tragedy. The defendant, Darrell Brooks, was free on $1,000 bail set in a domestic violence case in Milwaukee County involving the same vehicle.

Johnson said in his statement that the tragedy was "the direct result of soft on crime low bail policies and court orders. I cannot support someone for a lifetime appointment that has granted low bail for someone charged with violent felonies."

Pocan had nothing to do with the Waukesha case.

Later, Johnson's office pointed to a 2015 case involving Davario D. Washington of Milwaukee. Pocan sided with the prosecutor who was seeking to increase the defendant's bail to $5,000.

The White House has said that since 2017 Pocan has only presided over cases in Milwaukee's Civil and Family Divisions, and those cases do not involve bail. Since 2020, Pocan has only supervised Milwaukee’s Civil, Family, Probate and Children’s Divisions.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan said his brother is committed to moving to Green Bay if confirmed. He also defended his brother's handling of the case involving Washington.

In June, Johnson and Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin recommended Pocan and three other candidates to fill the vacancy on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin. Their names were forwarded to the White House.

The candidates were recommended to Johnson and Baldwin by the bipartisan Wisconsin Federal Nominating Commission.

This wasn't the first time a Wisconsin senator reversed course on a nominee. In 2018, Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin "refused to move forward" on the nomination of Gordon Giampietro to a federal judgeship in the state's Eastern District.

Rick Esenberg, a member of the six-person commission, said the senators "should give it a lot of weight and consideration and I think they do. But I can't say they're bound and that they can't under any circumstance exercise their own judgement."

Johnson said he has talked with U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, who chairs the judiciary committee and that they'll work their way through the other three names put forward by the state's federal nominating commission.

The others were Krista Ann Halla-Valdes, a federal public defender in Green Bay, and Tammy Jo Hock and Thomas J. Walsh, both Brown County circuit judges.

William Pocan draws praise

Pocan has drawn praise from several people within the local legal community, including conservatives.

Judge William Brash III, appointed by former Republican Gov. Scott Walker to the Wisconsin Court of Appeals, called Pocan "a very good jurist."

"He's bright, he's articulate, he's capable," Brash said. "I find him to be thoughtful, studied and deliberate, things you would want to see in a jurist. At the same time I think he's mindful of the fact that all cases involve people, so you're aware of that. It factors into the overall decisions that you make."

Don Daugherty, a longtime board member and a former president of the Eastern District of the Wisconsin Bar Association, said Pocan has the credentials for the federal post.

"He's well qualified," said Daugherty, a senior attorney for the Institute for Free Speech who was previously senior counsel for the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty.

"He has a very good temperament," Daugherty said. "He's low-key, hard-working, smart."

Mary Guimont, a Milwaukee defense attorney, said Pocan "has a steady hand. He brings people together. He has excellent, excellent judicial demeanor. He listens to all parties and studies the situation and comes up with reasoned informed decisions."

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Ron Johnson won't back judge William Pocan for federal bench