Something in the Water: SCOTUS Loss, First Circuit Gain?

The Boston Globe is reporting that two candidates remain for an opening on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit (sitting in Maine): William Kayatta, Jr., a partner in the Portland, Maine office of Pierce Atwood, and Jon Levy, a justice on Maine's Supreme Judicial Court. Members of Maine's congressional delegation forwarded the names to President Obama, who will send one to the Senate.

By appointment of the U.S. Supreme Court in April, Mr. Kayatta is serving as a Special Master in a water rights dispute between Kansas and Nebraska. (Colorado is also a named party, but the current round of this long-running dispute is between the other two states.) Such disputes fall under the Court's original jurisdiction and are referred initially to a Special Master, who then makes recommendations to the Court.

If you'll forgive the pun, something may be in the water, because Steve Six, who represented Kansas earlier in the dispute when serving as state attorney general, is now a Tenth Circuit nominee. His Senate Judiciary hearing was held this week.