Daniel Bress testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee during his confirmation hearing to be U.S. circuit judge for the Ninth Circuit on May 22. (Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM)

Despite opposition from Califorina's Democratic senators, Kirkland & Ellis litigation partner Daniel Bress moved a step closer to a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Thursday.

The Senate Judiciary Committee approved Bress' nomination in a party line vote setting the stage for a full Senate vote.

California's Democratic Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris, both members of the Judiciary Committee, came out publicly against the nomination in January in a joint statement saying that Bress was based in Washington, D.C. Ahead of the committee vote Thursday, Feinstein said she could not support Bress's nomination, because he is a not a California attorney and the seat is based in California. She said Kirkland & Ellis listed him as a lawyer practicing in San Francisco only after his nomination, and that the land he owns in California is one share of a family business. The senator also said that more than half of the 26 cases he's been involved with in California courts were on behalf of the same two clients.

“As senators we have the right to demand that an individual being nominated to represent our state on the circuit court actually be a practicing lawyer based in our state,” she said. “This is a departure from that. It should not happen. If it happens here, it will happen in other circuits.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, said the nomination is not unusual. Graham cited judges who had been nominated for postings outside their states, and underlined Bress' California connection by mentioning that he interned for Feinstein.

Harris said she would not talk about Bress' merits, because she believed the process was flawed.

Bress, for his part, defended his California ties at his confirmation hearing on May 22.

“When my wife's career brought us from San Francisco to Washington, I chose to continue making California central to my practice. I've been involved in cases at all levels of the California court system, federal and state and worked on more litigation in California than any other state by far,” he said. “It has been my great privilege to be a practicing lawyer in those courts; I could not be more excited about the possibility of returning home and serving our legal system in a part of our country that means so much to me.”

President Donald Trump first nominated Bress to the Ninth Circuit in January. The White House initially nominated Patrick Bumatay, a lawyer with the U.S. Department of Justice, for the seat, before replacing him with Bress after the initial nomination expired. Bumatay was nominated to a Los Angeles-based federal district court instead, though his name has surfaced in connection with another seat set to come up at the Ninth Circuit with Judge Carlos Bea's recent announcement that he intends to take senior status once his replacement is named and confirmed.

Bress clerked for Justice Antonin Scalia from 2006 to 2007, the same term as Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Judge Eric Murphy of the Sixth Circuit—another Trump pick. If confirmed, Bress would join another fellow Scalia clerk on the Ninth Circuit bench—former Munger, Tolles & Olson Los Angeles partner Daniel Collins, who was confirmed last month despite opposition from Feinstein and Harris.

According to the financial disclosure form Bress filed with the Senate Judiciary, he made $1,763,556 in income from Kirkland & Ellis in 2017, $1,881,855 in 2018, and $18,000 in 2019 at the time of the form's filing on Feb. 8. Kirkland had profits per equity partner of $5,037,000 in 2018 and average compensation—all partners of $2,510,000, according to the latest figures from The American Lawyer.