Exit Chatigny, Enter Droney

Judge Robert Chatigny was not included in President Obama’s winter crop of winter judicial nominations.  Judge Chatigny had twice been  nominated for the Second Circuit at the urging of Senator Christopher Dodd in his final year in office.  Chatigny was the only nominee not renominated from among the dozens who failed to win Senate confirmation last year.

With Dodd gone from the Senate, Senators Joseph Lieberman and Richard Blumenthal will have considerable influence on the next nominee to fill the vacancy.  Daily Ructions understands that federal Judge Christopher Droney, of West Hartford, is receiving serious attention from Lieberman and Blumenthal.  Judge Droney, who’s been on the bench for 13 years, is free of the controversy that dogged Chatigny, his 2005 intervention to stop the execution of serial killer Michael Ross.  In sharp relief, Judge Droney ruled that Ross was competent to waive appeals of his death sentence before Judge Chatigny inserted himself in the controversy.

Judge Droney was a popular mayor of West Hartford and considered a moderate Democrat while he served in public life. He was Connecticut’s United States Attorney from 1993-1997. His brother, vivid former Connecticut Democratic state chairman John Droney, has long been a vocal member of Lieberman’s inner circle and is also thought to be friendly with Blumenthal.