www.charlotteobserver.com

U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan named former N.C. Chief Justice Burley Mitchell on Tuesday to head a panel of four Democrats who will screen candidates for federal judicial and prosecutorial posts.

Hagan promised to name the panel earlier this month. It's the first time a senator from North Carolina has asked an outside group to advise on such appointments.

In addition to Mitchell, the panel includes Janice McKenzie Cole, a former U.S. attorney from Hertford in Eastern North Carolina, Greensboro attorney Locke Clifford and attorney Anthony di Santi from Boone.
The group will advise Hagan on appointments she'll recommend for nomination to the president.

Nominees for U.S. attorney and federal court then have to be confirmed by the Senate.

Among the posts to fill are the state's three U.S. attorney posts, including the Western District seat recently vacated by Charlotte Republican Gretchen Shappert.

There's also a judicial vacancy in Eastern North Carolina and at least one seat on the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Mitchell said the panel could make one recommendation for a seat or rank candidates by preference. He said the president also could nominate his own candidate.

"What we're going to have to do is be prepared for any eventuality," Mitchell said. "We're going to try to have (Hagan) prepared for whatever."

Of the 4th Circuit's four vacancies, a North Carolina slot has been open 15 years, longer than any other seat in the nation. Senate Democrats long refused to consider then-GOP Sen. Jesse Helms' nominees for a seat. Helms then scuttled all of President Clinton's nominees.

Hagan spokeswoman Caitlin Legacki said the senator hopes to have recommendations in the coming weeks.

Among names mentioned for Shappert's post are Charlotte attorneys Pete Anderson, Anne Tompkins and Thomas Walker as well as Superior Court Judge Dennis Winner of Asheville and Daniel Johnson, a former prosecutor and unsuccessful congressional candidate.