Mauston attorney William T. Curran was one of six named this week to the Wisconsin Federal Nominating Commission, which is charged with moving federal nominations forward, including vacant federal judgeships in Wisconsin.

Curran was one of three attorneys tapped for the commission by Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, who worked with Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin, who named the other three members, to create the commission.

“No reservations,” Curran said about accepting the invitation from Johnson. “I’ve done it before, so I know the drill.”

The commission is charged with naming candidates for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern and Western districts of Wisconsin, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and federal attorneys for the state’s Eastern and Western districts.

Curran served on Wisconsin’s Federal Judicial Nominating Commission from 2001 to 2008 and served on a similar body charged with screening candidates for vacancies on the state circuit courts, appellate courts and Supreme Court from 1987 to 2001 during the administration of Gov. Tommy Thompson.

Nominating commissions vary in the ways they operate and Curran said Thursday he had few specifics about what Johnson and Baldwin have in mind.

“We’re in a little bit of uncharted water here because Sen. Johnson and Sen. Baldwin are trying very hard to work together in a bipartisan way and that’s somewhat of a switch,” Curran said.

Typically, Curran said, a nominating commission whittles a field of applicants to five via interviews and discussion before forwarding names to senators.

The senator who is of the same party as the president – Baldwin, in this case – then decides which candidate or candidates she wants to forward to the president for consideration..

The president makes the final choice, which must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

“I have always said that a balanced commission – one that ensures candidates have support from both sides of the aisle – is the fairest way to proceed,” Johnson said in a news release. “I’m glad that Senator Baldwin and I have been able to agree on this bipartisan charter. I look forward to working with her and the President to fill these important judicial vacancies.”

Curran graduated from Marquette University Law School in 1975 and began his practice in Mauston with Curran, Hollenbeck & Orton the same year, according to information from the firm’s website.

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