Judge’s nomination a rare achievement

SCRANTON – U.S. District Judge Thomas I. Vanaskie is in line for a seat on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. If he gets it, he’ll be in exclusive company.

In the 106-year history of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, only one other district resident – Max Rosenn – has been seated on that court.

President Barack Obama nominated Vanaskie, 55, of Clarks Green, to the seat on Friday. That court reviews rulings by federal judges in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and the Virgin Islands.

Vanaskie had an interest in the open position and his friend, U.S. Sen. Robert P. Casey Jr., had Vanaskie in mind for the seat. Casey made it known to Obama that he had a worthy candidate and made it known to Vanaskie that he was being considered.

After months of being vetted by federal agencies, the nomination announcement was made Friday morning.

“He came down to my chamber with a big smile on his face,” said fellow federal Judge William J. Nealon. “We had an emotional moment. I’m so very fond of him. It’s as if a member of my family has been elevated.”

For Vanaskie, the start of his career and this latest steppingstone have been filled with familiar faces and names.

In the summer of 1977, as a Dickinson Law School student, Vanaskie interned at the Philadelphia law firm of Dilworth, Paxson, Kalish & Kauffman. When he graduated in 1978 he came to Scranton to clerk for Nealon.

After two years working for the man who now is counted among his closest friends and colleagues, Vanaskie took a job working for the Dilworth law firm’s new Scranton office, where he met attorney and future Pennsylvania governor, Robert P. Casey Sr.

After 12 years there, he became a partner in the Scranton firm of Elliott, Vanaskie & Riley. Two years later, President Bill Clinton nominated him for the district court judgeship.

Casey’s son, the junior senator from Pennsylvania, will now be among those voting on his nomination.

“President Obama could not have made a better choice when he nominated Judge Vanaskie to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit,” Casey said. “He will bring a wealth of experience and integrity to the Third Circuit.”

Vanaskie has kept close ties with Casey, even administering the oath of office when Casey served as state auditor general and state treasurer.

Casey said a hearing by the Senate Judiciary Committee is likely for the fall, and he sees no obstacles to Vanaskie earning the 51 votes required for confirmation by the full Senate.

“I’ll do whatever I can to help him in the next step, but I don’t think he’ll need a lot of help,” Casey said.

Vanaskie, who graduated from Our Lady of Lourdes Regional High School in Coal Township, Northumberland County, in 1971, said the nomination “is the highest honor I could think of.”

He said he’s “certainly been blessed” and called himself “a boy from Shamokin.”

But those who know him say he’s much more. He’s a baseball fan who loves history and technology and the court system.

Joseph Cosgrove, an attorney from Forty Fort, has had a professional friendship with the judge since Clinton nominated Vanaskie to the federal bench in 1993.

Cosgrove had high praise for Vanaskie, saying “He takes such an in-depth approach to the issues that come before him.”

“He enjoys the intellectual exploration of the law in a way that can be exciting for a lawyer. He is always looking for lawyers to explore the boundaries of the law and that’s exactly what a court of appeals does,” Cosgrove said.

Nealon called his former clerk “an absolute superstar” and said the nomination comes as no surprise to him.

“He’s always been recognized as a brilliant lawyer; a very fair, conscientious worker,” Nealon said. Whenever you leave here (The William J. Nealon Federal Building in Scranton) his car is here and it’s always here when you arrive, too. He’s a hard worker.”

Vanaskie said he would continue to work out of the Federal Courthouse in Scranton, heading south to Philadelphia when the circuit court is in session. He said he expressed an interest in the new duties because, “I just think it’s a tremendous opportunity to continue to serve on a wider basis.

“I love the job, I love being a judge. I think it was time that there be somebody on the court of appeals from the Middle District of Pennsylvania. I really thought it was time to have this area represented,” Vanaskie said.

In addition to the nomination of Vanaskie, Obama also nominated attorney Jane Stranch, of Nashville, Tenn., for a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

In a release, Obama said, “Jane Stranch and Thomas Vanaskie have displayed exceptional dedication to their communities through their work and I am honored to nominate them to serve the American people as judges on the United States Court of Appeals. They will be diligent, judicious and esteemed additions to the Third and Sixth Circuit benches.”

Rosenn, for whom the Federal Courthouse in Wilkes-Barre is named, is the only other person who lived in the Middle District and was confirmed to a seat on the circuit court.

Cosgrove said Rosenn, who died in 2006, would be “delighted” by the nomination.

If Vanaskie’s nomination is approved by the Senate, it would create a third vacancy on the federal bench in the U.S. Middle District, which serves a wide swath of the state that includes 34 counties. Two openings were created earlier this year when judges James M. Munley and Richard A. Caputo opted to go into senior-judge status.

As happy as Cosgrove said he was by Obama’s announcement Friday, he said one thing did pain him.

“The sad part is we will lose Judge Vanaskie at the district level,” Cosgrove said.

A closer look

Cases of interest

Education: Received a B.A .from Lycoming College in 1975 and earned a JD from Dickinson School of Law in 1978.

Federal Court resume: On Nov. 17, 1993, President Bill Clinton nominated Vanaskie to a seat on the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. He was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on Feb. 10, 1994, and received his commission on Feb. 11, 1994. Vanaskie served as chief judge from 1999-2006.

• In 1995, Vanaskie awarded Wright Township resident James Marinello $3.5 million after he sued the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center after both of his legs were amputated when he was injured at the center in Plains Township.

• In 1998, Vanaskie sentenced Michael and Adam Coffee to 15 months in prison each for evading taxes by skimming hundreds of thousands of dollars from their illegal, video-poker gambling enterprise.

• In 2000, Vanaskie oversaw the case of Paul Polishan, a former Leslie Fay executive who was convicted of a corporate accounting fraud that helped plunge the giant clothing manufacturer into bankruptcy. Polishan was found guilty and Vanaskie sentenced him to nine years in prison.

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If confirmed, Vanaskie will become only second Middle District of Pa. resident to sit on Third Circuit Court of Appeals.

A closer look

Cases of interest

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