A Washington, D.C., judge, who released a gun suspect on house arrest who was later involved in the killing of an 11-year-old boy, was given a new 15-year term last week, drawing criticism from a member of the select commission charged with reviewing the judge’s record.
His renomination highlighted the consequences of a bureaucratic system in the nation’s capital that frequently allows unelected commissioners to extend the limited terms of D.C. judges indefinitely, denying the president the ability to nominate replacements and the Senate the ability to confirm them.
Judge Todd E. Edelman of the D.C. Superior Court was reappointed on April 23 after a local judicial commission gave him the highest possible rating, shielding him from review or interference by President Donald Trump.
Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton, nominated by Trump in his first term to sit on the seven-member Commission on Judicial Disabilities and Tenure, wrote the lone dissent and voted Edelman “unqualified” to resume his work as a judge.
“The public expects judges to exercise discretion with utmost caution, particularly in cases involving obviously dangerous defendants with criminal convictions or arrests,” Fitton told the Washington Examiner.
Why did one commissioner object to the judge?
Edelman has received criticism from conservatives such as Fitton and even lost his chance to be named a federal judge during the Biden administration after Republican senators voiced concerns over his handling of a firearm suspect case in 2020. He currently serves on the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, which functions as the city’s local trial court, handling criminal and civil cases.
Edelman allowed the release of Christian Wingfield, a defendant awaiting trial for illegal firearm possession, just weeks before Wingfield went on to participate in the fatal shooting of Davon McNeal, an 11-year-old who was killed just after attending an annual “Stop the Violence” cookout on July 4.
Wingfield, who had a prior history of gun charges, was released with a GPS ankle monitor under Edelman’s order. But that did not stop him from violating the terms six weeks later, when he was ultimately involved in McNeal’s killing. Although Wingfield did not fire at McNeal, he was armed and was part of a group of two other co-defendants who all pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter for the death of the child. He later pleaded guilty to his role in the incident, according to Fitton’s written dissent.
“By releasing Wingfield, Judge Edelman failed to adequately weigh the clear and present danger,” Fitton said.
One of the commissioners voting for Edelman’s continuation on the bench was Dr. Patrick D. Jackson, husband of Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the most recent Supreme Court appointee put in place by former President Joe Biden.
Joining Jackson in voting to approve Edelman’s reappointment were Commission Chair Amy L. Bess, a Washington attorney; retired D.C. Superior Court Judge Diane M. Brenneman; U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly; attorney and former D.C. Council member William P. Lightfoot; and Nikki Sertsu, a longtime federal employee and public member of the commission.
Despite Fitton’s dissent, the majority on the commission voted on Wednesday to rate Edelman “well qualified,” a designation that, under D.C. law, guarantees automatic reappointment to the Superior Court without presidential involvement or Senate confirmation.
Edelman’s judicial record drew national attention in 2022 when Biden nominated him to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
That nomination collapsed after Senate Republicans, particularly Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), raised concerns about Edelman’s decision to release Wingfield. The Biden White House allowed the nomination to expire without a vote.
“He was pending trial in a felony gun case. And you released him, correct?” Blackburn asked Edelman in November 2022 during his confirmation hearing.
Edelman acknowledged that he did release Wingfield but defended his record by noting that another individual was found to have “fired the shots” at the victim. The judge noted that Wingfield pleaded guilty to a lesser charge by association.
That answer was not satisfactory for the majority of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which did not pass along Edelman’s nomination to a full vote.
Wingfield, now 27, was sentenced to nearly 10 years in prison in 2022.
How judicial selection works under DC home rule
In Washington, D.C., two different commissions have handled judicial selection and oversight since 1970. The District of Columbia Judicial Nomination Commission first recommends candidates for new judicial vacancies to the president, who can choose to nominate them as judges. The nominees then go through the Senate confirmation process and, if confirmed, are seated for 15-year terms. The CJDT — the body that reappointed Edelman last week — handles sitting judges’ evaluation, discipline, and reappointment.
Edelman has already made it through the JNC process once before. So long as a majority of commissioners on the CJDT continue to give him a “well-qualified” rating, he does not need to go through a presidential or Senate confirmation process again. But had the commission only rated him as “qualified,” he would have gone through the same process as a first-time nominee.
Fitton said Edelman’s reappointment showcases deeper constitutional concerns about the president’s ability to have oversight and say over judges.
“It seems to raise constitutional issues about the president’s powers,” Fitton told the Washington Examiner. “Are we making decisions that the president should be making about their reappointment or even a selection?”
The CJDT, created by Congress, is composed of two lay members, four attorneys, and one federal judge. The president appoints one of the lay members for a five-year term, and the remaining members serve for six-year terms. In addition to evaluating judges for reappointment, the CJDT has the authority to remove judges for misconduct or to order their retirement if they become mentally or physically incapacitated.
The roadblocks preventing any additional review of Edelman’s continued presence on the bench present another example of entrenched bureaucracies limiting presidential authority — a central focus of Trump’s first 100 days back in office.
Trump has already moved to remove senior officials from various federal agencies, such as the Merit Systems Protection Board, the Federal Labor Relations Board, and the Office of Special Counsel, where he dismissed Hampton Dellinger earlier this year.
Although the district’s home rule complicates Trump’s ability to remedy Fitton’s concerns, other experts say it could be a future issue for this administration to tackle.
An additional dilemma for executive authority
Zack Smith, a legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation, told the Washington Examiner that Edelman’s judicial renewal highlights a vulnerability the Trump administration may seek to address. He noted that the Senate declined to confirm him to a lifetime federal judge post less than three years ago.
“I think the president could directly appoint someone to this vacancy as well,” Smith said, underscoring a potential path forward for the White House when the next vacancy arises on the local D.C. bench.
“Now, how that would work in practice, I’m not sure, because by the terms of the act, the reappointment is supposed to be automatic when someone is found well qualified by this commission,” Smith said.
Smith, who discussed the matter in an op-ed for the Federalist, also pointed out that the final member of the seven-person JNC commission is a federal judge who is appointed by the chief judge of the district’s federal court.
In other words, “these judges are selecting other judges!” Smith said.
“Of the applicants it reviews, the JNC must select three candidates to fill each vacancy and then forward those candidates’ names to the president,” Smith said, noting that even the president’s choices are limited by statute to the three candidates recommended by the JNC.
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For future vacancies in D.C. courts, Smith told the Washington Examiner he suspects “this will be something that the Trump administration takes a very close look at.”
The Washington Examiner contacted the White House for comment.