Want to have a say in which judges sit on the DC Court of Appeals and the Superior Court of DC? Find a way to make it onto the District of Columbia Judicial Nomination Commission (JNC). Since the JNC was created by Congress in '73, there's never been a Presidential nomination to the DC Court of Appeals and the DC Superior Court that didn't come from one of JNC's lists of recommendations. (Some came from recommendations given for other vacancies.) The organization, headed by Katia Garrett, has seven members who recommend to the US President the three most qualified candidates for any vacancy on those two courts. Most recently, on Sept. 30, JNC recommended Mark Back, Ralph Ferrara and Elizabeth Wingo, and Alan Burch, Lee Jackson and Jason Tulley to fill the vacancies from the retirements of Superior Court Judges Ann O'Regan Keary and Harold Cushenberry, respectively. (All recommendations and appointments were released Wednesday and are listed here.)

Who are JNC's seven members? Judge Emmet Sullivan, Legal Services Corp's Ron Flagg, AFL-CIO's William Lucy, Dickstien's Woody Peterson, Morgan Lewis' Grace Speights, Israel Baptist Church's Rev. Morris Shearin, and the DC Office of the Attorney General's Natalie Ludaway. Heads-up for those looking to participate: The DC Mayor appoints two members to the JNC, as does the DC Bar Association Board of Governors; the DC Council, the US President, and the Chief Judge of the US District Court for DC each appoint one. Most serve for a six-year term (the President's appointee serves for five years). Aside from screening and recommending judicial nominees, the JNC members also designate the DC courts' Chief Judges.