NEW YORK, July 14 (Reuters) - Five federal judicial nominees were confirmed by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday, even as the committee's top Republican, Senator Charles Grassley, delivered a stern warning about what he called some nominees' lack of experience.
Alison Nathan and Katherine Forrest, two nominees to the Southern District of New York, which currently has 8 vacancies, were voted up for full consideration. So were nominees for trial court slots in Arkansas, Louisiana, and an appellate nominee for the Fifth Circuit.
In a speech before the voting took place, Grassley singled out Nathan and Susan Hickey, a nominee for a trial court in Arkansas, for their lack of qualifications.
"I ask the President of the United States to refrain from sending us nominees who have limited experience or who fail to meet the standards I have previously discussed," said Grassley.
Grassley himself voted in favor of both women, saying he wanted to maintain the tradition of allowing nominees to come before a full Senate vote.
Nathan was confirmed by a vote of 14-4; Hickey by 15-3. The other nominees were consented to on voice votes, meaning no official tally was recorded.
"The President has worked hard to nominate judges from all walks of life who have strong credentials, diversity of experience, and commitment to the rule of law," White House spokesman Eric Schultz said in a statement.
"Alison Nathan and Susan Hickey are no exceptions - that is why they were both resoundingly approved today by significant bipartisan majorities," Schultz said.
Nathan, who is currently a special counsel to the solicitor general of New York, graduated from law school in 2000. She has previously served as a law professor, advisor to President Obama's campaign and briefly worked in the White House counsel's office. She was a clerk for former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens.
Nathan has taken an assistant role in six cases that have been resolved in court, but none of those suits were tried before a jury, according to the questionnaire she submitted to to the Judiciary Committee.
At a committee hearing in June, Grassley sharply questioned Nathan about her views on the death penalty, gun rights and judicial precedent.
Hickey has served as a state court judge in Arkansas since 2010; before that, she was a senior law clerk for seven years to U.S. District Judge Harry Barnes, whose slot she has been nominated to replace. Hickey has also worked as an attorney at an oil company, but according to her questionnaire, but has never tried a case before a judge or jury.
The next stop for all nominees is the full Senate, which hasn't voted on a judicial nomination since June 21 when it confirmed Michael Simon as a U.S. district judge in Oregon.
(Reporting by Carlyn Kolker)