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Eleanor Holmes Norton might not have a vote in the House of Representatives, but she still oversees the vital task of reviewing prospective nominees to bench of the U.S. District Court here. In a press release today, Norton announced her Federal Law Enforcement Nominating Commission is taking applications to fill a vacancy on the federal bench.

The attached questionnaire is straightforwardly rugged, the kind of inquiry one would want in vetting potential jurists. There aren’t any surprises on the form, just a request for a thorough professional and ethical biography.

But a call for judges is always worth noting when the broader federal bench is rife with vacancies. There are currently 81 unfilled district court judgeships (the linked Los Angeles Times op-ed was written in December 2010), with 35 pending nominations. And the U.S. Senate is slow to move on nominations, if its members aren’t blocking them outright, as happened most recently in the form of a hold on the nomination of Caitlin J. Halligan to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

Norton’s office says the application period is open through Jan. 27, after which her panel will submit names to President Obama, who will then pick a nominee whom will then most likely endure a months-long process of molasses-like hearings and barbs from curmudgeonly senators.