President Donald Trump announced recently, on January 23, 2018, that he intends to nominate Joseph L. Falvey, Jr. to serve on the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (CAVC). Falvey has experience serving as a judge on the Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals. He is also a veteran of the Marine Corp after serving 30 years, 14 of which he served on active duty, including a deployment to Afghanistan in 2002. He earned his law degree from the University of Nortre Dame and has held a number of different positions as a lawyer working in federal agencies in Michigan.
The appointment is important, because in recent years the CAVC work load has increased. As the Court noted in its annual report, “the Board of Veterans' Appeals has projected a significant and inevitable increase in its workload. At the same time, the Court is quickly losing judges to retirement.” Incidentally, the increase in the workload may be attributable to the new RAMP program, which is a pilot program discussed in another blog on this website. The CAVC is one of the most productive courts in the judicial branch, and Mr. Falvey is a welcome addition to the bench. I look forward to reading the opinions he will write while sitting on the bench.