Nashville attorney Gregg Ramos has been interviewed by members of President Barack Obama's administration for vacancies on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit and U.S. District Court, Middle District of Tennessee, according to NashvillePost.com sources.

The vacancies on the courts were created when 6th Circuit Judge Martha Craig Daughtrey took senior judge status on Jan. 1 and when Memphis based Judge Robert L. Echols took senior judge status in 2007.

Echols' slot had been the focus of much controversy when then-President George W. Bush nominated Nashvillian Gus Puryear to fill the seat in June of 2007. Puryear, general counsel for Corrections Corp. of America, was the subject of an intense lobbying effort that eventually doomed his nomination.

Ramos is well known in Nashville's legal community, having served as president of the Nashville Bar Association in 2004 and more recently as a staunch opponent of Metro Councilman Eric Crafton's failed "English Only" referendum. He is a graduate of the Arizona State University, College of Law (J.D., 1980) and Arizona State University (B.A., 1977).

According to NashvillePost.com sources, Ramos is the only person to have had a face-to-face interview for the judicial vacancies.

Attempts to reach Ramos for comment on this story were unsuccessful at the time of publication of this article.

Other Nashville attorneys said to be up for the District Court job are Bass Berry & Sims lawyers Brant Phillips and David Esquivel as well as Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein's Kathryn Barnett.

Also rumored to be up for the 6th Circuit job is Jane Stranch, a partner at Branstetter Stranch & Jennings.