WASHINGTON (CN) — The Senate gave its seal of approval Tuesday to two federal court judges, including one appointee who will be the first Hispanic woman to ever serve as a federal judge in Illinois.
Nancy L. Maldonado was confirmed by a vote of 53-45 to a vacancy at the Northern District of Illinois.
"It marks yet another proud accomplishment, and our efforts to build a judiciary that really reflects America," Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said on the Senate floor Tuesday.
Maldonado spent the last 19 years as a partner at the law firm Miner, Barnhill & Galland in Chicago, working on employment, fraud and civil rights cases as a plaintiff-side employment litigator.
While working in private practice, she also served on the Illinois State Police Merit Board, which evaluates, promotes and disciplines state police officers. In 2021, Maldonado was appointed by the Illinois attorney general to serve as a special assistant attorney general investigating consumer fraud.
Maldonado began her career as a law clerk for now-retired U.S. District Judge Rubén Castillo, who was the first Hispanic person to serve as a federal judge in the Northern District of Illinois.
Maldonado graduated from Columbia Law School after getting her undergraduate degree from Harvard College.
The Senate also voted 58-36 Tuesday to confirm Nina Nin-Yuen Wang as a U.S. district judge for the District of Colorado.
Wang was a magistrate judge in Colorado for seven years and previously worked as a partner at Faegre Baker Daniels. She spent four years as a prosecutor, working as an assistant U.S. attorney on civil cases in the district where she will soon be a federal judge.
Early on in her career, Wang was an associate with the international business law firm of Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson and a law clerk for a federal judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland.
She graduated from Harvard Law School after earning her undergraduate degree from Washington University in St. Louis.
The Senate votes come as Congress' August recess and the November midterms draw near, putting pressure on both the White House to put forward nominees to fill judicial vacancies and on the Senate to get the president's picks confirmed.
So far, the Senate has confirmed 72 judicial nominees, and Biden is not letting up on his bid to fill empty seats on the federal courts.
Last week, Biden announced 18 nominees to the federal bench over a three-day span, putting an emphasis on continuing the speed of judicial confirmations.
All judicial nominees require Senate confirmation, a process that could grind to a halt if Republicans gain control of the tightly divided chamber in the November election.
Follow @@rosemwagner
Subscribe to Closing Arguments
Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.
Additional Reads
-
California certifies March 5 primary election results April 12, 2024 -
