(CN) - The Northern District of California confirmed U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers on Thursday to join the court in place of the now jurist who struck down the state's gay marriage ban.
Gonzalez Rogers will begin hearing cases in early 2012. She has served as a judge in Alameda County Superior Court since 2008, presiding over both criminal and civil cases. Through the 1990s, she practiced civil litigation with the firm Cooley Godward in San Francisco.
Her appointment fills the seat left vacant by U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker, who famously ruled that Proposition 8 was unconstitutional in the months preceding his February retirement.
The Northern District also announced that it selected Deputy Oakland Attorney Kandis Westmore to become a U.S. magistrate judge. Westmore will replace U.S. Magistrate Judge James Larson, who retired in 2010.
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