Two of President Joe Biden's nominees to fill U.S. appeals court vacancies will move on to a full U.S. Senate vote, after the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday advanced their nominations.
The Democratic-led Judiciary Committee voted 11-10 along party lines to advance the nominations of Judge Julia Lipez in Maine to serve on the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and labor lawyer Karla Campbell in Nashville for a seat on the Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Before the vote, Republican U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn criticized the Biden White House for picking Campbell against the wishes of Tennessee’s senate delegation. Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin of Illinois in a retort said Republicans had eliminated a process that gave home-state senators more say in judicial nominations.
Lipez and Campbell did not immediately respond to requests for comment left at their offices.
The Senate so far has confirmed 205 of Biden’s judicial nominees, including 43 appointments to the nation's 13 federal appeals courts. Biden has prioritized appointing women and minorities to the federal bench, in a bid to increase the diversity of the courts.
Campbell is a labor lawyer who is of counsel at the law firm of Stranch, Jennings, and Garvey. Her practice has focused on the federal Employment Retirement Income Security Act. She clerked for Judge Jane Stranch of the Sixth Circuit. Durbin has called Campbell a “highly experienced trial attorney and appellate practitioner.”
Lipez, a former U.S. prosecutor, has served on the Maine Superior Court bench since 2022. A group of former prosecutors in a letter to the judiciary committee called Lipez “exceptionally well qualified” for the appeals court.
Lipez received support from survivor advocacy groups for her work prosecuting or presiding over cases involving sexual assault or domestic violence, Durbin said at Lipez's confirmation hearing.
Circuit court nominees Adeel Mangi, Kevin Ritz and Embry Kidd are awaiting a final Senate vote. Mangi, a partner at the law firm Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler, would be the country’s first Muslim American federal appeals court judge.
The Senate panel also voted on Thursday to advance the nominations of Mary Costello and Catherine Henry, who were picked for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania; Mary Lanthier for the District of Vermont; Laura Provinzino for the District of Minnesota; and Noel Wise for the Northern District of California.
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