U.S. Senate panel advances public defender vets up for judgeships

June 16, 20223:26 PM UTCUpdated ago

U.S Circuit Judge nominee Lara Montecalvo testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington — Nominee to be United States Circuit Judge for the First Circuit, Lara Montecalvo, testifies before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee during her confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington U.S., May 25, 2022. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

Summary
Law Firms

Senate panel advances nominations of Montecalvo, Merriam
Biden has nominated 26 current or former public defenders to the bench

(Reuters) - A U.S. Senate panel on Thursday advanced President Joe Biden's nomination of two women with experience working as public defenders representing indigent defendants to serve as federal appellate judges.

The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee in separate 12-10 votes cleared the way for the full Senate to consider confirming Lara Montecalvo to serve on the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and U.S. District Judge Sarah Merriam to join the New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Nominee to be United States District Judge for the Western District of Washington Tiffany Cartwright, testifies before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee during her confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington U.S., May 25, 2022. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

The panel also advanced two district court picks, Tiffany Cartwright, a civil rights litigator at MacDonald Hoague & Bayless nominated to the Western District of Washington, and Colorado nominee U.S. Magistrate Judge Nina Nin-Yuen Wang.

Nominee to be United States District Judge for the District of Colorado Nina Nin-Yuen Wang, testifies before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee during her confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington U.S., May 25, 2022. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

Montecalvo, Merriam and Cartwright each garnered only a single Republican vote in their favor from Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who has often bucked his party to vote for Biden's nominees.

Montecalvo and Merriam are among the 26 current or former public defenders whom Biden has nominated to the federal bench, according to the progressive group Alliance for Justice. Progressive advocates argue that bench has been overly dominated by former prosecutors and former partners at corporate law firms.

Biden nominated Merriam last year to her current position as a district court judge in Connecticut, and the Senate confirmed her on a 54-46 vote. Before becoming a judge, she served as a federal public defender in Connecticut from 2007 to 2015.

"She is a judge's judge, and she will be an extraordinary addition to the 2nd Circuit," said Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, who recommended her.

Nominee to be United States Circuit Judge for the Second Circuit Sarah Merriam, testifies before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee during her confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington U.S., May 25, 2022. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

Montecalvo leads the Rhode Island Public Defender's Office, which she joined in 2004. Her nomination garnered the support of a broad array of her state's legal and law enforcement establishment, including the entire Rhode Island Supreme Court.

During a May 25 hearing, Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the panel's ranking Republican, questioned Montecalvo about her role in advocating early in the COVID-19 pandemic for the release of inmates to alleviate health risks in the state's prisons.

He asked her about her reasoning for asking the Rhode Island Supreme Court to ease bail requirements for defendants awaiting trial, a position the state's court rejected in December 2020 as unnecessary.

Montecalvo cited an anticipated winter surge of COVID-19 within the state's prisons as the reason. She said she was "proud" of working with prosecutors earlier in the pandemic to secure the release of 52 people whose sentences were near their end.

Biden's latest judicial nominees dominated by public defenders