US Senate Confirms 1st Biden Judicial Nominee Of 2023

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(Reuters) - The U.S. Senate on Thursday confirmed DeAndrea Benjamin, a South Carolina state court judge, to a seat on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in its first vote of 2023 on one of President Joe Biden's judicial nominees.

Benjamin was confirmed by the Senate on a 53-44 vote, with her state's two Republican senators throwing their support behind her. She is the second Black woman to ever serve on the Richmond, Virginia-based court.

The vote hands Biden his 98th confirmed judicial nominee and his second appointee on the 4th Circuit, which hears appeals from Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina and South Carolina.

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York on Tuesday called Benjamin's elevation to the appeals court "a long-overdue step in making sure the bench reflects the vibrancy of the Fourth Circuit."

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Benjamin did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment after the confirmation vote.

She will fill a seat previously held by U.S. Circuit Judge Henry Floyd, who took senior status in 2021, and bolster the number of judges appointed by Democrats to the court, who will now have an 8-6 majority over active Republican appointees.

Benjamin currently serves in Columbia, South Carolina, on the state Fifth Judicial Circuit, a trial court, and was recommended to Biden by Representative James Clyburn of South Carolina, the U.S. House of Representatives' fourth-ranking Democrat.

Clyburn introduced Benjamin at a Nov. 15 hearing as a "longtime friend" whose family members were "fixtures" in the state capital of Columbia. Her husband, Steve Benjamin, is the former mayor of Columbia.

She had the home-state support of the Senate's two South Carolina Republicans, Senators Tim Scott and Lindsey Graham, who is now the top ranking member of the GOP on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Despite having those powerful supporters, Benjamin faced opposition from some other Republicans like Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, who criticized her over bail-bond rulings in criminal cases before her.

In one case they cited, Benjamin denied bond at the time of a defendant's arrest on a shooting charge but granted it nearly two years later, amid claims that the state was violating the man's right to a speedy trial.

It was one of several thousands of cases that Benjamin says she has handled since she first began serving as a judge in 2004, starting as a part-time Columbia municipal judge while also working at the Gist Law Firm.

She had sought a seat in 2020 on the South Carolina Court of Appeals, but the state's Republican-led legislature voted 94-63 the following year in favor of a rival judge. State lawmakers in South Carolina elect judges after a committee screens them.

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