Congratulations to Diane J. Humetewa. News first came from this tweet from Eric Schultz (@Schultz44):
Senate just confirmed 3 judges 96-0 but still had to break R filibuster to do so. Includes 1st Native American woman to serve as fed judge!
President Obama nominated Ms. Humetewa in October of 2013. From PolicyMic.com:
Diane J. Humetewa, a member of the Hopi tribe and former U.S. attorney in Arizona, has been nominated to serve on the U.S. District Court for the district of Arizona as a federal judge. If confirmed, she would be the first active member of a Native American reservation, and first Native American woman to serve as a federal judge. Not only would this bring more diversity to the federal bench, but Arizona’s prominent Native community will finally be represented in a state that is infamous for ignoring Native issues.
This is a big deal because she is a Native woman from the same Arizona that has become a police state through its insistence on criminalizing communities of color, deportations, and via renegade leaders like Sheriff Arpaio. Arizona is swiftly becoming a state known for its extreme racial profiling regarding folks who look “brown.”
http://www.policymic.com/...
Great news! Still waiting to find out how Dems overcame the obstructionist GOP filibuster...
From Time Magazine two days ago:
So far this year, the Senate has confirmed 32 judicial nominees, compared with 14 at the same point last year. “From day one of this President’s time in office, Senate Republicans have obstructed and slowed the confirmation process,” Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat, says. “It is a shame we have to go to such lengths to confirm highly qualified nominees, but we are making progress.”
http://time.com/...
(photo: Maribel Hermosillo)
Update 1:
From Meteor Blades in the comments:
A good résumé, but she's a Republican who backed McCain (contributing $3,000 to his campaign) and Romney (contributing $10,000 to his campaign). She has not contributed to any Democratic candidates.
Yeesh. Well, her wiki biography says she stuck with the investigation of Representative Rick Renzi (R-AZ) until he was indicted, so maybe she's not all bad.
http://en.wikipedia.org/...