5th Out LGBT Obama Federal Judge Confirmed: Michael McShane

Michael McShane was confirmed today by voice vote to be a district court judge in Oregon — Obama's 5th out LGBT judicial nominee confirmed.
— Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner) May 20, 2013

The fifth openly LGBT federal judge during President Obama's tenure has been confirmed by a voice vote, according to a report by Buzzfeed's Chris Geidner. Michael McShane will serve as a federal district court judge for the District of Oregon. The other four openly lesbian or gay federal judges confirmed since January 2009 are J. Paul Oetken (U.S. District Court for Southern District in New York), Ali Nathan (U.S. District Court for Southern District in New York), Michael Fitzgerald (U.S. District Court  for Central District in California) and Pamela Ki Mai Chen (U.S. District Court for Eastern District in New York).

There are also several pending nominations of other LGBT federal judges, including the first openly gay Black man to be nominated for a federal judgeship, William L. Thomas and several nominated for federal appellate positions.

Celebrity Friday: Asian-American Lesbian Federal Judge, Pamela Ki Mai Chen

Pamela Ki Mai Chen has become the first openly lesbian Asian-American federal judge confirmed by the United States Senate. President Obama has now nominated 9 openly LGBT individuals to become federal judges and four have been confirmed: Paul Oetken, Michael Fitzgerald, Ali Nathan and Pamela Chen.

Chen was nominated for a federal district court judgeship in the Eastern District of New York by Obama before the 2012 presidential election and then re-nominated when he was re-elected and the 113th Congress began in January 2013.

Still pending before the Senate are President Obama's nomination of the first African-American, openly gay man to be a federal judge, William L. Thomas as well as the nomination of Todd Hughes to be the first openly gay person to sit on a federal appeals court.

Prior to the Obama administration  President Clinton had appointed the only known openly LGBT member of the federa judiciary, Deborah Batts. That number has increased 400% due to President Obama's appointments.

Obama Taps API Lesbian To Be Federal Judge

President Obama has nominated the fifth openly gay or lesbian person, Pamela Ki Mai Chen, to a position as a federal judge. If confirmed by the United States Senate, Chen would be only the second Chinese-American federal judge in history, and one of only a handful of openly LGBT members of the federal judiciary. Previously, three of Obama's openly LGBT nominees, J. Paul Oetken, Ali Nathan and Michael Fitzgerald have been confirmed, with Edmund Dumont withdrawing his nomination when the Senate Judiciary committee refused to schedule a hearing on his nomination for 18 months.

The Washington Blade reports:

In a statement, Obama said, “I am proud to nominate this outstanding candidate to serve on the United States District Court bench. Pamela Chen has a long and distinguished record of service, and I am confident she will serve on the federal bench with distinction.”

According to biographical information, Chen has been an assistant U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of New York for 14 years — with the exception of a four-month period in 2008 when she served as New York State Division of Human Rights’s Deputy Commissioner for Enforcement.

As a U.S. attorney, Chen served has held different supervisory positions, including chief of the civil rights section and deputy chief of the public integrity section. She’s specialized in criminal civil rights matters, such as human trafficking, and has provided training to law enforcement on the issue.

Prior to being a U.S. attorney, Chen was a trial attorney in the Special Litigation Section of the Civil Rights Division at the U.S. Justice Department. She began her legal career in D.C., at the criminal defense firm of Asbill, Junkin, Myers & Buffone and at the law firm of Arnold & Porter after receiving her law degree in 1986 from the Georgetown University.

A first-generation American, Chen’s parents came to the United States as immigrants from China and met in the United States at the University of Chicago during World War II.

Chen was recommended to the Eastern District of New York by that state's senior U.S. Senator, Chuck Schumer.

Congratulations to Ms. Chen. Here's hoping that her nomination can be confirmed before the end of this Congress.

GRAPHIC: Obama's (Many) LGBT Accomplishments

Har/tip to TowleRoad.

Openly Gay Federal Judge Confirmed By 91-6 Vote!

And now there are four openly gay or lesbian federal judges in the United States. Michael Fitzgerald was approved by a 91-6 vote of the United States Senate on Thursday to be a U.S. District Court Judge for the Central District of California. Fitzgerald was officially nominated by President Barack Obama in July 2011 and waited for 132 days before receiving a confirmation vote in the Senate.

Fitzgerald joins 3 other openly lesbian and gay judges, all who serve in New York: Deborah Batts, who has been on the bench since 1994(!) after being nominated by President Clinton and Ali Nathan and Paul Oetken who were both nominated by President Obama and approved by votes of the Senate in 2011 (48-44 for Nathan on October 13th and 80-13 for Oetken on July 19).

The six raving homophobes who voted against the Fitzgerald nomination were (all Republicans): David Vitter (R-LA), James Inhofe (R-OK), Mike Lee (R-UT), Rand Paul (R-KY), Roy Blunt (R-MO) and Jim DeMint (R-SC).

Congratulations to Michael Fitzgerald!

Hat//tip to PoliGlot.

Obama Names 4th LGBT Judicial Nominee

Michael Fitzegerald becomes President Obama's

4th openly LGBT nominee to the federal judiciary

Wow! Just days after Paul Oetken became the first openly gay man was confirmed as a U.S. District Court judge to the Souther District of New York, President Obama has named a 4th openly LGBT individual to become a federal judge with lifetime appointment. He is Michael Fitzgerald and joins Ali Nathan, J. Paul Oetken and Ed Dumont as openly LGBT federal judicial nominees of the Obama administration. The Oetken nomination has passed the Senate, the Nathan nomination is on the floor and there is no scheduled action on the Dumont nomination planned.

Here's the press release from the White House on the Fitzgerald nomination:

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

_________________________________________________________________________________

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 20, 2011

President Obama Nominates Michael Walter Fitzgerald to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, President Obama announced his nomination of Michael Walter Fitzgerald to the United States District Court for the Central District of California. 

"I am honored to nominate Michael Walter Fitzgerald to the United States District Court," President Obama said.  "His impressive career stands as a testament to his formidable intellect and integrity.  I am confident he will serve the people of California with distinction on the District Court bench."

Michael Walter Fitzgerald: Nominee for United States District Judge for the Central District of California

Michael Walter Fitzgerald has been a named partner at the law firm of Corbin, Fitzgerald & Athey LLP in Los Angeles, California since 1998, where he handles civil and criminal litigation in both federal and state courts.   Previously, he worked at the Law Offices of Robert L. Corbin PC from 1995 to 1998 and at the law firm of Heller, Ehrman, White & McAuliffe from 1991 to 1995.  Between 1988 and 1991, Fitzgerald served as an Assistant United States Attorney in Los Angeles.  Upon graduation from law school, he clerked for the Honorable Irving R. Kaufman of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.  Fitzgerald received his J.D. in 1985 from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall) and his A.B. magna cum laude in 1981 from Harvard University.

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Obama Nominates Out Lesbian As Federal Judge

Alison Nathan, has becomes Obama's first
 out lesbian federal judicial nominee

The Obama administration has nominated the third openly LGBT person to the federal bench: Alison (Ali) Nathan. Nathan, a former associate White House counsel, joins J. Paul Oetken and Edward Dumont as openly gay Obama judicial nominees. Currently, there is currently one openly gay federal judge on the bench, African American lesbian Deborah Batts.

Here is what the official White House announcement of the Nathan judicial nomination looked like:

Alison J. Nathan:  Nominee for the United States District Court for the Southern District of New YorkAlison J. Nathan currently serves in the Office of the Attorney General of the State of New York as Special Counsel to the Solicitor General, a position she has held since 2010.  From 2009 to 2010, Nathan served as a Special Assistant to President Obama and an Associate White House Counsel.  Prior to joining government service, she spent a number of years as an academic, first as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Law at Fordham University Law School from 2006 to 2008 and later as a Fritz Alexander Fellow at New York University School of Law from 2008 to 2009.  From 2002 to 2006, Nathan was an associate in the New York and Washington, D.C. offices of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr.  Nathan served as a law clerk for the Honorable John Paul Stevens of the Supreme Court of the United States from 2001 to 2002 and as a law clerk to the Honorable Betty B. Fletcher of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals from 2000 to 2001.  Nathan received her J.D., magna cum laude, in 2000 from Cornell Law School, where she was Editor-in-Chief of the Cornell Law Review.  She received her B.A. in 1994 from Cornell University.

It should be noted that these are some of the only openly LGBT judicial nominees in history. J. Paul Oetken is the first openly gay man to be nominated for the federal judiciary, which are lifetime appointments. None of these appointments are at the appellate court level, yet, but hopefully that will happen soon, or at the very least during Obama's second term.