Senate Unanimously Confirms First Openly Gay Appellate Judge
The Senate voted 98 to 0 on Tuesday to confirm the appointment of a Justice Department lawyer as the nation’s first openly gay judge on a federal appeals court.
Todd M. Hughes, who has served as deputy director of the commercial litigation branch of Justice’s Civil Division since 2007, will join the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
Hughes has specialized in the kinds of issues that come before the court, which focuses on a handful of designated topics including international trade, government contracts, patents, trademarks, and police and veterans’ benefits. …
Seven openly gay judges have already been confirmed to serve on district courts, which rank one level below the circuit courts. The first, Deborah Batts in the Southern District of New York, took senior status in April 2012, and the remaining six were all appointed by Obama.
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