Senate Unanimously Confirms First Openly Gay Appellate Judge

Posted by | September 25, 2013 09:15 | Filed under: Politics Top Stories


This is a big deal and a cultural step forward for the nation. There had been When he is sworn in, Todd Hughes will become the highest-ranking openly gay judge in the United States:

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.

Click here for reuse options!
Copyright 2013 Liberaland
By: dave-dr-gonzo

David Hirsch, a.k.a. Dave "Doctor" Gonzo*, is a renegade record producer, video producer, writer, reformed corporate shill, and still-registered lobbyist for non-one-percenter performing artists and musicians. He lives in a heavily fortified compound in one of Manhattan's less trendy neighborhoods.

* Hirsch is the third person to use the pseudonym, a not-so-veiled tribute to journalist and author Hunter S. Thompson, with the permission of his predecessors Gene Gaudette of American Politics Journal (currently webmaster and chief bottlewasher at Liberaland) and Stephen Meese at Smashmouth Politics.