The U.S. Senate late Wednesday confirmed Maria Elizabeth "Maribeth" Raffinan to be a judge on the District of Columbia Superior Court, two months after she was nominated.
Raffinan has worked for the D.C. Public Defender Service since 1999, serving most recently as a supervising attorney in the trial division. She has also served as an adjunct professor at Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law.
The District’s Judicial Nomination Commission offered Raffinan’s name and two others in June as potential nominees to succeed Judge Odessa Vincent. Raffinan’s name was also put forward for a different vacancy two years ago. President Barack Obama nominated her in July.
In contrast to some other nominees for the court — notably Marisa Demeo, who was confirmed after a protracted fight — Raffinan faced no major roadblocks. The Senate’s confirmation came without a recorded vote as lawmakers prepared to leave Washington until after the November elections.
The Senate acted on no judgeships for the federal bench Wednesday.
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