Former assistant federal public defender Arianna Freeman became the first Black woman and first woman of color confirmed to a seat on the Philadelphia-based federal appeals court (article available here).
Freeman will now join the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, which handles cases involving Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and the Virgin Islands.
Freeman since 2016 has been a managing attorney with the Federal Community Defender Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, also based in Philadelphia. She has worked in that office since 2009.
Separately Thursday, the Senate Judiciary Committee advanced two other Third Circuit nominees, Pittsburgh U.S. Attorney Cindy Chung and Delaware Supreme Court Justice Tamika Montgomery-Reeves.Four nominees to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania also advanced.
The Senate has approved 84 of Biden's judicial nominees, most often women and people of color.