Michael Fitzgerald nominated for federal judgeship
Sfgate.com
President Obama nominated attorney Michael Fitzgerald to the federal court in Los Angeles on Wednesday, making Fitzgerald the first openly gay nominee for a federal judgeship in California.
Fitzgerald, 51, a UC Berkeley law school graduate, was a federal prosecutor in Los Angeles from 1988 to 1991 and has worked at private law firms since then. He has also been a lawyer for the Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners and for a panel that investigated police wrongdoing.
Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., who recommended Fitzgerald to Obama, said his “sharp intellect, record of public service and broad legal experience will be a real asset on the federal bench.”
Obama has nominated three other openly gay men and lesbians to federal courts. One, Paul Oetken, was confirmed by the Senate on Monday to a judgeship in New York City.
Another New York nominee, Alison Nathan, won Senate Judiciary Committee approval last week. The third, Edward DuMont, was nominated in April 2010 to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which specializes in patent and trademark issues, but his candidacy has been stalled in the Judiciary Committee.
The nation’s only other openly gay or lesbian federal judge is Deborah Batts, appointed by President Bill Clinton to the federal court in New York in 1994. San Francisco’s former chief federal judge, Vaughn Walker, confirmed media reports that he is gay after he retired from the bench in February.
Carl Tobias, a University of Richmond law professor, said Obama’s appointments of gays and lesbians are in keeping with his record of diversifying the bench.
“Look at ethnicity and gender. He’s eclipsed all prior presidents,” Tobias said.
