Update: Vote sends Thompson nomination to full Senate

Published Jan. 21, 2010 at 9:23 p.m.

By John E. Mulligan
Journal Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON -- Without dissent, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted Thursday to recommend that the full Senate confirm President Obama's nomination of Rhode Island Superior Court Judge O. Rogeriee Thompson to sit on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.

The bipartisan voice vote set the stage for Senate action to seat the 21-year veteran of the Rhode Island courts on the federal appeals court in Boston. Thompson would be the first black judge and the second woman to serve on the First Circuit bench.

U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, the only committee member to speak before the vote, praised Thompson as a "careful, expert judge" known for her long experience and "her personal characteristics of fairness and moderation."

Whitehouse and his fellow Rhode Island Democrat, U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, last year recommended Thompson last year to take what is customarily the "Rhode Island seat'' on the court, which hears appeals of cases decided in the federal trial courts of Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire and Puerto Rico. Mr. Obama nominated her in early October to the $184,500-per-year job. Thompson would replace the retired Judge Bruce M. Selya.

"Justice Thompson is an exceptional public servant with a profound respect for the rule of law,'' Reed and Whitehouse said in a joint statement that they issued after Thursday's vote by the 12 members of the judiciary panel who were present. "The Senate Judiciary Committee today affirmed our belief that she possesses the legal background, intellect, and temperament to serve with distinction on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit," said Reed and Whitehouse.

Whitehouse spokesman Seth Larson said the senator is hopeful that the Senate will quickly confirm Thompson's nomination, since no opposition to it has been voiced so far.

The Providence Journal has been following this story today as it develops. Our initial report was posted at 10:58 a.m.

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