Biden nominates Baltimore judge to federal bench in Md.

President Joe Biden last week nominated Baltimore Circuit Court Judge Julie R. Rubin to fill a pending federal judicial vacancy — the third appointment the Democrat has made to Maryland’s 10-member U.S. District Court.

Rubin, 48, was among 10 judicial nominees announced by the White House, which said in a statement last spring that the federal bench “should reflect the full diversity of the American people — both in background and in professional experience.”

The administration’s initial nominees earlier this year included three African American women picked for Circuit Court vacancies.

The president’s nominees “will enhance ethnic, gender and sexual orientation diversity as well as experiential diversity,” said University of Richmond law professor Carl Tobias.

The appointees must still be approved by the U.S. Senate.

Rubin has served as a judge on the Circuit Court for Baltimore City since 2013. A 1998 University of Maryland law school graduate, she previously handled intellectual property and employment law matters at Astrachan Gunst Thomas, a Baltimore firm, according to Democratic U.S. Sens. Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen, who recommended her to the White House.

In June, the Senate confirmed Lydia Griggsby, making her the first woman of color to serve as a federal judge in the state. Griggsby, a Baltimore native and former chief counsel for Democratic U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, has been a judge on the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.

Deborah Boardman, a former a magistrate judge who previously spent 11 years as a member of the Office of the Federal Public Defender, was also confirmed in June.

Biden’s opportunities arose when judges Richard D. Bennett, Ellen L. Hollander, and Catherine C. Blake — each in their 70s — announced plans earlier this year to become senior judges. Senior judges are semiretired and assigned reduced workloads.