Senate OKs DuBose nomination to US District Court
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The full U.S. Senate on Tuesday approved Judge Melissa R. DuBose’s historic nomination as the first woman of color and first LGBTQ+ person to be seated on U.S. District Court in Rhode Island.
The Senate voted late Tuesday in favor of President Joe Biden’s nomination of DuBose at the recommendation of U.S. Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse.
“This is a person, a lifelong Rhode Islander, who is exceedingly well regarded in our community,” Whitehouse told his colleagues in urging their support.
“She’s proven to be an exceptional jurist, with a stellar record,” Reed said on the Senate floor. He noted that DuBose’s would-be fellow judges on the U.S. District Court bench hailed her as “supremely qualified” with impeccable ethics in urging lawmakers’ approval.
“She has dedicated her life to public service and Rhode Island is fortunate that she has once again answered the call,” Reed said.
“DuBose ... affords ethnic diversity on the bench, which improves judicial decision-making by supplying different perspectives, restricts biases that can undercut the federal courts, and inspires public confidence in the courts by reflecting American society,” Carl Tobias, a professor at the University of Richmond, observed in a statement.
Tobias said the rather close confirmation vote − 51 to 47 − reflects the lock-step voting in which GOP senators participate, especially in an election year.
DuBose gets Senate Judiciary nod, with some partisan pushback
DuBose won the support last week of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, including receiving a favorable vote from Sen. Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina Republican who gave DuBose the nod again Tuesday,
At a hearing last month, Republican judiciary committee members questioned DuBose about her political leanings, implying that she had previously identified as Marxist based on an article that DuBose said she was unaware of.
“Senator, I have never been a Marxist and I am not a Marxist today,” said DuBose, who was nominated to the state’s busiest court in 2018 by then-Gov. Gina Raimondo.
The vote in DuBose’s favor came after the Senate invoked cloture, closing debate on DuBose’s nomination and bringing it to a vote.
Lifelong Rhode Islander, state judge
DuBose, 55, is a native Rhode Islander who grew up in the city’s Mount Hope section. She has served as a state District Court judge since 2019, and is married with two sons.
She taught history and civics in the Providence public schools for close to a decade and earned her law degree from Roger Williams University School of Law while working full time and taking classes at night.
She worked as a special assistant attorney general in the criminal division from 2005 to 2008. She went on to serve as senior legal counsel at Schneider Electric in Foxboro where she provided in-house counsel for the company’s global units and specialized in federal contracts, corporate compliance, ethics and fair trade.
She is filling the seat being vacated by U.S. District Court Judge William E. Smith, who announced in June that he intends to retire from regular active service and assume senior status on Jan. 1, 2025.
The U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island is a federal trial court, which hears civil, criminal and maritime matters.