US SENATE CONFIRMS HAMPTON ROADS’ NEW FEDERAL JUDGE
The U.S. Senate voted overwhelmingly Thursday to confirm Hampton Roads’ newest federal district judge.
Roderick C. Young — a Richmond-based federal magistrate whowas nominated to the post by President Trump on the recommendation of Virginia’s two senators — was approved on a 93-2 vote.
Young — who can begin the new job immediately — can sit anywhere in the federal Eastern District of Virginia, though he’s expected to fill a judicial vacancy in Hampton Roads. It’s not immediately clear whether he will sit primarily at a federal courthouse in Norfolk or one in Newport News.
Young is a former prosecutor and public defender who’s been on the bench since 2014 — and was nominated for the district judgeship opening for the Eastern District of Virginia, the White House announced Wednesday.
U.S. Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner had jointly recommended both Young and U.S. Magistrate Judge Doug Miller for the judgeship in March, saying either man “would serve with great distinction and have our highest recommendation.”
Trump nominated Young to the post in May. The vacancy was created in the summer of 2019 when U.S. District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith moved to senior status after 30 years on the bench.
Young’s confirmation brings to three the number of African American full-time federal district judges in Hampton Roads, out of four such judges on the bench. (The local federal bench includes another district judge, three semi-retired “senior district judges” and three magistrates).
Before becoming a federal magistrate judge in 2014, Young was a prosecutor and supervisor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Richmond for 12 years, handling many narcotics and racketeering cases. Before that he spent two years as a Portsmouth assistant public defender and worked four years as a state prosecutor in Richmond.
Young — who oversees the federal drug court program in Richmond and teaches on an adjunct basis at the College of William & Mary School of Law — has a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree from George Mason University and a law degree from West Virginia University.
Carl Tobias, a professor at the University of Richmond School of Law, said that Young is “very well-respected” as a Richmond federal magistrate, and sailed through the Judiciary Committee process.
“He answered all the questions, and it was a very smooth hearing,” Tobias said.
“He had a unanimous vote, 22-0, which is rare. I don’t think there was any debate about it because there was nothing to debate. Everybody agreed.”
“I think he’s gonna be really terrific,” Tobias added.
“Sometimes they send them to ‘baby judge’s school’, but he doesn’t need baby judge’s school because most of the work that district judges they already do as a magistrate judge.”
Tobias said the decision on whether Young will sit in Norfolk or Newport News will be made either by the district’s chief judge, U.S. District Judge Mark Davis in Norfolk, or by a committee of Eastern Virginia’s district judges.