Connecticut’s Kahn confirmed as judge on US appeals court

Senate had mostly partisan vote, as final tally 54-42

The U.S. Senate voted Thursday to confirm state Supreme Court Justice Maria Kahn’s appointment to the federal circuit court of appeals.

Kahn is President Joseph Biden’s second nominee to the influential U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, known for defining law concerning contracts, securities, antitrust matters and other questions of commercial law. The court, a few blocks above Wall Street, takes federal appeals from New York, Connecticut and Vermont.

“She is the real deal,” said U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, the Connecticut Democrat and a member of the Judiciary Committee who recommended Kahn to the White House. “She is a tremendous jurist and a wonderful human being.”

The Senate confirmed Kahn by a mostly partisan, 54-42 vote.

Gov. Ned Lamont called Kahn, who has been on the state Supreme Court for five years, “one of our state’s most respected and appreciated jurists.”

He said she delivered him a letter notifying him of her resignation shortly after she was confirmed.

Carl Tobias, a law professor who tracks federal judicial nominations at the University of Richmond, said “Justice Kahn easily won confirmation, because she is a very experienced, mainstream jurist, who had the strong support of Connecticut’s two U.S. Senators.”

“Kahn had a relatively smooth hearing, and she secured an 11-9, bipartisan committee approval vote with support from GOP ranking member Lindsey Graham,” he said

The confirmation makes Khan Connecticut’s third Judge on the 13-member court. She joins Connecticut judges Sarah A.L. Merriam, a Biden nominee confirmed in September, and William Nardini, nominated by former President Donald Trump and confirmed in 2019.

She replaces Jose A. Cabranes of New Haven, who is assuming senior or semi-retired status on the court. Cabranes is the first federal judge of Puerto Rican heritage appointed to the federal bench in the continental United States.