Biden to nominate first Hispanic judge on Chicago-based court of appeals

One of President Joe Biden’s newly announced judicial nominees could become the first Hispanic judge on the Chicago-based court of appeals.

Biden announced Wednesday he intends to nominate Judge Nancy L. Maldonado to fill a vacancy in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, which hears appeals from Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin.

Maldonado, 48, is among five new judicial nominees named by Biden in his announcement.

She is currently a U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of Illinois. Biden previously nominated her for the position in April 2022 and she was confirmed by the Democratic-led Senate that July on a 53-41 vote.

Prior to that, Maldonado worked at the Chicago-based law firm Miner, Barnhill & Galland, P.C. for almost two decades, starting as an associate and later becoming a partner.

From 2001 to 2003, Maldonado served as a law clerk for Judge Rubén Castillo on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

She graduated from Columbia Law School in 2001 and from Harvard University in 1997.

U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, alongside Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., applauded Maldonado’s nomination in a joint statement Wednesday.

“We are pleased that President Biden is nominating Judge Nancy Maldonado to serve as a United States Circuit Judge for the Seventh Circuit,” the statement reads, adding that Maldonado has “the qualifications, integrity, and judgment to serve with distinction.”

The nominations of Maldonado and her fellow judicial nominees need to be considered by the Senate Judiciary Committee Durbin chairs before the Senate votes to confirm them.

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