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President Obama today nominated two N.C. judges – including one from Charlotte – for the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals.
U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan announced the nominations of Superior Court Judge Albert Diaz of Charlotte and N.C. Court of Appeals Judge Jim Wynn to fill two vacancies on the court.
Diaz would become the court's first Hispanic judge.
Hagan called the nominations “truly a victory for people in North Carolina.” The state currently has only one judge, Allyson Duncan, on the Richmond-based court that hears appeals from the Carolinas, Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland.
Wynn is one of four N.C. judges nominated by two presidents for a vacancy created in 1994 on the Richmond-based appeals court. The nominations – including that of U.S. District Judge Bob Conrad of Charlotte in 2007 – all fell victim to partisan politics in the U.S. Senate, which must confirm all federal judges.
President Clinton first nominated Wynn in 1999, only to have him blocked by then-U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms, whose own judicial nominees also had been scuttled.
There are currently five vacancies on the 15-member court, though two - from Virginia and Maryland – are close to being filled.
“For far too long partisan bickering on both sides of the aisle have derailed the confirmations of qualified North Carolinians,” Hagan said.
She said it's unclear when Senate confirmation hearings on the nominees will begin.
