US Senate confirms NC prosecutors, including first Black women in 2 districts
The U.S. Senate confirmed on Friday President Joe Biden’s three nominees to serve as North Carolina’s next top federal prosecutors, two of whom are women of color who will make history in the process.
Dena King and Sandra Hairston, who were tapped to serve as the U.S. attorneys for the Western and Middle Districts of North Carolina respectively, will become the first Black women to serve as the top officials in each jurisdiction.
Michael Easley Jr., the son of former North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley, a Democrat who served from 2001 to 2009, was confirmed as the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina.
Biden nominated all three in September, nearly seven months after former President Donald Trump’s appointees resigned their positions at Biden’s request.
Each of the nominees were approved by voice vote on Friday, and will begin serving their four-year terms once they are sworn in.
U.S. Sens. Thom Tillis and Richard Burr, who included the three nominees in a list of potential selections they sent to Biden, reiterated their support for King, Hairston and Easley Jr. on Friday.
“I was proud to work with Senator Burr to identify, interview and recommend these three candidates and I look forward to their success in their new roles,” Tillis said in a statement. “I want to thank the White House for working with us on these nominations and I applaud the Senate for confirming all three.”
Burr added that he applauded each nominee’s “willingness to continue serving the people of North Carolina.”
King is currently an assistant U.S. attorney for the Western District, which encompasses Charlotte and 32 counties. She graduated from South Mecklenburg High School in Charlotte before attending N.C. State University and the North Carolina Central University School of Law.
Now confirmed, she is set to become the first Black person or person of color to lead the Western District.
After she was nominated, James Ferguson, one of North Carolina’s most prominent civil rights lawyers, said King will bring fairness and skills to the position. But she also will bring sensitivity to what it means to be African-American, The Charlotte Observer reported, and to “the fact that the picture we have of African Americans going through the criminal justice system is not a pretty one.”
Since March 1, Hairston has been acting U.S. attorney for the Middle District, which covers Greensboro and 24 counties in the middle of the state, including Durham, Orange and Chatham. She will be the first Black woman to serve as the district’s top official.
Like King, Hairston also attended the N.C. Central School of Law. She completed her undergraduate degree at UNC-Charlotte.
U.S. Rep. Kathy Manning, a Greensboro Democrat, previously said Hairston was a “dedicated public servant” and a “trailblazer.”
Easley Jr. is currently a litigation partner at the McGuire Woods law firm, where he has worked since 2010. He attended UNC-Chapel Hill and completed law school at UNC as well.
The Eastern District, which Easley Jr. will lead, includes Raleigh and 44 counties covering the eastern portion of the state.
His father served two terms as the North Carolina attorney general between 1993 and 2001, before successfully running for governor in 2000.
This story was originally published November 19, 2021 at 5:58 PM with the headline "US Senate confirms NC prosecutors, including first Black women in 2 districts."
