In votes held last night and last Thursday, the U.S. Senate confirmed four judicial appointees for the Georgia district courts, a welcome sight for the federal bench and bar.  The Northern District in particular had been in need of new appointments, especially following former Chief Judge Julie Carnes' elevation to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

On November 13, 2014, Leigh Martin May (Georgia Institute of Technology, B.S., 1993; University of Georgia, J.D., 1998), a partner at Butler, Wooten & Fryhofer, LLP, was confirmed by a vote of 99-0 to fill a vacancy on the Northern District of Georgia.  Judge May received her commission the following day.

Last night, the Senate confirmed three more appointees.  First, in a unanimous 100-0 vote, Assistant U.S. Attorney Leslie Joyce Abrams (Brown University, B.A., 1997; Yale University, J.D., 2002) was confirmed as the first African-American woman to serve on any federal district court in Georgia.  She fills a vacancy in the Middle District of Georgia left by Judge Louis Sands, who assumed senior status in April.

Following the vote on Abrams, the Senate held voice votes for the two remaining appointees, both of whom were unanimously confirmed.  Eleanor Louise Ross (American University, B.A., 1989; University of Houston, J.D., 1994), a DeKalb County State Court judge, becomes the first African-American woman to serve on the Northern District of Georgia.  Mark Howard Cohen (Emory University, B.A., 1976; Emory University, J.D., 1979), a partner at Troutman Sanders LLP, will join Ross and May on the bench of the Northern District of Georgia.

Welcome to the newest judges of our Georgia federal courts!