Senate confirms LA County Judge Michelle Court to federal bench

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michelle Williams Court was confirmed as a federal judge by the U.S. Senate on Wednesday. The Senate voted 49-44 to confirm her to a seat on the Central District of California.

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine was the only Republican senator to cross party lines to vote for Court. Seven senators did not vote.

U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, D-CA, applauded the confirmation vote. "Throughout her career, Judge Michelle Williams Court has demonstrated a deep commitment to serving low-income clients and fighting for justice in the greater Los Angeles community," he said in a statement.

Court will replace Senior U.S. District Judge Dale S. Fischer and will preside over cases in Los Angeles in the court's Western Division. She was appointed to the superior court in 2012 by Gov. Jerry Brown and has worked as supervising judge of the civil division since December 2022.

Before becoming a judge, Court worked at Bet Tzedek Legal Services, a nonprofit firm that focuses on poverty law, as its vice president and general counsel after previously working as deputy director of litigation, director of litigation, interim president and CEO.

A 1993 graduate of Loyola Law School, Court also was an associate at Milberg, Weiss, Bershad, Hynes & Lerach from 2000 to 2002, focusing on consumer and civil rights class actions. She worked from 1994 to 1995 as a project attorney for the ACLU of Southern California.

She is married to Jamie Court, a political activist and consumer advocate who is president of Consumer Watchdog, a nonprofit public interest group.

Lena Zwarensteyn, senior director of the fair courts program at The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, hailed the Senate's confirmation of Court.

"Her robust career has included advancing a broad array of civil and human rights, and this underrepresented professional experience is greatly needed in our judiciary," she wrote in a statement. "Judge Court also brings vital lived experience and will be the fifth Black woman to serve as a lifetime judge on the Central District of California."

Court was one of three Central District nominees awaiting a Senate vote, with a fourth position remaining without a nomination by President Joe Biden. Three other nominees -- Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Anne Hwang and State Bar Court Judge Cynthia Valenzuela Dixon in the Central District; and Alameda County Superior Court Judge Noel Wise in the Northern District of California -- have been approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee but are awaiting a floor vote.

San Diego County Superior Court Judge Rebecca S. Kanter, who was nominated by Biden in January for a seat on the Southern District of California bench, has yet to have a Senate Judiciary Committee nomination hearing.

The president has yet to nominate anyone to fill two vacancies, one in the Southern District, where Senior U.S. District Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel took senior status in September 2023; and the Central District, where U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney retired in May.

Carl A. Tobias, a professor at the University of Richmond School of Law, said he expects Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, to move forward with the nominations of Hwang and Valenzuela Dixon, possibly before the Senate goes into recess until after the November election.

But he said Biden and Senate Democrats are running out of time to move forward with judicial nominations, even if they try to advance more of them - as expected - during the lame duck session. That's especially true when the president has yet to nominate possible judges.

"It's still do-able, but they have to get them out of the White House and moving," he said in a phone interview. "The later it gets, the harder it is."

Control of the White House and the Senate is up for grabs in November. Even if Vice President Kamala Harris wins the election, there is a strong possibility she will face a Senate controlled by Republicans - which will make it much more difficult for her to get judges confirmed.

Los Angeles County Presiding Judge Samantha P. Jessner lauded Court's work, both on the bench and behind the scenes, in a statement.

"Judge Court's dedication to court technology innovation as a result of having served as Chair of the court's Technology Committee for many years, where she has guided strategic and significant technology projects that have maximized the court's efficiency for the benefit of all court users, will pay dividends on the federal bench," she wrote.