Biden nominates federal judges to courts in Santa Ana and San Diego

President Joe Biden nominated two judges for district court vacancies in Southern California on Wednesday.

Both nominees will face a tight deadline in getting consideration by the U.S. Senate during the lame duck session after the November election.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Benjamin J. Cheeks, who was appointed in July after a career as a criminal defense attorney, was picked for a Southern District vacancy. He would replace U.S. District Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel of San Diego, who took senior status in September 2023.

A 2003 graduate of American University, Washington College of Law, Cheeks was a prosecutor in New York County for seven years before serving as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of California from 2010 to 2013. He then started a criminal defense practice.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Serena Murillo, a longtime prosecutor who has been on the state court since 2015, was nominated for a vacancy in the Central District.

A 1996 graduate of Loyola Law School, Murillo was a Los Angeles County prosecutor from 1997 to 2014. If confirmed, she would replace U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney of Santa Ana, who retired in May.

U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, D-CA, hailed both nominees, describing Murillo as the "daughter of a Mexican American farm worker and a schoolteacher .... who has demonstrated a tireless work ethic and developed extensive criminal and civil judicial experience with the Los Angeles County Superior Court."

He praised Cheeks for "protecting vulnerable immigrants from fraud."

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 court, has yet to have a Senate Judiciary Committee nomination hearing.

Democrats have a narrow majority in the U.S. Senate and still have control of the judiciary committee and the Senate floor through the end of the year, regardless of November's election results, noted Carl W. Tobias, professor at the University of Richmond School of Law, in a phone interview.

"I think they have time to get it done," Tobias said. "They'll stay to the bitter end."