Senate confirms former prosecutor as San Diego federal judge

The Senate on Thursday confirmed one other of President Joe Biden’s picks for federal decide in San Diego: Robert Huie, a former prosecutor now in non-public apply.

Confirmed by a vote of 51-46, Huie is the fourth decide to be named by Biden to the Southern District of California court docket, a busy jurisdiction that serves each San Diego and Imperial counties.

He replaces U.S. District Decide Michael Anello, who took senior standing — {a partially} retired place — in 2018. Federal judges are appointed for all times.

Huie labored as an assistant U.S. legal professional in San Diego from 2008 to 2020, specializing in main fraud and public corruption circumstances.

He helped lead the early prosecution towards Leonard Glenn Francis — the navy contractor higher generally known as “Fats Leonard,” who was on the middle of a large bribery scandal inside the Navy. Twenty-nine folks, together with Francis, his company and several other naval officers, have pleaded responsible for the reason that prosecution started in 2013. 5 former officers indicted late within the case, in 2017, are at the moment on trial.

Huie went on a particular task in North Africa and Japanese Europe for the Division of Justice from 2015 to 2018. He labored at U.S. embassies on counterterrorism and money-laundering circumstances, in addition to public coverage and worldwide agreements. He additionally educated overseas officers working in justice and finance in numerous international locations.

Huie joined Jones Day, a distinguished non-public agency, in 2020.

Huie obtained his bachelor’s diploma from Calvin Faculty and graduated from Yale Regulation College in 2002. He started his authorized profession at two corporations, Latham & Watkins and Wiggin and Dana. He additionally clerked for Decide José A. Cabranes on the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court docket of Appeals.

Biden’s three different confirmed nominees — Linda Lopez, Jinsook Ohta and Ruth Montenegro — already had judicial expertise, working both as federal Justice of the Peace or Superior Court docket judges earlier than becoming a member of the district bench. The president has but to call three further nominees to convey the court docket as much as its full complement of 13 judges.