Salas and Cecchi confirmed to New Jersey court

Esther Salas and Claire C. Cecchi were confirmed to the U.S. District Court for New Jersey last week.  Both were U.S. Magistrate judges in Newark prior to their confirmation.  Salas is a graduate of Rutgers Univ. School of Law and was an Assistant Federal Public Defender for almost 10 years prior to taking the bench in 2006.  Salas is the first Hispanic woman appointed to the federal bench in New Jersey.  Cecchi is a graduate of Fordham Univ. School of Law and was in private practice for almost 15 years before becoming a magistrate in 2006. 

Almost half of President Obama’s appointees to the federal bench so far have been women.  Twenty-two percent of President Bush’s picks and twenty-eight percent of President Clinton’s picks to the district and circuit courts were women.  There are currently 107 vacancies on the federal bench, with 54 nominations pending.