Senate backs Mendoza for 9th Circuit Court
By Terry Murry on Wednesday, September 14th, 2022 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The United State Senate voted Monday to confirm President Joe Biden’s nomination of U.S. District Judge Salvador Mendoza Jr. to serve as U.S. circuit judge for the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Upon taking his oath, Mendoza will become the first Hispanic judge from Washington state to serve on the Ninth Circuit. Confirmation came by vote of 46-40. Upon the president’s signing of his judicial commission, Mendoza will occupy a seat made vacant by Circuit Judge M. Margaret McKeown’s assumption of senior status.
Mendoza has served as a U.S. district judge for the Eastern District of Washington since 2014. Prior to his appointment to the federal bench, Mendoza had served as a Washington Superior Court judge for Benton and Franklin counties since 2013. Previously, he had practiced law as a solo practitioner in various law partnerships since 1999. Mendoza also served as a deputy prosecuting attorney in the Franklin County Prosecutor’s Office from 1998 to 1999, and was an assistant attorney general in the Office of the Attorney General for Washington State from 1997-1998.
The Ninth Circuit encompasses Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, the U.S. territory of Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Last year, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit had 9,141 new filings.
