U.S. Magistrate Judge Stephanie Dawkins Davis (Photo: Kansas City Schools)
More than two years into his term, and after nearly 170 nominations to the federal bench, President Donald Trump has nominated his first black judge.
Trump has nominated U.S. Magistrate Judge Stephanie Dawkins Davis of Flint, a former federal prosecutor for 18 years, for a judgeship on the U.S. District Court in Detroit. She's replace former Chief Judge Gerald Rosen, who retired in late 2016, report Melissa Nann Burke and Robert Snell of The Detroit News.
President Barack Obama was the last president to nonimate a black judge for the federal bench -- former Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Wilhelmina Wright in 2015.
Davis' bio on the federal court website says:
U.S. Magistrate Judge Stephanie Dawkins Davis began her career in products liability and commercial litigation at Dickinson, Wright. She left private practice to join the U.S. Attorney’s Office, E.D. Michigan in 1997, where she served in both the civil and criminal divisions.
She prosecuted cases at both the trial and appellate levels, and spent time as a deputy unit chief, high intensity drug trafficking area liaison, and the Executive Assistant U.S. Attorney before her joining the bench in January 2016. Her career honors include the State bar of Michigan naming her a 2015 Champion of Justice. She is a 1992 graduate of Washington University School of Law and a 1989 graduate of the Wichita State University.
Of the nearly 170 judges Trump has nominated to the federal bench, 86 have been confirmed, according to Ballotpedia.
