This afternoon, the Senate confirmed a federal judge for the Eastern District of Missouri. While the confirmation of a district court judge is not usually cause for headlines, this is an exception. In confirming Ronnie White, the Senate is finally correcting a 15-year-old injustice.
In 1997, White was nominated by President Clinton to the same judgeship. However, White's nomination was successfully and unfairly targeted by then-Sen. John Ashcroft. Ashcroft delayed the nomination for two years, and in 1999 he spearheaded a party-line fight to defeat White's confirmation. Ashcroft's distortion of White's record was widely criticized at the time, as well as later when he was nominated to become Attorney General.
The first African American to sit on the Missouri Supreme Court, Ronnie White was then – and remains now – supremely qualified to be a federal judge. He brings to the bench years of experience in both private practice and public service. He began his long and successful career as a public defender, then was elected three times to the state legislature. He was appointed to a state judgeship, and later served for twelve years on the Missouri Supreme Court, including as its Chief Justice. He has spent the past seven years as a partner in a major law firm. His career encapsulates in one person the broad professional diversity that so strengthens our federal courts.
Sen. Claire McCaskill is to be commended for recommending White to the president and giving the Senate a chance to do what it should have done 15 years ago: confirm Judge Ronnie White to the federal bench.