The United States Senate confirmed O. Rogeriee Thompson '73 to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit Wednesday afternoon.
Thompson was confirmed 98–0, according the Senate's Web site. Rhode Island senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse, both Democrats, voted to confirm Thompson. Robert Bennett, R-Utah, and Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., did not vote.
President Barack Obama nominated Thompson for the position in October 2009. She failed to receive the unanimous support of the American Bar Association's federal judiciary committee in December, with five members of the 15-member committee determining she was not qualified for the position. Reed and Whitehouse vouched for Thompson in her first judicial hearing.
Thompson came to Brown before the merger with Pembroke College in 1971. She will be the first black judge and second woman to serve on the appeals court's First Circuit.
