U.S. Senate confirms two city lawyers for federal bench
The U.S. Senate on Wednesday confirmed two more of President Obama's nominees to fill federal judicial posts in Philadelphia. Mark A. Kearney and Gerald "Jerry" Pappert, both 51, were approved on a voice vote and are expected to be sworn in as U.S. District judges later this year.
The U.S. Senate on Wednesday confirmed two more of President Obama's nominees to fill federal judicial posts in Philadelphia. Mark A. Kearney and Gerald "Jerry" Pappert, both 51, were approved on a voice vote and are expected to be sworn in as U.S. District judges later this year.
Kearney, a Democrat, is a shareholder at the Blue Bell law firm Elliott Greenleaf & Siedzikowski and was elected president of the Pennsylvania Bar Institute this year.
Pappert, a Republican and a former state Attorney General, is a partner at Cozen O'Connor and serves as chairman of the state's Banking and Securities Commission. Pappert held the state's top prosecutorial post between 2003 and 2005, after former attorney general Mike Fisher was himself appointed to the federal bench and before Tom Corbett was elected to the post.
Neither Kearney nor Pappert has prior judicial experience. - Jeremy Roebuck