Jason Shaw
It’s a welcome move, it’s been a long time coming and it’s remarkable, although it shouldn’t be. Nope it shouldn’t even have been an issue, that grabbed side bars and headlines all over the English speaking world.
J. Paul Oetken, a lawyer with the Clinton administration on Monday became the first openly gay man to be confirmed as a federal judge.
Mr. Oetken won Senate confirmation on Monday by a vote of 80 to 13. He will now take his seat as a federal judge in the Manhattan area of New York, after President Obama signs his commission. That’s expected to be next week, according to the office of Senator Charles E. Schumer.
“When there are so many qualified gay and lesbian people and none of them get on the bench, you scratch your head and wonder why,” said Mr. Schumer, who recommended the appointment last year to Mr. Obama. “But the old barriers that existed in society are crumbling. That’s what this will say.” Mr Schumer is a democrat senator for New York.
Mr. Oetken, 45, a graduate of Yale Law School, was a law clerk to Justice Harry A. Blackmun of the Supreme Court before working for the Justice Department and then as associate counsel to President Bill Clinton.
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