INDIANAPOLIS | The nominees for three vacancies on the federal bench in Indiana include former U.S. Attorney Jon E. DeGuilio and Marion Superior Court Judge Tanya Walton Pratt, who could become the state's first black federal judge.
DeGuilio would serve in the Hammond-based Northern District.
Federal Magistrate Judge Jane E. Magnus-Stinson is the third nominee announced Monday by Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh.
If confirmed, Magnus-Stinson and Pratt would increase the number of female federal judges in the Indianapolis-based Southern District of Indiana from one to three.
Bayh said President Barack Obama had accepted his recommendations for the nominations, which were reached in consultation with fellow Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar, a Republican. Obama is expected to nominate the three when the U.S. Senate reconvenes this week following winter recess. The nominees would need to win U.S. Senate approval before taking office.
Bayh said all three nominees were highly qualified and he praised their hard work and commitment to "impartial justice."
DeGuilio, a former Lake County prosecutor, served as U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Indiana from 1993 to 1999. A former partner with the law firm of Barnes & Thornburg, he currently is executive vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary for NorthWest Indiana Bancorp and executive vice president of Peoples Bank. He is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and the Valparaiso University School of Law.
Bayh said it was fitting that Pratt's nomination was announced on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
"This day is long overdue," Bayh said.
Judge Sarah Evans Barker is the only woman on the federal bench in the Indianapolis-based Southern District of Indiana.
"This is really important to the women members of the Bar," said attorney Monica Foster, who was among the about 100 people who gathered in a courtroom at the federal courthouse in downtown Indianapolis for the announcement.
Pratt, who currently serves as a probate judge, served for 11 years as a criminal court judge, overseeing dozens of trials each year. A graduate of Spelman College and Howard University School of Law, she also worked in private practice and as a deputy public defender in Indianapolis.
Bayh said Pratt's career proved that "anything is possible if you work hard, play by the rules and do right."
Indiana state Rep. William Crawford, D-Indianapolis, wearing an Obama inauguration souvenir sweatshirt beneath his jacket, called Pratt's nomination "historic."
Magnus-Stinson, a former Marion Superior Court judge, has served as a U.S. magistrate judge in Indianapolis since 2007. She also served as legal counsel and deputy chief of staff to then-Gov. Bayh in the early 1990s. She is a graduate of Butler University and the Indiana University School of Law at Indianapolis.
