President Biden nominates Delaware judge to fill seat on federal District Court bench

Delaware’s District Court has a new nominee, President Joe Biden and the White House revealed Wednesday.

Jennifer L. Hall was nominated by Biden for a soon-to-be vacant spot on the federal bench once Judge Richard G. Andrews reaches senior status.

Hall – currently a magistrate judge at the District Court – will have to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate later this year to officially take the vacancy, along with three other District Court nominees announced Wednesday.

Hall’s nomination makes it two straight years in which Biden has nominated a judge in his home state. In 2022, Gregory B. Williams was nominated and approved, becoming Delaware’s second Black federal judge.

Delaware’s four-judge bench will have a good dose of new blood if Hall is confirmed and joins Williams. Judge Maryellan Noreika was appointed by former President Donald Trump in 2017, as was Colm F. Connolly, who now serves as chief judge for the state’s district.

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Carper and Coons back the appointment

U.S. Sens. Tom Carper and Chris Coons announced support for Biden’s choice and a quick confirmation process.

“She has impeccable credentials for this post, given her experience as both a Magistrate Judge and as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Delaware, as well as her background in biochemistry and extensive work in patent law – the latter especially important for a state as innovation-driven as ours,” the senators said in a joint statement.“We applaud President Biden for appointing someone so well-suited to handle the District of Delaware’s significant and complex docket.”

From 2015 to 2019, Hall worked in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the state, along with serving as the chief of the office’s Civil Division, before taking on the magistrate role in 2019.

Her schooling background began with a biochemistry degree from the University of Minnesota, followed by biochemistry and biophysics degrees from Yale University. She received her law degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 2006.

Delaware’s District Court is a special challenge for all judges, due to the heavy load of corporate-involved cases. Because Delaware is the incorporated home of over 60% of all Fortune 500 companies, many cases involve disputes between corporations – such as the widely-followed Fox News defamation trial earlier this year.

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What is senior status?

Andrews will take on senior status with the court this December, which will mark over 12 years on the bench. District Court judges may take senior status once their age and years served on the federal bench reach a total of 80.

Once Andrews turns 68 in December, he will have eclipsed that mark. Judges with senior status are permitted to take on a lighter caseload, but when Andrews’ intention to take senior status was announced this past January, it was noted that he’s still prepared to take on a full caseload.

All judges must have at least 10 years served on the federal bench to take senior status, no matter their age. This means the Delaware bench is a handful of years away from having another vacancy via seniority – the earliest possibility being 2028 with Connolly and Noreika.

Contact reporter Konner Metz at kmetz@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @konner_metz.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Biden nominates Jennifer Hill for US District Court of Delaware seat