US Senate confirms first openly gay federal judge in Virginia — and first in 4th Circuit

He’s young. He’s Black. He’s gay.

And he’s got a powerful new gig — Hampton Roads’ newest federal judge.

The U.S. Senate on Tuesday confirmed Jamar K. Walker, a 36-year-old federal prosecutor from Northern Virginia, to fill a judicial vacancy at U.S. District Court in Norfolk.

The 52-41 vote makes Walker the first openly gay federal district judge in Virginia, according to the state’s two U.S. senators.

In fact, a gay rights organization, Lambda Legal, told the Daily Press last year that Walker would be the first openly gay or lesbian federal district or appeals court judge in the entire Fourth Circuit, a five-state region spanning from Maryland to South Carolina.

After Walker’s Senate confirmation, Carl Tobias — a professor at the University of Richmond School of Law who closely monitors federal judicial appointments — called the vote “historic.”

“We want all kinds of people to be on the bench who come from all walks of life — and in terms of their sexuality or sexual orientation,” Tobias said. “It’s good to have diverse judges. They have different perspectives.”

And because Walker is only 36 — much younger than many newly appointed jurists — “he’ll have a long tenure,” Tobias added.

Raised in Accomack County on the Eastern Shore, Walker takes the place of a man he clerked for between 2011 and 2012: U.S. District Judge Raymond Jackson, who held the Norfolk seat for nearly three decades.

The 73-year-old Jackson took senior status in November 2021 after 28 years on the bench.

Walker’s confirmation maintains the prior racial breakdown — and Black majority — on Norfolk’s federal court, a trial court that hears civil and criminal cases stemming from across Hampton Roads.

The court’s full-time district judges consist of three Black judges and one white one. (The court also includes several judges on senior status and several federal magistrate judges).

Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner jointly recommended Walker and a Virginia Beach Circuit Court judge, Kevin Duffan, to the seat last March. President Biden selected Walker, nominating him for the judgeship in July.

On Feb. 2, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 14-6 to confirm him, sending the nomination to the full Senate. Five Republican committee members crossed party lines to vote yes.

Kaine and Warner both took to the Senate floor on Monday to tout their man, with Kaine calling him “an exceptional nominee and history maker.”

While Republicans hold a 49-48 advantage in the Senate, three independent senators typically vote with the Democrats, giving that party a slight edge in votes.

In Tuesday’s vote, five GOP senators crossed over to approve Walker’s confirmation: Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, John Kennedy of Louisiana and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.

“That’s pretty good, all things considered,” Tobias said. “Because lots of people don’t get any Republican votes.”

Kaine said on the Senate floor Monday that Walker was raised by a single mother and attended public schools on the Eastern Shore.

After graduating from Nandua High School in Accomack, Walker received a bachelor’s degree and a law degree from the University of Virginia.

After clerking for Jackson between 2011 and 2012 in Norfolk, Walker worked for three years at a large Washington law firm, Covington and Burling, before becoming an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Alexandria in 2015.

He’s focused mostly on financial fraud cases and serves as the acting chief of public corruption prosecutions for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Kaine called it “a nice turn of events” that Walker once clerked for the man he’s replacing.

And Jackson, for his part, was impressed with his former clerk, with the judge telling senators that Walker “has the intellectual prowess, integrity and temperament that is fundamental in the position of a federal judge.”

“Mr. Walker would be serving the same community that raised him, where he has deep ties,” Kaine said.

Warner, too, touted Walker as ideal for the federal bench.

“He has been an invaluable asset to Virginia’s legal community, in both his zeal for public service and his personal life story,” Warner said. “He is an exceptional young man, and I know will do a great job.”

In a University of Virginia Law School article published in the fall of 2021, Walker discussed his personal life, saying he met his husband while playing in the DC Gay Flag Football League over the prior seven years.

Walker told the publication he finds public corruption cases rewarding, particularly cases pertaining to pandemic fraud, saying the variety of the cases always “forces you to learn something new.”

It wasn’t immediately clear Tuesday when Walker will take the bench, though Tobias said it could be as soon as a week’s time.

Peter Dujardin, 757-897-2062, pdujardin@dailypress.com