Obama names diverse trio of judges to Phila. federal court

One is a Colombian-born lawyer and judge, another the first Latina named to Philadelphia Common Pleas Court, and the third a veteran municipal lawyer who is now president judge of Berks County Court.

This diverse trio of jurists - U.S. Magistrate Judge L. Felipe Restrepo, Common Pleas Court Judge Nitza I. Quiñones Alejandro, and Berks President Judge Jeffrey L. Schmehl - were nominated Tuesday by President Obama to three federal judgeships in Philadelphia.

All three, if confirmed by a majority vote of the Senate, will hold lifetime appointment to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. It pays $174,000 a year.

Announced by the White House, the nominees were immediately supported in a joint statement by Pennsylvania's senators, Democrat Bob Casey and Republican Pat Toomey.

Although no date has been set for confirmation hearings by the Judiciary Committee, the bipartisan support by the state's senators could help overcome the stalemate that has delayed many of the president's nominees.

Carl Tobias, a constitutional law professor at the University of Richmond, has been critical of the White House and Casey and Toomey for failing to deal more quickly with long-standing judicial vacancies in the federal courts in the Philadelphia region. Currently, more than 25 percent of the 22 District Court seats in the Eastern District are vacant - six in all.

Tobias said the bipartisan support for the three nominees suggests that partisan battling over judicial nominations may have subsided after the Nov. 6 election.

"I have to assume that most of the [GOP] senators will defer to Toomey," Tobias said.

Mark Alderman, a lawyer with the Center City firm of Cozen O'Connor and a prominent Democratic fund-raiser, said that in essence, the nominations were being offered as a package to broaden support.

"The premise here all along is that there would be a joint recommendation from Casey and Toomey, and that it was important to have Toomey's support for Bob's nominees and Bob's support for Toomey's nominee," Alderman added.

The nominations were greeted with special praise by members of the Latino community.

"I think it's terrific that we have two highly qualified Latinos nominated to the federal bench with the support of both senators from Pennsylvania," said former City Solicitor Romulo Diaz.

Restrepo and Quiñones would not be the first Latinos named to the federal court here. District Judge Eduardo C. Robreno, a native of Cuba, was appointed in 1991 by President George H.W. Bush, and District Judge Juan R. Sanchez, a native of Puerto Rico who was a Chester County judge, was appointed in 2003 by President George W. Bush.

In addition, New Jersey Superior Court Judge Julio M. Fuentes, born in Puerto Rico, was appointed by President Bill Clinton to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in 1999.

Restrepo, 53, was born in Medellin, Colombia, but came to the United States as a 6-month-old and grew up in Virginia.

Restrepo, who became a U.S. citizen in 1993, earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a law degree in 1986 from Tulane University.

After law school, he went to work as an assistant public defender in Philadelphia and then moved to the federal defenders unit from 1990 to 1993.

Restrepo was nominated as a magistrate judge, the bottom rung of the federal judiciary, in 2006 after 13 years in practice with partner Lawrence S. Krasner focusing on civil rights and criminal defense work.

Quiñones, 61, is a native of Puerto Rico and earned a bachelor's degree in business administration and a law degree from the University of Puerto Rico.

Quiñones worked with Community Legal Services from 1975 to 1977, was an attorney adviser for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from 1977 to 1979, and staff attorney for what is now the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs from 1979 to 1991.

Quiñones was nominated by Gov. Robert P. Casey to a vacancy on Common Pleas Court in 1991 and was then elected to full 10-year terms. Much of her tenure has been as a judge in civil cases, and she is a judicial team leader specializing in complex civil litigation.

Schmehl, 57, of Reading, has been a Berks County judge since 1998 and president judge since 2008.

Before joining the county court, Schmehl was county solicitor from 1989 to 1987. He was also an assistant district attorney and an assistant public defender in Berks County.

Schmehl earned a bachelor of arts degree from Dickinson College and his law degree from the University of Toledo College of Law in 1980.

The Eastern District comprises nine counties: Philadelphia, the four suburban counties, and Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, and Lancaster.