[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 29 (Monday, February 13, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Page S346]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 CONFIRMATION OF DeANDREA GIST BENJAMIN

  Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, I rise to speak on the confirmation of 
DeAndrea Benjamin to a South Carolina seat on the Fourth Circuit Court 
of Appeals.
  Judge Benjamin has had a prominent career as both a litigator and as 
a jurist. She received degrees from Winthrop University and the 
University of South Carolina School of Law before clerking for Judge L. 
Casey Manning on South Carolina's Fifth Judicial Circuit. She then 
joined the South Carolina Fifth Judicial Circuit's solicitor's office 
as a State prosecutor and also served as a county juvenile drug court 
liaison. She later joined the South Carolina Attorney General's Office 
and was named the State Violence Against Women Prosecutor. In this 
role, she prosecuted cases statewide where violence was perpetrated 
against women and children. Judge Benjamin entered private practice 
after 3 years of public service and focused on employment law, 
including workplace discrimination claims. In 2004, she became a 
municipal judge for the city of Columbia, South Carolina. Seven years 
later, the South Carolina General Assembly elected her to serve as a 
circuit court judge in South Carolina's Fifth Judicial Circuit.
  As a practicing attorney, Judge Benjamin appeared in both State and 
Federal court and tried 21 cases to verdict. In her time on the bench, 
she has presided over thousands of matters involving both civil and 
criminal issues, including over 300 trials.
  Judge Benjamin has significant experience in the courtroom and was 
unanimously rated ``qualified'' by the American Bar Association. In 
addition, she has deep ties to the South Carolina legal community and 
enjoys bipartisan support, including from her Republican home-State 
Senators.
  I strongly supported her nomination and was glad to see her 
confirmed.

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