[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 18 (Wednesday, January 31, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S295-S296]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                   Nomination of Karoline Mehalchick

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, today, the Senate will vote to confirm 
Karoline Mehalchick to the U.S. District Court for the Middle District 
of Pennsylvania.
  Judge Mehalchick received her B.S. from Pennsylvania State University 
and her J.D. from Tulane Law School before clerking for Judge Trish 
Corbett on the Lackawanna County Court of Common Pleas in Scranton, PA. 
She then entered private practice in Clarks Summit, PA, where she 
maintained a general civil and commercial litigation practice, 
representing both plaintiffs and defendants in all stages of 
litigation. During her time as a litigator, she tried 10 cases to 
verdict, including 6 jury trials. She also argued seven appeals before 
the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and served as cocounsel 
in one case before the Supreme Court of the United States.
  In 2013, Judge Mehalchick was appointed as a U.S. magistrate judge on 
the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania in 
Scranton. She has served as chief magistrate judge since 2021. During 
her decade on the bench, she has handled a wide variety of both civil 
and criminal matters, and she has presided over 16 trials that have 
gone to verdict. She has issued more than 1,200 opinions and reports 
and recommendations and more than 1,000 criminal orders related to 
pretrial detention and release. In addition to her judicial service, 
Judge Mehalchick also presides over the Scranton Court-Assisted Re-
Entry Program--CARE Court--and serves on the Judicial Conference 
Committee on Codes of Conduct.
  The American Bar Association unanimously rated Judge Mehalchick as 
``qualified'' to serve on the Middle District of Pennsylvania, and she 
is

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strongly supported by both of her home State Senators and the 
Pennsylvania legal community. Her litigation background and her 
courtroom experience as both an advocate and as a magistrate judge 
ensure that she will be an asset to the district court.
  I am proud to support her nomination, and I ask my colleagues to join 
me in my support.