Clinton taps LV Judge Riegle for U.S. District Court job

Wednesday, April 26, 2000 | 10:22 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- President Clinton on Tuesday nominated federal Bankruptcy Judge Linda Riegle of Las Vegas to the U.S. District Court for Nevada.

She was the fourth Nevada judge recommended in recent months by Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., for a federal judgeship. The Senate must confirm the nominees.

"(Riegle) broke the glass ceiling in the Las Vegas legal community by becoming the first female partner in her firm and has spent her professional life serving the Las Vegas community," Reid said in a written statement.

"I am honored by and grateful for the confidence shown in me by Senator Reid and President Clinton in nominating me for the important position of federal District Court judge," Riegle said in a statement issued Tuesday.

As the ranking Nevada senator of the president's party, Reid recommends new judges.

Reid and Clinton also have tapped U.S. District Judge Johnnie Rawlinson for a job on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals; Henderson Justice of the Peace Kent Dawson for a position on the U.S. District Court; and U.S. Magistrate Roger Hunt for the U.S. District Court.

Senate Judiciary Committee hearings are Thursday for Hunt and Dawson, who are expected to appear for questions.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Clive Jones also was reappointed to his post Tuesday for another 14-year term and will continue to maintain his chambers in Las Vegas.

Jones, a graduate of Brigham Young University and the UCLA Law School, is one of 68 bankruptcy judges in the nine Western states that comprise the 9th Circuit.

Riegle, 51, has been a bankruptcy judge since 1988. Before that she was a lawyer at Lionel Sawyer & Collins in Las Vegas and was named partner in 1983.

Reid has said he wanted to recommend a woman for the last of the U.S. District Court openings. Reid's first choice, Las Vegas attorney Eva Garcia-Mendoza, withdrew her name from consideration.

The U.S. District Court for Nevada has four judges, but Congress allocated two new positions on the bench to accommodate a large case load in the fast-growing state. Reid has nominated three judges to that bench to fill the new slots and the one expected to be vacated by Rawlinson as she moves up to the federal appeals court position. All of the Nevada nominees face a Senate that has been reluctant to approve judges this year.