ATLANTA — Two nominees for the U.S. District Court in Atlanta have moved forward to a final Senate vote.
Victoria Calvert, an attorney in the Federal Defender Program in Atlanta, and Sarah Geraghty, an attorney at the Southern Center for Human Rights, were first nominated for the Northern District of Georgia court in September by President Joe Biden.
On Thursday Sen. Jon Ossoff's office said the two nominees, first put forward to Biden by Georgia's Democratic senators, had received bipartisan support to advance out of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
It's not yet clear when the pair will receive a final Senate vote.
According to the White House, if confirmed Calvert would become the second Black woman judge on the Northern Georgia district court, and its first former federal defender.
Prior to joining the Federal Defender Program, Calvert was an associate at Atlanta powerhouse legal firm King & Spalding. At the practice, according to the White House, she "represented clients in the Special Matters and Government Investigations group, and engaged in substantial pro bono work."
Calvert is a Duke University graduate who received her law degree from New York University Law School in 2006.
Geraghty has a long history with the Southern Center for Human Rights, which is based in Atlanta, most recently as its senior counsel. She graduated from Northwestern University in 1996, received a M.S.W. from the University of Michigan School of Social Work in 1998 and her law degree from the University of Michigan Law School in 1999.
Ossoff said Calvert was a "highly qualified" nominee who would be "committed to upholding the rule of law without fear or favor or ideology," and praised Geraghty as an "outstanding nominee" with "high qualifications" and commitments to the rule of law."