President Obama on Wednesday nominated a magistrate judge from the Eastern District of California to serve that busiest of U.S. federal courtrooms, where a flood of lawsuits and petitions from the state’s prison network swells the annual caseload to more than 1,100 per judge.
If confirmed by the Senate to fill the vacant sixth judgeship on the Sacramento-based court, Kimberly Mueller would become the first woman to serve on the Eastern District bench, which handles cases from the broad interior stretch of the state from the Oregon border to south of Bakersfield.
Mueller, 53, has served as a magistrate judge since 2003, handling civil cases, pretrial matters and death row inmates’ petitions for habeas corpus relief.
A graduate of Pomona College and Stanford Law School, Mueller was recommended to the White House by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.). In a statement announcing the nomination, Boxer hailed Obama’s choice of Mueller, saying her “sharp intellect and broad experience will be an asset to the Eastern District of California, the nation’s busiest federal court.”
Mueller has also worked as a sole practitioner, at the Sacramento office of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, and served on the Sacramento City Council.
— Carol J. Williams