Shalina Kumar on Thursday officially became the newest U.S. District Court docket decide for the Jap District of Michigan, officers introduced.
The former Oakland County Circuit Courtroom chief decide was sworn in by U.S. District Chief Choose Denise Site Hood at the Theodore Levin U.S. Courthouse in Detroit. She is the initially individual of South Asian descent to be nominated for a federal judgeship in Michigan.
“We are so satisfied to have you,” Hood instructed Kumar just before administering the oath of workplace. “I know you will be wonderful.”
Kumar was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on Friday. President Joe Biden signed her fee on Tuesday.
“I am deeply, deeply humbled by the religion and rely on the president and senators have put in me for this extremely important purpose and I am so honored to be becoming a member of this awesome bench,” she said in a statement. “I look ahead to this following chapter of my function as a community servant and I pledge that everyone in my court docket will treated with the respect and dignity they deserve.”
Biden in June tapped Kumar, who has been unanimously rated “nicely qualified” by the American Bar Association, to fill a emptiness.
Kumar replaces U.S. District Choose Victoria Roberts, who moved from energetic to senior standing in February.
The Birmingham resident will be centered at the U.S. Courthouse in Flint, one particular of 5 federal courthouses in the Eastern District, which covers Michigan’s eastern aspect from the Ohio border to the Mackinac Bridge, according to the courtroom.
She was appointed to the Oakland County Circuit Court docket, the next-largest trial courtroom in Michigan, which has 20 judges, 400-as well as employees and a $72 million once-a-year funds, by then-Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm in August 2007.
Elected to 6-yr terms in 2008, 2014 and 2020, Kumar handled civil and criminal issues and presided over practically 10,550 conditions, including 99 jury or bench trials that went to verdict or judgment.
The jurist also served as presiding decide of the Grownup Procedure Court for five a long time, which aims to address and divert defendants from jail.
The Michigan Supreme Court appointed her chief judge in 2018 right after she experienced served as main decide pro tempore.
She was born in Royal Oak and raised in Bloomfield Hills. Her father, from India, is a physician and Kumar’s mother, of Detroit, was a homemaker, officers mentioned.
Immediately after graduating from Andover Superior School, she attended the College of Michigan and earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology with difference in 1993.
Kumar acquired her legislation diploma from the College of Detroit Mercy School of Law in 1996, officers reported.
She labored as a substitute trainer for the Bloomfield Hills College District and was elected to the Sylvan Lake City Council.
Obtaining her regulation license in 1997, Kumar worked as an affiliate legal professional at 4 Oakland County law corporations above the next ten years, mainly handling particular harm litigation.
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