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Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, I rise to speak on the confirmation of DeAndrea Benjamin to a South Carolina seat on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Judge Benjamin has had a prominent career as both a litigator and as a jurist. She received degrees from Winthrop University and the University of South Carolina School of Law before clerking for Judge L. Casey Manning on South Carolina's Fifth Judicial Circuit. She then joined the South Carolina Fifth Judicial Circuit's solicitor's office as a State prosecutor and also served as a county juvenile drug court liaison. She later joined the South Carolina Attorney General's Office and was named the State Violence Against Women Prosecutor. In this role, she prosecuted cases statewide where violence was perpetrated against women and children. Judge Benjamin entered private practice after 3 years of public service and focused on employment law, including workplace discrimination claims. In 2004, she became a municipal judge for the city of Columbia, South Carolina. Seven years later, the South Carolina General Assembly elected her to serve as a circuit court judge in South Carolina's Fifth Judicial Circuit.

As a practicing attorney, Judge Benjamin appeared in both State and Federal court and tried 21 cases to verdict. In her time on the bench, she has presided over thousands of matters involving both civil and criminal issues, including over 300 trials.

Judge Benjamin has significant experience in the courtroom and was unanimously rated ``qualified'' by the American Bar Association. In addition, she has deep ties to the South Carolina legal community and enjoys bipartisan support, including from her Republican home-State Senators.

I strongly supported her nomination and was glad to see her confirmed.

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