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Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, today, the Senate will vote to confirm Benjamin Jerome Cheeks to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.

Born in Albany, GA, Judge Cheeks earned his B.A. from the University of Miami in 2000 and his J.D. from the Washington College of Law at American University in 2003.

Judge Cheeks began his career in public service as an assistant district attorney in the New York County District Attorney's Office from 2003 to 2010. Cheeks then served as an assistant U.S. attorney in the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of California between 2010 and 2013.

Prior to joining the bench, he worked as a criminal defense attorney at his own firm from 2013 to 2024. As a member of the Criminal Justice Act panel, Judge Cheeks was regularly assigned to represent indigent defendants, and those cases comprised 98 percent of his caseload.

Since July of 2024, Judge Cheeks has served as a magistrate judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.

Judge Cheeks enjoys the strong support of both of his home State Senators, and the American Bar Association unanimously rated him as ``qualified'' to serve on the district court.

Having served as a prosecutor, defense attorney, and Federal magistrate judge, Judge Cheeks is well prepared to serve as a district judge in the Southern District of California.

I am proud to support his nomination and urge my colleagues to do the same.

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