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Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, today, the Senate will vote to confirm Serena Murillo to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

Born in Pomona, CA, Judge Murillo received her B.A. from the University of California, San Diego and her J.D. from Loyola Law School. After law school, she worked as a post-bar law clerk at Shernoff, Bidart, and Echeverria in Claremont, CA. She then worked as an associate attorney at McNicholas & McNicholas in Los Angeles, where she represented plaintiffs in personal injury cases.

From 1997 to 2014, Judge Murillo served as a deputy district attorney in the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office. She prosecuted various criminal cases, including juvenile matters, felonies, white- collar crime, and criminal appeals. She tried approximately 68 cases to verdict in State court, half of which were jury trials.

Since 2015, Judge Murillo has been a judge on the Superior Court of California in Los Angeles County. From 2018 to 2019, she served by appointment of the chief justice of the California Supreme Court as an associate justice pro tem on the California Court of Appeal. She has presided over approximately 55 jury trials in civil, felony, and misdemeanor matters, nearly all of which were criminal trials. She has also taught as a lecturer in law at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law since 2022.

The American Bar Association rated Judge Murillo as ``well qualified'' to serve on the district court. She has deep ties to the Central District of California, and she enjoys the strong support of her home State Senators and the California legal community.

Judge Murillo's litigation background and experience as both an advocate and State court judge ensure that she will be an asset to the district court. I am proud to support her nomination, and I ask my colleagues to join me in my support.
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