Obama nominates Pepper for federal judge

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Pamela Pepper has been nominated by President Barack Obama to be a federal judge in the Eastern District of Wisconsin.

Pepper, a bankruptcy judge in the Eastern District, was one of three nominees named by U.S. Sens. Ron Johnson and Tammy Baldwin in February to fill Judge Charles Clevert’s seat. Clevert took senior status in October 2012.

Pepper will have to be confirmed by the Senate’s judiciary committee – and then the full Senate – before taking the bench.

Pepper has been a bankruptcy judge since 2005. Prior to that, she worked as a federal prosecutor and criminal defense attorney. She graduated from Cornell Law School in 1989.

If appointed, she would be the first woman to serve as a judge in the Eastern District.

Johnson and Baldwin – through the State Bar’s Federal Nominating Commission – also put Beth Kushner of von Briesen & Roper SC and Milwaukee County Circuit Judge William Pocan on their shortlist.

The Associated Press also contributed to this report.