Mary Kay Costello was confirmed to be a district court judge in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on the 17th, an exciting feat for her own career, but also a historic feat for LGBTQ+ representation.
According to the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights (LCCHR), former President Obama held the record of confirming LGBTQ+ judges by confirming 11, while former President Clinton confirmed only one and former President Trump confirmed two. By a 52-41 vote, Costello became the 12th out judge confirmed under Biden, breaking Obama’s record.
“As LGBTQ rights are being subject to litigation across the country, it is increasingly clear that we need judges at all levels of the judiciary who understand what’s at stake,” Lena Zwarensteyn, LCCHR’s senior director of the fair courts program, said in a statement following Costello’s confirmation.
Costello, who has a wife and two young children, served in the U.S. Air Force from 1986 to 1994. After her service earned her law degree from Temple University and worked from 2000 to 2008 in private practice as a lawyer at the law firms Saul Ewing and Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld. In 2008, she joined the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, where she prosecuted bribery, health care fraud, and other criminal matters.
Lamba Legal, an American civil rights organization that focuses on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities as well as people living with HIV/AIDS, commended Costello’s confirmation.
“We commend President Biden’s commitment to diversifying the federal judiciary, which has resulted in the confirmation of more Black women to appellate courts than all previous administrations combined, including the historic appointment of the first Black woman to the Supreme Court,” said Kristine Kippins, Deputy Legal Director for Policy at Lambda Legal. “America’s courts are most effective when composed of individuals with varied backgrounds, experiences, and legal expertise, which strengthens the judiciary’s ability to deliver fair and balanced justice.”
Ethan Rice, Senior Attorney for the Fair Courts Project at Lambda Legal, added, “While we celebrate this momentous occasion, there is still time before the end of President Biden’s term to further expand LGBTQ+ representation by nominating judges from underrepresented communities, particularly transgender, nonbinary, intersex and bisexual attorneys and attorneys living with HIV, none of whom are currently serving on the federal bench.”
