Updated at 4:10 p.m.
Nancy Waples’ parents fled the communist revolution in China. She grew up working in her family’s Chinese restaurant in New York City and learned to speak English at age 9.
On Friday, Gov. Phil Scott nominated Waples to the Vermont Supreme Court. If confirmed, she would become the first woman of color to hold a seat on the state’s highest court.
The 61-year-old Hinesburg resident, who has served as a superior court judge since 2015, would fill a spot on the five-member court vacated last fall by former Justice Beth Robinson. Robinson stepped down to take a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, making history as the first openly LGBTQ+ woman to serve on a federal appellate court.
News of Waples’ nomination Friday morning came just before President Joe Biden announced another historic judicial nomination, choosing federal Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to be the first Black woman on the U.S. Supreme Court.
In a statement issued Friday by the governor’s office, Waples thanked Scott for the confidence he placed in her with the appointment.
“I am proud to be part of his vision to improve the professional diversity and legitimacy of our courts,” Waples said. “I hope my appointment inspires other people of color to reach outside of their comfort zone and climb the same ladder I climbed, and I will be there to lend my hand.”
Waples could not immediately be reached for comment Friday.
Scott’s announcement outlined the story of Waples’ life journey.
Her parents, due to exclusion laws, initially could not immigrate to the United States. Instead, they made their way to Chinatown in Toronto, Canada, according to Scott’s office. Later, when those laws were replaced by ethnic quotas, only her father could immigrate to the U.S., resulting in the family separating for four years.
Eventually, according to Scott’s office, the family was able to reunite in the U.S.
“My parents traveled halfway around the world with literally nothing more than the clothes on their backs to live in a place that didn’t speak their language, where they didn’t have any friends or family,” Waples said in the statement.
“They came here seeking greater opportunities and longed for a life of dignity and decency,” she said. “They share my pride in receiving this historic appointment.”
Waples is a 1982 graduate of the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree. She earned her law degree in 1987 at St. Johns University of Law in New York.
She started her career in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office working as a prosecutor. She later served as an assistant U.S. attorney in the criminal division of the Vermont U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Waples was practicing with the Burlington law firm of Hoff Curtis, where she focused on criminal defense, when she was appointed a state superior court judge by then-Gov. Peter Shumlin.
Sen. Kesha Ram Hinsdale, D-Chittenden, on Friday praised Waples’ selection, calling it historic and groundbreaking.
Ram Hinsdale, the first woman of color to serve in the Vermont Senate, said Waples “has an incredible life story of overcoming adversity and knows the impact personally of the justice system and laws and how they either work for people or don’t depending on your ability to access justice.”
Ram Hinsdale said she expected Waples’ confirmation to cruise through the Senate, though she expected there would be a moment to “celebrate the historic and meaningful nature of this appointment” to the Supreme Court.
“Just knowing what I know about my colleagues,” Ram Hinsdale said, “I hope and believe we will get a unanimous vote of confidence to join the Supreme Court bench, and I’ll do my part to ensure that happens.”
Sen. Dick Sears, D-Bennington and chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Friday that once that panel receives the official nomination from the governor, its members will hold a public hearing before they vote on a recommendation to the full Senate.
“I think the governor is looking for diversity on the bench, and this is certainly, in my opinion, a good step forward,” Sears said of the selection of Waples.
Because Waples has already been vetted by the state’s Judicial Nominating Board and the governor’s office, Sears said, he does not expect any holdups with confirmation, though the Senate still has to follow a formal process.
Chittenden County State’s Attorney Sarah George, a prosecutor in the state’s largest county known for her progressive stands on criminal justice reforms, tweeted Friday in full support of the governor’s selection.
“Judge Waples story of success is humbling and inspirational, and her goal of bringing others along with her is exactly what we need on our States highest court,” George wrote. “Congratulations to her, and thank you @GovPhilScott for another great pick.”
Twelve people applied to the Judicial Nominating Board seeking the position, Eleanor Spottswood, the board’s chair, said earlier this week. Five names were then forwarded to the governor’s office for consideration, Spottswood said.
Of those five candidates, four were women and one was a man, according to Jason Maulucci, a spokesperson for the governor. Scott interviewed three of the candidates before making the selection, Maulucci said.
The Vermont Supreme Court includes three men — Chief Justice Paul Reiber and Justices William Cohen and Harold Eaton — and one woman, Justice Karen Carroll.
Paul Heintz contributed to this report.