Updated at 6:47 p.m.
The Vermont Senate made history Friday with a 27-0 vote to confirm Nancy Waples to the state Supreme Court, seating the first woman of color on the state’s highest bench.
Gov. Phil Scott nominated Waples to the seat last month, promoting the 61-year-old Hinesburg resident from her role as a superior court judge, which she held since 2015. She will fill the seat of former-Justice Beth Robinson, who vacated the five-member bench to accept President Joe Biden’s nomination to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
More than 500 miles away in the nation’s capital, the U.S. Senate is also poised to make judicial history. On Thursday, senators wrapped a series of U.S. Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Biden’s nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson, who would be the first Black woman to serve on the nation’s highest court, if confirmed (which seems likely).
The daughter of Chinese immigrants, Waples’ parents fled the communist revolution in China to Canada, then to the U.S. Waples worked in her parents’ New York City restaurant and learned to speak English at 9 years old.
She went on to earn her bachelor’s degree from the College of William and Mary in Virginia, then her law degree from St. John’s University of Law in New York. She then worked as a prosecutor in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, then as an assistant U.S. attorney in the criminal division of the Vermont U.S. Attorney’s Office. She was practicing at the Burlington law firm Hoff Curtis when then-governor Peter Shumlin nominated her in December 2014 to serve as state superior court judge.
“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 a statement Feb. 25, the day of her nomination. “They came here seeking greater opportunities and longed for a life of dignity and decency. They share my pride in receiving this historic appointment.”
With Waples’ confirmation, the Vermont Supreme Court includes three men — Chief Justice Paul Reiber and Justices William Cohen and Harold Eaton — and two women — Justice Karen Carroll and Waples.
In a following statement, Scott said he was “thrilled” by the Senate vote.
“Judge Waples is a distinguished public servant, an accomplished jurist and will bring an invaluable perspective to the bench,” he said. “I know that she will be an exemplary addition to the Court, and I look forward to having the honor of swearing her in to the post in the coming days.”
Lt. Gov. Molly Gray also celebrated Waples’ confirmation in a Friday afternoon statement, reflecting on her own experience as a young attorney in Vermont, when she “looked up to Judge Waples, who was an active mentor to women in the bar.”
“She is a trailblazer and deeply qualified and experienced member of the legal community,” Gray continued. “Vermont will be better for her service and I offer her a most heartfelt congratulations on her confirmation!”