The U.S. Senate has approved the nomination of Mary Kay Lanthier to serve as a federal judge in Vermont.
The Senate voted 55 to 42 late Wednesday afternoon to confirm Lanthier to the position, which carries a lifetime appointment.
Four Republicans joined all the voting Democrats and independents in the Senate in approving Lanthier’s nomination. Those Republican senators were Susan Collins of Maine, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Thom Tillis of North Carolina.
Lanthier, who was born in Rutland and lives in Orwell, has served as the supervising attorney in the Rutland County Public Defender’s Office since 2007. In that job, Lanthier represented indigent clients charged with criminal offenses ranging from murder to drunken driving.
She was nominated in May by President Joe Biden to serve as a federal judge in Vermont.
U.S. Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Peter Welch, D-Vt., had recommended Lanthier for the position.
Welch, speaking on the Senate floor prior to Wednesday’s vote, voiced his support for Lanthier’s nomination, calling her an “extraordinary” person.
“Mary Kay grew up in a small town and has small town values of service, modesty, humility, and she’s incredibly accomplished as a person,” he said. “I believe she will be an excellent judge.”
Sanders, also speaking on the Senate floor before the vote, talked about Lanthier’s career as a public defender.
“In that role, she has fought for her clients to have a fair chance at justice in (the) courtroom and if she is confirmed I am confident that she will make sure that all of the people who appear in front of her are treated fairly and get the justice that they are due,” he said.
Lanthier’s nomination faced no vocal opposition. Among her backers for the position was a group of four prosecutors, including Rutland County State’s Attorney Ian Sullivan, who wrote a letter to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee in support of her nomination.
“While we routinely disagree and advocate against each other’s position in the courtroom, it is through that process that we have come to know Attorney Lanthier to embody the highest principles of the practice of law,” the letter from the prosecutors stated.
The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee voted last month 13 to 7 to advance Lanthier’s nomination to the Senate for a floor vote by the entire chamber. All the Democrats on the committee voted in favor of Lanthier, as did Republican panel members Graham and Tillis.
Lanthier succeeds Judge Geoffrey Crawford on the federal bench in Vermont. Crawford formally announced last year his intention to step down in August 2024 and serve in a more limited senior status role. Since he left his full-time status earlier this summer, federal judges from outside the Vermont district have been presiding over some cases.
Lanthier joins U.S. District Court Chief Judge Christina Reiss on the federal bench in Vermont. Reiss currently presides in U.S. District Court in Burlington. Lanthier will primarily preside in U.S. District Court in Rutland.
It was not immediately clear Wednesday when Lanthier will formally be sworn in as a federal judge in Vermont.
Lanthier received her law degree from Northeastern University School of Law in 1996 and a bachelor’s degree from Amherst College in 1993.
She has also previously worked in private practice, handling primarily family law, workers’ compensation, and criminal cases.
