WASHINGTON
– Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), ranking member of the Senate Judiciary
Committee, today introduced and led colleagues in the review of Des Moines
native Judge Stephen Locher at the judge’s nomination hearing before the U.S.
Senate. Locher is nominated to serve as U.S. District Judge for the Southern
District of Iowa.
Photos
of Locher’s appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee can be found
HERE,
HERE, and
HERE.
Locher
was
nominated to the federal
bench by the president last month after being
recommended by Grassley and
Sen. Joni Ernst. Their recommendation followed the unanimous endorsement by an
Iowa-based judicial selection commission convened by the senators.
Video
of Grassley’s introduction of Locher can be found
HERE. The senator’s
prepared remarks follow.
Introduction of Judge Stephen Locher
Nominee for the Federal District Court, Southern
District of Iowa
By Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Senator
Chuck Grassley of Iowa
May 11, 2022
Today
we have five judicial nominees before us, with two circuit court nominees and
three district court nominees. One of the district court nominees has been
nominated to fill Judge Jarvey’s seat in the Southern District of Iowa. I
wanted to thank Chairman Durbin for scheduling Judge Locher’s hearing. I’m
happy to introduce Judge Stephen Locher to the committee today.
After
Judge Jarvey said that he would be retiring in March 2022, Senator Ernst and I
set up our judicial selection commission. The commission was comprised of
well-respected members of the Iowa legal community. They spent hundreds of
hours reviewing and interviewing all of the applicants. The commission unanimously
supported Judge Locher. I’m pleased that the White House accepted Senator
Ernst’s and my recommendation.
You
can see why Judge Locher received our support. He was born and raised in Iowa.
Judge Locher has diverse legal experience and exceptional credentials. After
graduating from the University of Notre Dame and Harvard Law School, he clerked
for Judge John Gibson on the Eighth Circuit.
Now,
he started out his career at a firm in Chicago. But we decided not to hold that
against him too much. He came back to Iowa. He served as an Assistant United
States Attorney for several years, and he focused on prosecuting white-collar
crime.
After
five years as a prosecutor, he moved to the law firm Belin McCormick. He worked
on both criminal and civil cases. His practice included everything from working
on class actions involving data security to litigation over the Clean Water Act involving drainage
districts.
In
2021, he was chosen to serve as a magistrate judge for the Southern District of
Iowa. He’s served Iowa in that role for nearly a year.
With
his impeccable credentials, experience in both civil and criminal law and his
trial experience, Judge Locher is well-qualified to serve as a federal district
court judge. It is my pleasure to support his nomination.
Judge
Locher, welcome.
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