PHOENIX (AP) - The Senate Judiciary Committee in Washington has approved six nominees to fill judicial vacancies in Arizona.
One of the nominees - Diane Humetewa (hoom-e-tee-wah) - is poised to become the first American Indian woman to serve on the federal bench.
Humetewa and the other nominees appeared before the Judiciary Committee in January.
She’s a former U.S. Attorney for Arizona and currently a lawyer for Arizona State University, serving as a special adviser to the school president for American Indian Affairs.
Humetewa is an ASU graduate, a native Arizonan and a Hopi tribe member.
The longest-pending nominee in the Judiciary Committee who was first nominated in June 2011 - Rosemary Marquez - also was approved Thursday.
She’s a former assistant federal public defender and ex-Pima County prosecutor and county public defender.
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