Biden nominates Oregon judge for the federal bench

President Joe Biden on Wednesday nominated Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Amy M. Baggio for a federal judge position in the Oregon district. 

The White House announced the nomination of Baggio and four others as federal judges nationwide, subject to confirmation in the U.S. Senate. Baggio has served as a Multnomah County judge since 2019. 

Prior to that, she ran Portland-based Baggio Law, her own firm from 2013 to 2019. Baggio also worked in the Office of the Federal Public Defender’s Oregon district from 2002 to 2012. During the first three years, Baggio was a research and writing attorney and from 2005 onward, was an assistant federal public defender.

Baggio also worked for the Metropolitan Public Defender as a staff attorney from 2001 to 2002. She received her law degree from Lewis & Clark Law School in 2001 and graduated with her bachelor’s degree in 1995 from Wake Forest University in North Carolina.

As a judge, she has presided over numerous high-profile cases. In one ruling, Baggio gave Oregon prisoners more rights related to COVID-19 protocols. In another, she sentenced a Proud Boy to an additional two years in prison beyond the minimum sentence for his role in a 2021 brawl in east Portland, according to a story on Oregonlive. 

Oregon U.S. Senators  Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley on Wednesday supported Baggio in a joint statement.

“Judge Baggio’s experience in our state both on the Multnomah County Circuit Court and as a public defender at the federal and local levels add up to an extremely qualified candidate for the U.S. District Court for Oregon,” the senators, both Democrats, said. “We look forward to moving her nomination through the Senate confirmation process so she can join the federal court as soon as possible.”

The appointment, if confirmed, is tenured for life. So far in Biden’s administration, 154 federal judges have been confirmed. Two-thirds of them are women, people of color, or both, the White House said.