Blumenthal Applauds Senate Judiciary Committee Approval of Second Circuit Court Nominee Judge Sarah Merriam

[WASHINGTON, DC] – Today, U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, applauded the Committee’s approval of Judge Sarah Merriam, President Biden’s nominee to fill a vacancy on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. In a bipartisan 12-10 vote, the Committee advanced Merriam’s nomination to be considered by the full Senate. 

“Judge Merriam reflects the tremendous experience, character, and intellect that is paramount to serving in our judicial system,” Blumenthal said during today’s Judiciary Committee meeting. “She has said before that she believes partisan politics have no place in judicial chambers, and I believe that she will carry this practice with her to the Court of Appeals just as she has followed it in the District Court. I am very proud to support her nomination. She is a judge’s judge, and will be an extraordinary addition to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.”

Consisting of thirteen judges, the Second Circuit is one of thirteen appeals courts across the country and exercises appellate jurisdiction within Connecticut, New York, and Vermont. 

In October, Judge Sarah Merriam was confirmed in a bipartisan vote to serve as a United States District Court Judge for the District of Connecticut. Prior to that, Judge Merriam served as a United States Magistrate Judge for the District of Connecticut, an Assistant Federal Defender in the District of Connecticut from 2007 through 2015, and worked as a law clerk to Judge Thomas Meskill of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and to Judge Alvin Thompson of the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut. Judge Merriam attended Georgetown University for her undergraduate degree, and began her legal education at the University of Connecticut School of Law before transferring to Yale Law School, from which she received her Juris Doctor in 2000. 

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