Trump Nominates UNC Law Professor For Judicial Vacancy

President Donald Trump has nominated a law professor who previously worked as a prosecutor, defense attorney and journalist to fill the nation's longest federal judiciary vacancy.

Trump nominated Richard E. Myers on Wednesday to be a federal judge in the Eastern District of North Carolina.

Raleigh lawyer Thomas Farr had been nominated four times — twice by President George W. Bush and twice by Trump — but was blocked in the Senate over his legal work that critics say disenfranchised black voters. President Barack Obama nominated two black women for the judgeship vacant since January 2006; Republicans blocked both.

Myers was born in Jamaica. Senators Richard Burr and Thom Tillis, both supporters of Farr, praised the new nominee. Burr cited Myers' work advising the University of North Carolina's Federalist Society chapter.