Lawmakers question Las Vegas attorney nominated for federal judge
WASHINGTON — Las Vegas attorney Jennifer Dorsey fielded her first official questions on Wednesday in a bid to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate as a federal judge in Nevada.
Dorsey faced friendly questioning from Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, who led the hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. She received more challenging questions from two Republican senators, Charles Grassley of Iowa and Mike Lee of Utah.
Grassley quizzed Dorsey about a 1997 Pepperdine Law Review article she wrote arguing for the legalization of physician-assisted suicide. Would she still argue that?
Dorsey said no.
“My experience as a litigator has given me a different perspective than many of those I articulated in that piece,” Dorsey said, noting it was written “nearly two decades ago.”
Similarly, she said, she no longer held a view expressed in the article that key Supreme Court decisions on abortion and gay rights showed justices willing to “forge ahead to create a just outcome” after Grassley said he would be troubled by an endorsement of judicial activism.
Dorsey, who turns 42 on Friday, is a Las Vegas native who is partner in the firm of Kemp, Jones & Coulthard, where she specializes in complex civil litigation.
She acknowledged to senators she would need to brush up on federal rules of criminal law but believed her experience serving on trial teams and handling several cases on her own gave her qualifying experience to become a judge.
Dorsey was nominated in September by President Barack Obama after being put forward by Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev.
Reid told senators Wednesday he would be “extremely comfortable with this fine woman who will be a great addition to the bench in Nevada.”
Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., gave his permission last month for the Judiciary Committee to move forward with Dorsey’s nomination after he said he had been reviewing her nomination since September.
Heller has not said how he would vote on Dorsey. His spokeswoman said he declined an invitation to appear at her confirmation hearing, and he had no comment on it afterward.
Contact Stephens Washington Bureau Chief Steve Tetreault at stetreault@stephensmedia.com or 202-783-1760. Follow him on Twitter @STetreaultDC.
