Navarro nomination for Nevada judgeship goes to full Senate

WASHINGTON -- Las Vegas attorney Gloria Navarro advanced toward a federal judgeship when her confirmation was approved Thursday by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The panel sent Navarro's nomination to the full Senate for action.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., the Senate majority leader who sponsored her nomination, said he will work to get her "quickly confirmed."

Navarro, 42, is a chief deputy district attorney in the civil division of the Clark County district attorney's office. Previously she was a public defender and worked in private practice.

Reid said she would become the first Latina to serve as a federal judge in Nevada. She would replace Brian Sandoval, who resigned a judgeship last year and is running for governor.

At Navarro's Senate confirmation hearing last month, Reid caused a stir when he criticized the American Bar Association's system for evaluating potential judges.

He was put off that several members of the association's 15-member evaluation team rated Navarro "not qualified" to become a judge. A "substantial majority" rated her "qualified," according to the evaluation.

The ABA's Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary does not give reasons for its rating of individuals. Legal analysts speculated Navarro was rated down because she did not have experience as a lower court judge before being considered for the federal bench.

Reid said ABA evaluators should "get a life," and that Navarro had broad experience as an attorney in the "real world" that qualified her to become a federal judge.

In response to a question at that hearing about her experience, Navarro said she handled a variety of criminal and civil cases as an attorney, appearing in federal and state courts before a range of judges, and she was well-versed in court procedures.