The President issued a thirteenth wave of federal judicial nominations on Thursday, including two new Fourth Circuit nominations:  Marvin Quattlebaum and Jay Richardson, both from South Carolina.

The White House Press Release had this to say about Judge Quattlebaum, who joined the federal district court bench only a few weeks ago:

If confirmed, A. Marvin Quattlebaum, Jr., of South Carolina will serve as a Circuit Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Marvin Quattlebaum serves as a U.S. District Judge for the District of South Carolina, where he has served since his confirmation by the U.S. Senate and appointment by President Trump in 2018. Before ascending to the bench, Judge Quattlebaum was a partner in the Greenville, South Carolina, office of Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough, LLP—the same firm where he started his legal career as an associate in 1989.During his 28 years at Nelson Mullins, Judge Quattlebaum’s practice focused on complex business and civil litigation in Federal courts nationwide. On the basis of this expertise, he was invited to serve both as a Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers and as a permanent member of the Judicial Conference for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. From 2011 to 2012, Judge Quattlebaum served as the President of the South Carolina Bar. Judge Quattlebaum earned his B.A., cum laude, from Rhodes College and his J.D. from the University of South Carolina School of Law, where he served as a member of the South Carolina Law Review.

In 2012, Judge Quattlebaum presented a speech while President of the South Carolina State Bar on the importance of judicial independence and professional respect for judiciary.  He gave this speech in the context of the Supreme Court’s anticipated and forthcoming Affordable Care Act decision.   That speech is still available here.

The White House press release had this to say about Mr. Richardson:

If confirmed, Julius “Jay” N. Richardson of South Carolina will serve as a Circuit Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Jay Richardson serves as the Deputy Criminal Chief of the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of South Carolina. Since becoming an Assistant United States Attorney in 2009, he has focused on prosecuting violent crime, gangs, terrorism, public corruption, civil rights, and narcotics trafficking. He recently served as the lead prosecutor on United States v. Dylann Storm Roof, where the jury convicted and sentenced Roof to death for his racist massacre of nine African-American worshippers during a Bible study at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina. Mr. Richardson previously handled complex civil litigation for three years as an associate with the Washington, D.C., firm of Kellogg, Huber, Hansen, Todd, Evans & Figel (now known as Kellogg Hansen). Before entering private practice, Mr. Richardson served as a law clerk to Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist of the Supreme Court of the United States and Judge Richard A. Posner of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Mr. Richardson earned his B.S. from Vanderbilt University and his J.D., with high honors, from the University of Chicago, where he served as an articles editor of the University of Chicago Law Review.

Details on Mr. Richardson continue to emerge, but he received bipartisan praise in this article.

–Beth Scherer