The president nominated two Valparaiso University graduates to fill judicial vacancies in Indiana.
President Joe Biden said in a press release that St. Joseph Superior Judge Cristal Brisco and Elkhart Superior Judge Gretchen Lund are well qualified to fill lifetime appointments on the federal court serving Northwest Indiana, South Bend, Fort Wayne and Lafayette.
If approved, the two women would serve on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana.
Brisco, a Gary native, earned her bachelor's degree at Valparaiso University in 2002. She graduated from law school at the University of Notre Dame in 2006. She served as a magistrate judge for the Circuit Court of St. Joseph County in Mishawaka from 2018 to 2021.
Brisco has been a judge on the St. Joseph County Superior Court in South Bend since 2021. If confirmed, she would be the first African American woman to sit as a judge on the federal court serving Northern Indiana.
Lund earned her law degree from Valparaiso University in 2001. She served as a judge on the Goshen City Court for six years and as a deputy prosecutor in Elkhart County. She was elected to the Elkhart Superior Court in Goshen in 2014 and won a second term in 2020. Lund has served on the bench for 15 years for the district.
Senate members are expected to scrutinize the judicial candidates. The Senate must consent to the president's nominees before they can be seated on the federal bench.
