North Carolina Court of Appeals Judge Jim Wynn and Superior Court Judge Albert Diaz, of Charlotte, have been nominated by President Barack Obama for the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit.
Wynn, of Cary, was previously nominated by President Bill Clinton but was never confirmed by the Senate.
Diaz would be the 4th Circuit's first Hispanic judge.
Their confirmation would end a 15-year impasse over one of the vacancies on the court, which hears federal cases from the Carolinas, Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland.
The federal appeals courts are often the last stop for many cases, since the U.S. Supreme Court takes so few.
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Lawyers for John Edwards on Friday issued statements that said the hundreds of thousands of dollars in expenditures incurred last year by the campaign committee of the former presidential candidate were above board. 
Mitt Romney is in danger of losing his fourth straight state in Saturday's caucuses in Maine, where he and his allies have been all but absent from TV. Keep up with the latest political stories with our free daily e-mail newsletter, delivered straight to your inbox!
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