Diaz going to U.S. appeals court

The U.S. Senate unanimously confirmed Charlotte Judge Albert Diaz to the U.S. Court of Appeals on Saturday, ending what had become the nation's longest judicial wait and giving North Carolina its third judge on the 4th Circuit.

Diaz will be the first Latino on the Richmond-based court.

"I'm grateful and really humbled," Diaz said, "and I look forward to serving our nation in this new capacity."

Diaz, 50, is currently a special Superior Court Judge for the N.C. Business Court. Though unanimously endorsed by the Senate Judiciary Committee in January, his nomination got tangled in partisan politics until the closing hours of the lame-duck session. No other judicial nominee had waited longer.

Diaz will join James Wynn Jr., who was confirmed in August, and Allyson Duncan as North Carolina's representatives on the 15-member court. North Carolina is the largest of the five states in the 4th Circuit.

"I am thrilled that Judge Diaz, a distinguished, fair-minded and well-respected judge, was confirmed," Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan said in a statement. "Now...North Carolina will finally have fair representation on the 4th Circuit."

Added Republican Sen. Richard Burr: "I have full confidence in his ability to protect and enforce the laws of our country, and look forward to seeing the excellent judgment that he is sure to exercise in the 4th Circuit."

Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond, said he was pleased that the Senate confirmed Diaz. "The judge deserves the public's thanks for persevering. The only question is why the Senate made the judge wait so long only to confirm him unanimously," Tobias said. "The partisan paybacks must cease for the good of the nation."

Diaz was among 49 circuit and district court nominees confirmed by the current Congress, a Judiciary Committee spokeswoman said Saturday. That's less than half the number confirmed during the same period of the Bush administration.

That leaves 30 judicial nominations, including seven for the circuit court, on the calendar in the waning days of the lame-duck session.

Both senators alluded to the politics that had delayed the vote on Diaz.

A Hagan spokeswoman said the nomination "has stalled over the past year for partisan reasons having nothing to do with his qualifications."

Burr alluded to past problems getting Democrats to confirm President Bush's choices.

"After the treatment some of these nominees were subjected to, I am impressed that we still have high caliber nominees like Judge Diaz who step forward," Burr said. "It is a proud day that Judge Diaz is getting the vote that so many never did."

Diaz grew up in Brooklyn. He and two brothers were raised by their mother. Diaz enlisted in the Marines after high school. He went on to get a degree in economics from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, an MBA from Boston University and a law degree from New York University.

In the Marines, he was a prosecutor, defense lawyer and judge during his 25-year military career. He left in 1995 for private practice. A non-smoker, he represented Philip Morris during tobacco lawsuits in the late 1990s.

"Our system only works," he once said, "if advocates are willing to stand up and fight for a client's rights regardless of what moral opposition they may have to a particular issue."

Diaz came to North Carolina in 1995 and moved to Charlotte in 2000.

He became the first Latino to serve as a Superior Court judge in North Carolina when then-Gov. Mike Easley appointed him in 2001.

He ran for election the following year and lost. A month later, Easley again appointed him to a Superior Court judgeship. In 2005, he was named Charlotte's first Business Court judge.

Charlotte Observer staff writer Gary L. Wright contributed to this report.