Obama Appoints Openly Lesbian Magistrate as DC Superior Court Associate Judge

Judge Marisa Demeo

President Obama announced on Tuesday that he intends to nominate openly lesbian Magistrate Judge Marisa Demeo as an Associate Judge on the Superior Court of the District of Columbia

Demeo is currently serving as a Magistrate Judge of the D.C. Superior Court, a position she has held since 2007.

” I am pleased to put forward two nominees who have served the people of the District of Columbia with such distinction,” President Obama said. “Marisa Demeo and Florence Pan have dedicated their careers to serving the public good and they will be esteemed and eminent additions to the DC Superior Court.”

The Superior Court of the District of Columbia is the local trial court for the District of Columbia. It hears cases involving criminal and civil law. The court also handles specialized cases in the following areas: family court, landlord and tenant, probate, tax, and traffic offenses. All appeals of Superior Court decisions go to the District of Columbia Court of Appeals.

The Superior Court was established by the United States Congress as the trial court of general jurisdiction for D.C. in 1970. The Court consists of a chief judge and 61 associate judges. The Court is assisted by the service of 24 magistrate judges, as well as retired judges who have been recommended and approved as senior judges.

Magistrate Judge Demeo was born in Washington, DC.

Following her distinguished work as a paralegal in the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, she was selected for a Root Tilden scholarship at the NYU School of Law.

Throughout her career, Demeo has displayed a commitment to public interest work. She has worked for numerous public interest groups including the AIDS Service Center of Lower Manhattan, the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund and Texas Rural Legal Aid. Following further work at the Department of Justice and at the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, Demeo prosecuted misdemeanor and felony cases as an Assistant United States Attorney in the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. In 2007, Demeo was appointed as a Magistrate Judge in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.

Demeo has also served as an adjunct professor at the Howard University School of Law and was formerly the head of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund’s (MALDEF) Washington, DC office.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/President-Obama-Announces-Marisa-J-Demeo-and-Florence-Y-Pan-for-DC-Superior-Court/