Ana Reyes was confirmed as the first Latina and openly LGBTQ person on the federal district court in Washington (article available here).
Reyes was confirmed on Wednesday nine months after her May 2022 nomination. President Joe Biden resubmitted her nomination in January after it expired at the end of last Congress.
Reyes specialized in international arbitration for clients and the governments of Spain and Uruguay. She also devoted more than 3,300 pro-bono hours representing asylum seekers, including work on behalf of women and girls escaping forced marriage and genital mutilation, according to her Senate Judiciary Questionnaire.
Born in Uruguay, Reyes didn’t know English when she immigrated to the US while in kindergarten. Reyes went onto Harvard Law School and clerked for for a judge on the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit before joining the firm where she has spent her entire career.