
An Indiana Judge will be the first Black jurist from the state to serve on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Doris. L Pryor was nominated by President Joe Biden on May 25 and confirmed by the Senate on Dec. 5.
Pryor was confirmed with 60 votes in favor and 31 votes against. Indiana Sens. Todd Young and Mike Braun, both Republicans, voted in favor of Pryor.
Pryor received more votes in favor of her nomination than Biden’s two other nominees, Rachel Bloomekatz and Judge Florence Y. Pan.
She received her law degree from the Indiana University Maurer School of Law in 2003 and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Central Arkansas in 1999. Pryor worked as a law clerk for federal judges following law school before she became a public defender for the state of Arkansas.
Pryor served as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Indiana from 2006 to 2018 and as national security chief for the office from 2014 to 2018, working with the Department of Justice on domestic terrorism and international terrorism.
Pryor was a part of the team that prosecuted a man from Brownsburg for attempting to provide material support to designated foreign terrorist organizations.