THOMPSON

WASHINGTON — President Obama has nominated Rhode Island Superior Court Justice O. Rogeriee Thompson to sit on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. If confirmed by the Senate, she will be the first black judge and the second woman to serve on the Boston-based appeals court.

In a single announcement Tuesday, Mr. Obama nominated Thompson and Denny Chin, a federal district court judge in New York, to serve on the Second U.S. Circuit Court. Mr. Obama said in a news release: “Judges Chin and Thompson have displayed exceptional dedication to public service throughout their careers. They have served on the bench with distinction in New York and Rhode Island, and I am honored to nominate them today to serve the American people on the United States Court of Appeals. I am confident that they will be judicious and esteemed additions to the First and Second Circuits.”

“This is a great day for the United States justice system and a proud day for Rhode Island. Justice Thompson is an exceptional public servant with a profound respect for the rule of law,” Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse said in a news release after the nomination was made Tuesday.

“She possesses the legal background, intellect, and temperament to serve well and wisely on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit,” said the Rhode Island Democrats, who jointly recommended Thompson’s nomination to Mr. Obama in April.

Thompson’s nomination goes now to the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will vote on whether to recommend that the full Senate confirm Mr. Obama’s choice. Whitehouse is a member of the Judiciary Committee.

Thompson is the eighth circuit court judge whom the president has named since taking office. So far, the Senate has confirmed one of those nominations.

Ojetta Rogeriee Thompson graduated from Brown University in 1973 and Boston University School of Law in 1976. She also holds honorary degrees from the University of Rhode Island and Bryant College. Thompson has served on the Rhode Island Superior Court since 1997, the first black woman to sit on that court.

In 1988, she became the first black woman to serve on the Rhode Island District Court.

Thompson grew up in segregated South Carolina. Her great-grandfather, a plantation owner, bought her great-grandmother at a slave auction. They later fell in love and raised a family. Thompson came to Rhode Island to attend Pembroke College, then the female college of Brown University. She graduated from Brown after the two schools merged in 1973.

She came back to the state after law school, first working at Rhode Island Legal Services and later opening a South Providence law firm while raising a family with now District Court Judge William C. Clifton. Her brother-in-law is Superior Court Judge Edward C. Clifton.

Thompson will occupy what is traditionally the “Rhode Island seat” on the First Circuit court, which considers cases on appeal from the federal courts in Rhode Island, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Puerto Rico. She replaces retired Judge Bruce M. Selya.

Still pending at the White House is a potential nominee for a second key federal judgeship that Rhode Island Democrats Reed and Whitehouse recommended to Mr. Obama at the same time they sent him Thompson’s name.

John J. “Jack” McConnell Jr, a Providence lawyer prominent in state Democratic politics, is under consideration to be nominated to the U.S. District Court in Rhode Island.

The Constitution requires that presidents nominate all federal judges, with the “advice and consent” of the Senate. But by the Senate’s long-standing patronage traditions, these plum appointments are controlled by the state’s senior senator of the president’s own political party, in this case Reed. Reed has chosen to share the nominations with Whitehouse.

If McConnell is nominated and confirmed by the Senate, he will replace U.S. District Judge Ernest C. Torres, who announced his retirement late last year.

jmulligan@belo-dc.com