The Senate considered President Biden’s nomination of Beth Robinson to serve as a Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. The Second Circuit is one of the nation’s most powerful courts and, due to its jurisdiction over New York, hears many of the world’s most important business disputes and criminal appeals. Prior to her confirmation, Judge Robinson served as an Associate Justice of the Vermont Supreme Court, legal counsel to the Governor of Vermont, and as an attorney in private practice. She was part of the legal team in the 1999 Vermont Supreme Court case that led to the nation’s first same-sex civil unions and later chaired Vermont Freedom to Marry. A graduate of the University of Chicago Law School and a former federal judicial clerk, Robinson is the first openly lesbian judge ever to serve on any federal appellate court. On November 1, 2021, the Senate confirmed Robinson to be a Judge of the Second Circuit by a vote of 51-45 (Senate roll call vote 449). YES IS THE PRO-ENVIRONMENT VOTE.