O. Rogeriee Thompson - CONFIRMED

United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit

President Obama has nominated Rhode Island Superior Court Judge O. Rogeriee Thompson to replace Senior Judge Bruce M. Selya on the First Circuit Court of Appeals. If confirmed, Judge Thompson will be the first African American and the second woman to serve on the First Circuit.

Judge Thompson, 58, grew up in South Carolina. Her great-grandfather owned a plantation and bought her great-grandmother at a slave auction. They later fell in love and started a family. Judge Thompson attended Pembroke College, the female college of Brown University, and graduated from Brown after the two schools merged. She graduated from Boston University Law School. Following law school, Judge Thompson returned to Rhode Island, first working as an attorney at Rhode Island Legal Services and later opening a law firm in South Providence. In 1988, Judge Thompson was the first African-American woman named to the state District Court, and in 1997 she was appointed to Superior Court.

While serving on the bench, she continues to sit on the boards of many organizations, including the Nellie Mae Education Foundation, an organization advancing higher education; the Rhode Island Children's Crusade for Higher Education, a youth-mentoring program; and Dorcas Place, an adult literacy and learning center. Thompson has also received many awards during her career including the Ada Sawyer award from the Rhode Island Women’s Bar Association, given to those advancing the status of women throughout the state and legal community; NAACP’s Judicial Achievement Award; and Brown University named her among the "100 Most Distinguished Alumni of the Century." Judge Thompson is married to U.S. District Court Judge William C. Clifton; they have three children.

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