Fourth Judicial Circuit Judge Brian Davis was nominated Wednesday by President Barack Obama to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.
Davis, who was appointed to the circuit bench in 1994 by Gov. Lawton Chiles, presides in Nassau County.
Davis served as an assistant state attorney from 1982-88 and served as chief assistant state attorney to former State Attorney Harry Shorstein from 1991-94.
Davis worked at the Brown, Terrell, Hogan, Ellis, McClamma & Yegelwel firm from 1988-91 and had been with Mahoney, Hadlow & Adams from 1980-82.
Davis earned his bachelor’s degree in 1974 from Princeton University and his law degree in 1980 from the University of Florida College of Law.
Obama also nominated John Dowdell to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma.
“I am honored to put forward these highly qualified candidates for the federal bench,” Obama said in a news release. “They will be distinguished public servants and valuable additions to the United States District Court.”
Davis was named in August as one of four finalists for the district seat.
The Florida Federal Judicial Nominating Commission submitted the names Aug. 5 in a letter to the U.S. senators from Florida, Democrat Bill Nelson and Republican Marco Rubio.
The letter, from commission statewide Chair John Fitzgibbons, said the four finalists were Davis, U.S. Magistrate Judges Sheri Polster Chappell in the Fort Myers Division and Elizabeth Jenkins in the Tampa Division and Fifth District Appeals Judge C. Alan Lawson.
Six of the 13 applicants chosen to interview Aug. 4 for the Middle District seat had Jacksonville connections.
District Court judges, Supreme Court justices and Court of Appeals judges are nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate, as stated in the Constitution.
The names of potential nominees often are recommended by senators or sometimes by members of the House who are of the president’s political party.