Federal bench at full strength in South Dakota following confirmation of Camela Theeler

Nominees for federal judgeships, from left, Sanket Jayshukh Bulsara of New York, Dena Coggins of California, and Eric Schulte and Camela Theeler of South Dakota participate in a hearing March 6, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (Courtesy of U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee)

South Dakota’s federal courts once again have a full slate of judges after the U.S. Senate voted 90-4 on Thursday to confirm Camela Theeler’s nomination to the federal bench.

The vote came one day after the Senate voted 61-33 to confirm Sioux Falls lawyer and former state bar president Eric Schulte to replace outgoing U.S. District Judge Karen Schreier.

Theeler, who currently serves as a judge in state court, will replace Rapid City-based U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Viken, who retired in October. 

Republican Senators Mike Rounds and John Thune took the lead on Theeler and Schulte’s nominations last year after nominees proposed to the Biden administration by state Democratic leaders failed to pan out. 

Theeler is a Pierre native and former attorney for the Lynn Jackson law firm, as well as a former assistant U.S. attorney for that office’s civil division.

Thune and Rounds each spoke in support of Theeler prior to the vote and cast their votes in her favor.

The appointment will relieve pressure on the federal docket in South Dakota. Two judges with senior status, both more than 80 years old, have been assisting the court in managing its caseload. 

Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond School of Law, told South Dakota Searchlight that Theeler’s 90-4 vote tally represents one of the strongest showings for any of the Biden administration’s judge nominees in the divided U.S. Senate.

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