Melissa DuBose, a Black lesbian judge, makes Rhode Island history

The U.S. Senate has confirmed Melissa DuBose, who is Black and lesbian, to a federal judgeship in Rhode Island, making her the first woman of color and first out LGBTQ+ person to serve on the U.S. District Court in the state.

The Senate approved DuBose by a vote of 51-47 late Tuesday, The Providence Journal reports. Rhode Island’s two U.S. senators, Democrats Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse, had recommended her highly.

“She’s proven to be an exceptional jurist with a stellar record,” Reed said on the Senate floor, adding, “She has dedicated her life to public service, and Rhode Island is fortunate that she has once again answered the call.”

“This is a person, a lifelong Rhode Islander, who is exceedingly well regarded in our community,” Whitehouse said.

DuBose, 55, is a Providence native who has been a state court judge since 2019. She was an assistant Rhode Island attorney general from 2005 to 2008 and then was legal counsel to Schneider Electric in Foxboro, Mass. She was a teacher in the Providence public schools for several years, going to law school while teaching full-time. She is married with two sons.

She endured a contentious Senate Judiciary Committee hearing last month, with Republican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana asking, “Are you still a Marxist?”

“Senator, I have never been a Marxist and I am not a Marxist today,” she replied.

Kennedy referred to a 2000 article in Women’s Studies Quarterly that quoted her as saying she had gone through a “Marxist phase.” Kennedy accused her of hiding the article, but she said she was unaware of it and was surprised by the quote. She pointed out that she had studied the works of Karl Marx as well as many others.

Whitehouse “quipped that perhaps the article was written when the Louisiana Republican was still a Democrat, suggesting that people change over time, raising Kennedy’s ire,” the Journal reports.

Kennedy then grilled her about her knowledge of various legal terms, and she noted that she presides over trials every day.

In the final Senate vote, the only Republicans who supported her confirmation were Susan Collins of Maine and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.

DuBose is one of 10 out LGBTQ+ federal judges confirmed during President Joe Biden’s administration, according to the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. The group’s CEO, Maya Wiley, hailed DuBose’s confirmation. “It has been a long time coming to see the federal bench catch up,” Wiley told The Boston Globe. “Today we celebrate an important milestone toward building an equal justice judiciary for our communities.”

An uncle of Wiley’s, Alton Wiley, became the first Black state-level judge in Rhode Island in 1980.

“Judge DuBose’s confirmation matters because judicial diversity — both personal and professional — helps to build public trust in courts, improves judicial decision-making, and strengthens our democracy,” Wiley added.

DuBose will succeed U.S. District Judge William E. Smith, who is retiring at the end of this year.