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Tampa Judge Scriven Confirmed As Middle District Judge

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By BILLY HOUSE

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 26, 2008

WASHINGTON - Tampa-based Magistrate Judge Mary S. Scriven says she is humbled and honored by her Senate confirmation today to a lifetime appointment as a United States district judge for the Middle District of Florida.

"It will be challenging and rewarding," said Scriven, 45, in an interview. She expects to take over the new post "in a couple of days," as soon as President Bush signs her official commission.

Scriven, who in 1997 became the first black female U.S. magistrate in the Middle District, was confirmed along with nine other of Bush's nominees for the federal bench from Utah, California, Colorado, Virginia, Kansas and Pennsylvania.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat, expedited consideration of the nominations as the Senate is seeking to recess, or adjourn, until after the election Nov. 4. Scriven said "the process is somewhat unpredictable, but they worked hard to get it done."

Scriven was nominated by Bush in July to replace U.S. Judge Patricia Fawsett, who has been based in Orlando but moved into semiretired senior status on Aug. 22.

She had the support of the state's GOP senator, Mel Martinez, and its Democratic senator, Bill Nelson.

"Judge Scriven is the type of highly-regarded, consensus nominee who is confirmed when the GOP and Democrats practice bipartisan judicial selection," said Carl Tobias, a University of Richmond law professor. "Florida's senators deserve credit for working together, as does Leahy for moving her quickly."

The Middle District of Florida covers a wide area of the state, from Georgia in the northeast to south of Naples. There are five divisions, and they are based in Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville, Ocala and Fort Myers.

Scriven now gains lifetime tenure, meaning she could be removed only through impeachment from a position presiding over criminal trials as well as civil cases. The salary for a federal judge is $169,300.

As a magistrate, her duties have included overseeing initial court appearances and setting bail for federal criminal defendants and presiding over some civil trials. In a questionnaire she completed for the Judiciary Committee, Scriven says she has conducted about 25 bench and jury trials, along with more than 300 evidentiary hearings and other criminal proceedings.

In addition, she has worked as one of only two magistrate judges serving as mediators in Tampa, doing so in more than 200 cases.

Scriven is married and a mother and stepmother to four children.

The only potential conflicts of interest she lists in the questionnaire are cases involving her husband, Lansing Charles Scriven, his Tampa law firm, or Tampa General Hospital, on whose board her husband sits.

Born in Atlanta, Scriven received an undergraduate degree from Duke University and law degree from Florida State University.

She entered private practice with the Tampa office of Carlton Fields and eventually became a partner there before taking on a magistrate judgeship in 1997.

She was a full-time associate professor at Stetson University College of Law from 1996 to 1997.

Reporter Billy House can be reached at (202) 662-7673 or bhouse@tampatrib.com.

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