Podhurst Orseck Partner, Two Judges Picked for Federal Bench
The South Florida nominees are attorney Roy Altman and Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judges Rodney Smith and Rodolfo “Rudy” Ruiz II.
April 26, 2018 at 04:07 PM
3 minute read
President Donald Trump announced his intention Thursday to nominate Podhurst Orseck partner Roy Altman and two South Florida jurists for federal judgeships.
Trump's picks include Altman and Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judges Rodney Smith and Rodolfo “Rudy” Ruiz II.
If the U.S. Senate approves the nominations, the men would rise to the bench to serve in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
Altman is an Ivy League-educated attorney who has practiced aviation and commercial litigation since 2014. Before entering private practice, he prosecuted hundreds of cases over six years as an assistant U.S. attorney. He tried more than 20 cases to jury verdict and argued several before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, according to the White House press office.
Altman won the Director of the Executive Office of U.S. Attorneys Award for Superior Litigation Team in a murder case, United States v. Mentor and the award for Superior Litigation Performance for his handling of United States v. Flanders, a human trafficking case. His other prizes include the Federal Bar Association Young Federal Lawyer Award and Federal Prosecutor of the Year from the Miami-Dade County Association of Chiefs of Police and the Law Enforcement Officers Charitable Foundation.
Atlman graduated cum laude from Columbia University, where he played baseball and football. He earned his law degree from Yale Law School, where he was projects editor of the Yale Law Journal.
Fellow nominee Ruiz was appointed to the Miami-Dade Circuit Court bench in 2014 and has presided over civil and criminal divisions. He is a former county court judge, assistant county attorney and corporate lawyer in White & Case's Miami office.
Ruiz earned his undergraduate degree from Duke University and his law degree from Georgetown University, where he was an articles editor of the American Criminal Law Review.
Trump's third South Florida pick, Smith, has been a Miami-Dade Circuit judge since his 2012 appointment. He presides over the court's civil and felony criminal divisions and was a four-year county court judge.
Smith is co-chair of the Florida Conference of Circuit Judges' diversity committee and is a former assistant city attorney in Miami Beach. He practiced insurance defense before entering the public sector. He graduated with honors from both Florida A&M University, where he did his undergraduate studies, and Michigan State University College of Law.
Trump's South Florida picks were among his 13th wave of judicial nominees. They must gain confirmation from the U.S. Senate before rising to the federal bench.
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