Biden picks Monroe County judge for federal bench
Monroe County Court Judge Meredith Vacca has been nominated for a Rochester-based federal judgeship, a selection that, if approved, would make her the first woman of color to be a federal judge in New York’s western federal court district.
Vacca, who is Korean-American, would also be the first Asian-American on the federal bench in the western district.
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer, a Democrat, recommended Vacca, 43. President Joe Biden announced Vacca’s nomination on Wednesday.
“Raised in the Rochester area and educated at University of Buffalo, Ms. Vacca is highly qualified and represents the rich professional and demographic diversity of New York, Monroe County and the country, and when confirmed she will make history as the first AsianAmerican woman to serve as judge in the Western District of New York,” Schumer said in a statement.
The western federal court district includes 17 counties, stretching to the Pennsylvania line, and has Rochester and Buffalo as its hubs.
“As a Korean-American who was adopted at 6 months old by her Rochester parents and raised in the Town of Greece she has a deep appreciation of all the opportunities afforded to her by her adopted hometown and an inherent understanding and empathy for the challenges faced by diverse communities,” Schumer said in his statement.
Vacca was a prosecutor in the Monroe County District Attorney’s Office from 2007 until her election to county court. During her tenure there, she rose through the ranks, ultimately prosecuting some of the county’s worst allegations of child abuse and domestic violence.
She faced criticism in 2019 for her prosecution of Kali Watkins, a former Webster Schroeder High School girls’ basketball coach who was acquitted of the rape of a player. Critics contended there was ample proof of Watkins’ innocence. Vacca maintained that she did not think the teenager who made the allegation was lying.
That same year, the judicial rating from the Rochester Black Bar Association showed that the totality of Vacca’s career was significant enough to earn its highest rating, despite the prosecution of Watkins, who is Black.
The Rochester Black Bar Association that year rated Vacca as “highly qualified” — its highest rating.
Vacca is a graduate of Colgate University and the state University of New York at Buffalo Law School. Her father, Paul Vacca, is a well-known criminal defense lawyer in Rochester.
Schumer said in his statement that Vacca’s nomination would continue his push to bring more women to the federal bench. If approved, the western district judgeships will be an equal number of women and men, which is uncommon across the country.
“Judge Vacca would finally integrate one of the 23 federal district courts that has never had a non-white lifetime judge,” Lena Zwarensteyn, the senior director of the fair courts program at The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, said in a statement.
“With this long overdue progress, we recognize how much work remains for us to build a judiciary that reflects our country and provides equal justice for all.”