Lankford Introduces Oklahoma’s Northern District Nominees at Senate Judiciary Hearing

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WASHINGTON, DC – Senator James Lankford (R-OK) today provided introductory remarks in the Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearing to consider the nominations of Sara Hill and John Russell for federal judgeship positions for the United States District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma. Lankford applauded the nominations of Hill and Russell last month.

Sara Hill served as the Attorney General for Cherokee Nation and has previously served as Special Assistant United States Attorney for the US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Oklahoma from 2014-2016. Hill was appointed by Principal Chief Bill John Baker and confirmed by the Cherokee Nation Tribal Council to serve as the first Secretary of National Resources for Cherokee Nation from 2015-2019. From 2004-2015, she served as Assistant/Deputy Attorney General for Cherokee Nation. Hill received her J.D. from the University of Tulsa in 2003 and her B.A. from Northeastern State University in 2000.

Since 2015, John D. Russell has served as a shareholder at GableGotwals in Tulsa, Oklahoma advising in areas of commercial litigation and white-collar criminal defense. He previously worked for Fellers Snider Blankenship Bailey & Tippens advising on commercial litigation, administrative litigation, and white-collar criminal defense cases. From 1995-2002 he served as Assistant United States Attorney for the US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Oklahoma. He has also served as an attorney for Sneed Lang Adams & Barnett and before that was a trial attorney for the US Department of Justice, Tax Division in Washington, DC. He has received several honors including Oklahoma Top 50: Super Lawyers in 2013, 2015, 2021, and 2022. Russell received his J.D. from the University of Oklahoma College of Law in 1988 and his B.S. from Oklahoma State University in 1982.

Excerpt

Lankford: Every person who becomes a federal judge swears an oath that states in part that they ‘will administer justice without respect to persons and will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon them as a judge under the Constitution and laws of the United States.’ In reviewing potential nominees, it’s important to me that I believe every person who will be a judge in my state will follow that oath. And I have no doubt these two nominees will consider that process.

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