Black woman state's first to become federal judge

The U.S. Senate confirmed Marcia G. Cooke of Bay Harbor Islands as a federal judge. The attorney for Miami-Dade County is the first black woman in Florida to hold that post.

BY JAY WEAVER

jweaver@herald.com


Miami-Dade County lawyer Marcia G. Cooke was confirmed Tuesday as the first black woman to become a federal judge in Florida, after Democratic and Republican lawmakers reached a truce in their election-year political war over judicial nominations.

The U.S. Senate approved Cooke, 96-0, to sit on the bench in the Southern District of Florida, replacing the late Wilkie D. Ferguson, a pioneering black jurist who died last year.

Cooke -- who was flooded with phone calls from well-wishers to her office in the Miami-Dade County Legal Department -- expressed gratitude to the Senate for its ''bipartisan support'' and to President Bush ``for the confidence he has placed in me with this appointment.''

Cooke, 49, of Bay Harbor Islands, also recognized the historical significance of her confirmation.

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