Senate confirms United Nations representative

The Senate confirmed Pamela Hamamoto to be the U.S. Representative to the United Nations in Geneva.

Her nomination was confirmed by voice vote Thursday.

{mosads}The Senate also voted to end debate on three of President Obama’s judicial nominees.

Cloture was invoked on the nomination of Indira Talwani to be a U.S. District Judge for Massachusetts on a 55-41 vote.

Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) said Talwani would be the first Asian-American judge to serve the district.

“She is a brilliant, accomplished attorney,” Markey said ahead of the vote. “She will be an unbiased decisionmaker.”

The Senate voted 56-40 to end debate on James Peterson to be a U.S. District Judge for western Wisconsin and voted 54-42 to end debate on the nomination of Nancy Rosenstengel to be a U.S. District Judge for southern Illinois.

Confirmation on all three of these nominees is expected later Thursday afternoon.

Advancing the nominees was never in doubt since Senate Democrats used the “nuclear option” last year to change the Senate rules. Now it takes a simple majority to advance most executive and judicial nominees without threat of a filibuster.