Former Deputy U.S. Attorney Margaret Garnett Set as Federal Judge in Southern District of New York

Garnett becomes the 156th federal judge approved by the Senate during the Biden administration.

The U.S. Senate today held a recorded vote to confirm one individual as an Article III federal judge. With this confirmation, 156 judges nominated by President Joe Biden have now been confirmed by the Senate. With today’s action, 118 of Biden’s judicial nominees have been approved for service on federal district courts.

In a 49-46 vote, Margaret M. Garnett was confirmed as a Judge for the U.S. District for the Southern District of New York. She is Biden’s sixth confirmation to the 28-person court, with one additional vacancy awaiting an official nominee by the President. 

Garnett assumes the White Plains-based seat previously held by Vincent L. Briccetti, who took senior status in April 2023. A nominee of President Barack Obama, Briccetti served on this court from 2011 to 2023. Garnett was nominated to this seat on the federal judiciary by Biden in July 2023.

From 2000 to 2004, Garnett worked as an associate at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz LLP. From 2005 to 2017, she served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. From 2017 to 2018, she worked as Executive Deputy Attorney General for Criminal Justice in the New York State Attorney General’s Office. From 2018 to 2021, she was Commissioner of the New York City Department of Investigation. And finally, she served as Deputy U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 2021 to May 2023 and currently serves as Special Counsel to the U.S. Attorney in the same district.