Stacey Neumann, whose confirmation as a federal judge for the District of Maine was approved by the full Senate on Tuesday, appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee in May. Image from Senate Judiciary Committee video

A longtime Portland lawyer with a background as a public defender and as a federal prosecutor was confirmed as a federal judge for the District of Maine on Tuesday.

The Senate confirmed Stacey Neumann in a 50-43 vote to be a U.S. District judge in Bangor. Both of Maine’s senators – Susan Collins and Angus King – voted in favor.

Neumann is a private attorney and partner at Murray Plumb & Murray, where she has worked since 2013. She joined the firm after about four years as a prosecutor for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Maine and two years as a federal public defender in Vermont. She also has clerked for a judge on the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York.

In written letters submitted in her support, prosecutors, defense attorneys, civil litigators and investigators lauded her work.

Speaking on the Senate floor Tuesday, Collins, a Republican, said Neumann “possesses the integrity, intellect and impartiality to serve in this critical position.”

Collins highlighted Neumann’s background, including her magna cum laude graduations from James Madison University and Cornell Law School – from which she earned a J.D. in 2005 – and experience clerking for a justice of the Vermont Supreme Court.

“I believe that Stacey Neumann will faithfully uphold our nation’s laws and that she will serve the state of Maine and our nation well,” Collins said.

Following Collins’ remarks, King, an independent, told the chamber that Neumann “has had experience in all areas of the law.”

King noted that Neumann has served as a public defender, federal prosecutor and a civil litigator, and said she was particularly experienced in courtroom practices. He said Neumann takes an even-handed approach and can uphold the ideal of an impartial judge.

“She has the important temperament to hold this position and to give confidence to those who appear before her in the court,” King told the Senate. “I think she will make a wonderful district court judge.”

Neumann was nominated by President Biden in April. The Judiciary Committee took up her nomination in May and approved her confirmation this month.

During her confirmation hearing, she told lawmakers about her parents and their decades of work in public service and law. Her father served in the Army and worked in the Social Security Administration, and her mother started a mediation business in the 1980s and put herself through law school.

“It is through her that I got my capacity for perseverance and love of the law,” Neumann said in May.

Biden selected her to fill an opening left by Chief U.S. District Judge Jon Levy, who last year announced his plans to retire on May 5. He joined the U.S. District Court in 2014 after more than a decade on the Maine Supreme Judicial Court.

Neumann could not be reached for comment Tuesday night.