DETROIT (AP) – The U.S. Senate has confirmed Wayne County Circuit Judge Gershwin Drain to the federal bench in Detroit. The 55-41 largely party-line vote was held Thursday.

President Barack Obama nominated Drain in November to a seat on the U.S. District Court in Detroit.

Obama has said Drain will be a “thoughtful and diligent judge” on the federal court.

Drain has been a Wayne County circuit judge since 1997. Before that, he sat on the Detroit Recorders Court, which served the city until it was merged with the county circuit court. Drain was a judge at Detroit’s 36th District Court in 1986-87.

He’s a graduate of Western Michigan University and the University of Michigan law school. He has worked as a federal public defender and as a lawyer for Detroit’s transportation department.

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