TAMPA - State appeals court Judge Virginia Hernandez Covington is the nominee to fill an open federal judgeship in the Middle District of Florida.
The White House nominated Covington after an original group of 20 candidates was whittled down over the past few months. The U.S. Senate still must confirm the nomination.
The position, based in Jacksonville, came open in November when U.S. District Judge Ralph Nimmons died.
Covington, 48, was appointed to Florida's 2nd District Court of Appeal in 2001 by Gov. Jeb Bush. Covington, whose mother left Cuba in 1953, is a former federal prosecutor and former chief of the asset forfeiture section of the U.S. Attorney's Office in Tampa. She earned a bachelor's degree and a master's in business administration from the University of Tampa in the 1970s. She earned her law degree in 1980 from Georgetown University.
Florida's 35-county Middle District sprawls from Jacksonville to Naples and includes Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, Hernando, Citrus and Manatee counties. In terms of the number of cases handled, the Middle District is one of the busiest federal district courts in the nation.
