{Charleston, West Virginia}...Hamlin native Stephanie Thacker was officially sworn in Tuesday as the first West Virginia woman to sit on the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, which is based in Richmond. The U.S. Senate confirmed Thacker by a 93-3 vote on April 16th after Senator Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., recommended that President Barack Obama appoint Thacker to fill the position left vacant by the death of Judge M. Blane Michael. Thacker became one of 15 judges for the appeals court that covers West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland and Virginia. Thacker graduated Order of the Coif from West Virginia College of Law in 1990 and while in law school served as a member of the West Virginia Law Review. She served as a federal prosecutor for 12 years both at the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of West Virginia and at the U.S. Department of Justice in the Child Exploitation and Obscenity section. During her tenure with the Department of Justice, she was awarded the attorney general's Distinguished Service Award.
