Appointed by Trump, Hunter Biden trial judge spent most of her career in civil law

The judge presiding over Hunter Biden’s federal gun trial in Delaware is a former corporate civil lawyer with a background in biology who was nominated to the bench by the Biden family’s chief political antagonist: former President Donald Trump.

But even while that might raise partisan eyebrows and questions of political pressure in the highly watched case, District Judge Maryellen Noreika was recommended for the bench by the two Democratic senators.

She has a brief history of political donations to both parties — mostly Republicans — and had not worked on criminal cases or presided over a courtroom before getting the nod as a federal judge. The New York Times reported she was registered to vote as a Democrat from 2000-2020 until changing her registration to no party affiliation.

She has presided over a trial that has laid bare some of the president’s son’s darkest moments, including drug addiction. Outside her courtroom, international media strain to get a glimpse of members of the first family as they come and go.

In her Senate confirmation hearing, Noreika said she admires judges who are prepared and “willing to listen and give litigants an opportunity to be heard.… They want to make people feel like they’ve been listened to and been given a fair shot.”

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