U.S. Senate panel advances White nomination to federal bench

Washington ― The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 14-7 Thursday to advance the nomination of federal prosecutor Robert J. White to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.

White, 38, of Huntington Woods got the support of all Democrats on the panel, plus Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, John Kennedy of Louisiana and Thom Tillis of North Carolina.

There was neither discussion of White's nomination and qualifications at Thursday's meeting nor any explanations given by senators who voted for or against him. His nomination next heads to the Senate floor for a vote.

"Graham’s vote is important, as he is the ranking member and many GOP colleagues look to him for guidance on judicial nominees," said Carl Tobias, who studies the judicial selection process at the University of Richmond School of Law. "White will easily win confirmation probably in April, as the Senate will be out some of March, and there are a few nominees ahead of today’s group."

White has worked as an assistant U.S. attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan since 2018 and is assigned to the economic crime unit. He previously served in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas starting in 2014, where he focused on transnational organized crime including Mexican cartels.

Previously, White was in private practice as an associate attorney at Ralph E. Meczyk & Associates from 2010 to 2014, handling federal and state criminal defense cases.

He got his law degree from Chicago-Kent College of Law at the Illinois Institute of Technology in 2010 and a bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan in 2007.

He was nominated by President Joe Biden on Feb. 9.

At his hearing last month, White thanked his family and parents for emphasizing education and a commitment to public service in his upbringing. He said his mother, a nurse named Mary White, raised three boys while finishing her doctorate at the same time he finished his law degree. She also served as a city commissioner, a nonpartisan position for which she was compensated $1 a year, he said.

He has two children with his wife, retired U.S. Army Capt. Dr. Jessica White, an optometrist who deployed to the Middle East, he said.

"I spent the last decade of my life with the Department of Justice, and anyone who has ever had the privilege of serving there would tell you, you cannot succeed at anything alone. It takes a team," White told the senators at his hearing.

"We have been able to build the types of impact cases that make a difference. It has never stopped being a privilege to appear in federal courts from Texas to Michigan and announce my appearance on behalf of the United States."

In Michigan, White's caseload has included a mix of civil and criminal cases involving health care fraud and violent crime.

One of the more high-profile cases he helped prosecute is a 2017 racketeering conspiracy case against members of one of Detroit’s most violent gangs, Young and Scandalous, known as YNS. Seven people were charged, and members were accused of terrorizing the beleaguered Brightmoor neighborhood and committing crimes, including a murder, robberies, shootings, arson, home invasion and drugs.

The case ended with at least six people sentenced to federal prison.

He also has served in the Drug Task Force Unit in the U.S. Attorney's Office. In 2022, White prosecuted Savinder Singh, a Canadian truck driver who tried to drive his semitrailer through the U.S. border with Canada in Detroit with 313 pounds of cocaine hidden inside. Singh was sentenced to 2 ½ years in federal prison last year. 

If confirmed by the Senate, White would fill the vacancy created when Judge Paul D. Borman took senior status Aug. 1.

Staff writer Robert Snell contributed.

mburke@detroitnews.com