Senate confirms Macon lawyer to be federal judge

The U.S. Senate has confirmed a Macon attorney to fill a vacancy on Middle Georgia’s federal bench.

Marc T. Treadwell, 54, was confirmed in a vote just before 7 p.m. Monday with the affirmative vote of 89 senators and no opposition.

Treadwell said he’s thankful for the support he received from Georgia’s Democratic congressmen, who recommended him to the president for nomination, Georgia’s Republican Sens. Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson, and President Obama.

“It feels real good,” he said. “I’m very much looking forward to serving the people and residents of Middle Georgia.”

As a lawyer who’s served in the area, he said he couldn’t think of a bigger honor.

Treadwell, who serves as chairman of the administrative board at Vineville United Methodist Church, was chairing a meeting of the board during Monday’s vote.

Although he wasn’t watching the vote on TV, he said he knew when the votes were tallied.

“My phone started lighting up (with phone calls),” he said.

Chambliss and Isakson spoke of Treadwell’s background and recommended him for confirmation minutes before the vote began.

“I believe he will serve Georgians and Americans well on the federal bench,” Chambliss said.

Treadwell is a partner in the Macon law firm Adams, Jordan & Treadwell. He is a graduate of Mercer University’s Walter F. George School of Law, where he also teaches law classes.

Treadwell will fill the vacancy created when Judge Hugh Lawson took senior status, a form of retirement for federal judges, in 2008. Lawson was appointed to the federal bench in 1995 by President Clinton.

The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia spans an area stretching from Georgia’s southwestern corner east through Valdosta, north though Albany and Macon, and east through Athens to the South Carolina border.

The district is allotted four active judges. An appointment to the federal bench is for life.

Two judges currently sitting on the bench hailed from Macon before their appointment.

Judge Ashley Royal was nominated by President George W. Bush and was commissioned on Dec. 21, 2001.

Before his appointment, he was a partner at the Jones, Cork & Miller law firm in downtown Macon.

Judge W. Louis Sands served as a Macon Judicial Circuit Superior Court judge before his appointment by Clinton in 1994.

To contact writer Amy Leigh Womack, call 744-4398.

This story was originally published June 22, 2010 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Senate confirms Macon lawyer to be federal judge."