Illinois attorneys nominated to fill U.S. judgeships

President Barack Obama has nominated three attorneys for federal judgeships in Illinois.

Sara Ellis and Andrea Wood were nominated to fill vacancies at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. And Colin Bruce was nominated to fill an upcoming vacancy at the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois.

Ellis has worked as an attorney for the federal defender program. And she was an assistant corporation counsel for the city of Chicago.

Wood has been a senior trial counsel at the Securities and Exchange Commission in Chicago since 2007.

Bruce has been a federal prosecutor in the Central District of Illinois since 1989.

The U.S. Senate must approve the nominations.

In a statement, Sen. Dick Durbin welcomed Tuesday’s nominations, calling the three “excellent candidates.”