WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) released the following statement after the Senate voted to confirm Katherine Crytzer to fill the Knoxville vacancy on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee.

“I am thrilled the Senate moved swiftly to confirm Katie Crytzer to fill this critical vacancy,” Senator Blackburn said. “Katie is the first Tennessean confirmed by the Senate to serve as a federal district judge in this Congress. She will be the second female judge appointed to the Eastern District of Tennessee since its creation in 1878. Much like her trailblazing predecessor, the late Chief Judge Pam Reeves, Katie is an inspiration for all female lawyers. I am confident she will be an outstanding judge who is committed to upholding the rule of law and the Constitution.”

BACKGROUND ON KATIE CRYTZER

After growing up in Knoxville and attending Farragut High School, Katherine Crytzer earned a B.S., summa cum laude, from Middle Tennessee State University. She continues to serve as a Board Member on the Middle Tennessee State University Honors College Board of Visitors. Ms. Crytzer received her J.D., magna cum laude, from Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University. After law school, she served as a law clerk for Judge Raymond Gruender on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, and worked in private practice at Kirkland and Ellis in Washington, D.C. She then joined the U.S. Department of Justice as an Assistant U.S. Attorney, where she focused on the prosecution of health care fraud and drug crimes. While a federal prosecutor, she litigated criminal and civil cases, representing the United States in multiple trials. She currently serves as the Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Policy.