The Senate on Dec. 22 unanimously confirmed U.S. District Judge Patti Saris of Massachusetts as the new Chair of the U.S. Sentencing Commission. President Barack Obama nominated Saris to the post on April 28. She succeeds Judge William Sessions.

Saris has served as a U.S. district judge for the District of Massachusetts since 1994, having been nominated to that position by President Bill Clinton on Oct. 27, 1993. Prior to her appointment to the district court, Saris served as an associate justice for the Massachusetts Superior Court from 1989 to 1993. From 1986 to 1989, Saris served as a federal magistrate judge for the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

She was an attorney in the Civil Division of the Department of Justice from 1982 to 1986 and held the position of Chief of the Civil Division, Office of the United States Attorney for Massachusetts, from 1984 to 1986. From 1979 until 1981, Saris served as staff counsel to the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary. She served as a law clerk to the late Justice Robert Braucher of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court from 1976 to 1977.

The Senate also unanimously confirmed Commissioner Dabney Friedrich of Maryland to serve a second term on the Commission, after being nominated by the President on April 28. Friedrich has served on the Commission since 2006, having been appointed to that position by President George W. Bush.

Prior to serving on the Commission, Commissioner Friedrich served as an associate counsel at the White House. In 2002-2003, she served as counsel to Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah during his chairmanship of the Senate Judiciary Committee. From 1995 until 2002, Friedrich was an assistant U.S. attorney in San Diego. From 1992-1994, she served as a law clerk to now Chief Judge Thomas Hogan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.