Freeman served as a
law clerk for Judge
James T. Giles from 2007 to 2008 and Judge
C. Darnell Jones II from 2008 to 2009, both on the
United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. From 2009 to 2022, she worked at the Federal Community Defender Office including as an
assistant federal defender as a research and writing specialist from 2009 to 2014 and in the Non-Capital Habeas Unit from 2014 to 2016. From 2016 to 2022, she was a managing attorney with the Federal Community Defender office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in
Philadelphia.
Federal judicial service On January 19, 2022, President
Joe Biden announced his intent to nominate Freeman to serve as a
United States circuit judge for the
United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. President Biden nominated Freeman to the seat vacated by Judge
Theodore McKee, who on July 29, 2021, notified the White House that he intended to assume
senior status upon confirmation of his successor. On January 28, 2022, following Justice
Stephen Breyer's announcement of his intention to retire as an
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, Freeman was mentioned as one of the potential nominees for a Supreme Court appointment by President
Joe Biden. On March 2, 2022, a hearing on her nomination was held before the
Senate Judiciary Committee. During her confirmation hearing, Republican senators criticized her work as a public defender. On April 4, 2022, the committee failed to report her nomination by an 11–11 vote. On June 22, 2022, the
United States Senate discharged the committee from further consideration of her nomination by a 50–48 vote. On September 6, 2022, Majority Leader
Chuck Schumer filed
cloture on her nomination. On September 12, 2022, the Senate invoked cloture on her nomination by a 45–44 vote. On September 13, 2022, the Senate rejected her nomination by a 47–50 vote. Freeman was the first Biden judicial nominee to be rejected by the Senate. On September 29, 2022, upon reconsideration, her nomination was confirmed by a 50–47 vote. She received her judicial commission on October 20, 2022. She is the first
African-American woman to serve on the Third Circuit. == See also ==