WASHINGTON — The Senate voted 53-43 on Tuesday to confirm Adam Abelson, a federal magistrate, as a judge on the U.S. District Court for Maryland.

Abelson will fill as vacancy created when U.S. District Judge James K. Bredar took senior status at the end of April.

All Senate Democrats who were present voted to confirm Abelson, who was nominated by President Joe Biden, a Democrat, based on the recommendations of Maryland Democratic Sens. Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen. Abelson also picked up the votes of three Republicans — South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham, Maine’s Susan Collins, and Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski.

Cardin said in a prepared statement that Abelson has “diverse experiences and deep ties to Baltimore,” and Van Hollen called him “a leader in the Baltimore legal community.”

Abelson has been a federal magistrate judge for the U.S. District Court since 2023. He worked in private practice at the law firm of Zuckerman Spaeder from 2012 to 2023.

Abelson’s nomination was considered non-controversial.

The 43 “no” votes were “unrelated” to Abelson’s qualifications,” said University of Richmond law professor Carl Tobias in an interview.

“Those no ballots simply reflect the increasingly partisan nature of the selection process in which both political parties engage in lockstep voting, regardless of the nominees’ qualifications,” Tobias said.

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