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In a first for Mass., Obama nominates Hispanic woman as US attorney

E-mail|Link|Comments () September 17, 2009 07:42 PM

By Globe Staff

President Obama has nominated Carmen M. Ortiz, who grew up poor in New York City's Spanish Harlem neighborhood and became a state and then a federal prosecutor in Massachusetts, as the next Massachusetts US attorney.

Carmen Ortiz

Ortiz , 53, of Milton would become the first woman and the first Hispanic US attorney in the state.

The White House announced today that Ortiz's nomination had been forwarded to the Senate.

Senator John Kerry applauded the nomination, noting he had worked closely with the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy to review candidates for the office, ultimately recommending Ortiz.

"Carmen Ortiz will be an outstanding U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts," he said in a statement.

"Of course, as Ms. Ortiz takes on this tremendous challenge, I’ll be thinking of Senator Kennedy, who took special pride in nominating the first Hispanic and the first woman to the highest law enforcement position in the Commonwealth. When she is confirmed, Teddy will have helped make history once again," he said.

Ortiz has worked in the US attorney's office in Massachusetts for the past 12 years and did two stints for about 10 years as a prosecutor in the Middlesex district attorney's office. She has had a variety of other professional experience, including helping the National Football League in 1990 to investigate allegations by a Boston Herald reporter of sexual harassment against members of the New England Patriots.