Federal district Judge Maryellen Noreika, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, will preside over the case the Justice Department brought against President Joe Biden‘s son Hunter Biden.
Noreika, a former patent lawyer in Delaware, gained the support of both Democratic senators from Delaware when she was nominated by the former president. The Senate’s long-standing blue slip tradition maintains that nominees for district court seats must have the support of home-state senators to move forward.
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She was also the judge who presided over a lawsuit brought against Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) by the owner of a Delaware computer repair shop where the younger Biden dropped off and left behind his now-infamous laptop hard drive in April 2019.
In March, Noreika ruled the lawsuit would be dismissed against Schiff specifically while other figures named in the lawsuit, including the president’s son and news outlets CNN and Politico, would be handled by Delaware courts.
The Justice Department announced Tuesday that the younger Biden will plead guilty to two tax misdemeanors and made a deal to resolve a felony firearms charge. The court appearance has not been scheduled as of Wednesday afternoon.
Justice Department officials have agreed to recommend a sentence of probation for the two counts of failing to pay taxes in a timely manner, though the judge will have the final say on the sentence.
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The charges against the younger Biden came after a five-year investigation by U.S. Attorney David Weiss, who was permitted to stay at his post after the president took office in order to prevent disrupting the investigation into the president’s son.
Last August, Noreika presided over the case of 34-year-old Jeremy Johnson of Wilmington, sentencing him to five years in prison for possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.
