Judge may get appeals nod

Mecklenburg Superior Court Judge Albert Diaz of Charlotte appears to be moving toward a White House nomination to the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, where he could become the court's first Hispanic judge.

The nomination, one of two possible for North Carolina, could help break a 15-year impasse that's created the longest appellate vacancy in the country and left the state under-represented on the powerful court, according to Gary L. Wright and Jim Morrill of The Charlotte Observer.

The FBI is conducting a background check on Diaz, who in 2001 became the first Hispanic to serve on North Carolina's Superior Court. The American Bar Association also is evaluating him.

Diaz, 48, declined to comment.

"Everybody who has looked at him has given him exceptionally high marks," says former N.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Burley Mitchell, who led a panel that screened potential federal judges.

N.C. Court of Appeals Judge Jim Wynn of Cary is also widely expected to be nominated by President Obama to the federal appeals court. It would be Wynn's second attempt at the 4th Circuit, which hears appeals from the Carolinas, Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland.