The full Senate has voted to confirm President Donald Trump’s appointments of two state Supreme Court justices for federal judgeships for Mississippi.

Mississippi Supreme Court Justices Robert Chamberlin and James Maxwell will fill vacant federal judgeships in northern Mississippi. On Wednesday, the U.S. Senate voted 51-46 to confirm Chamberlin, of Hernando, and Maxwell, of Oxford, to the federal judiciary.

Mississippi Sens. Roger Wicker and Cindy Hyde-Smith applauded the confirmations.

“Bobby Chamberlin and Jimmy Maxwell are dedicated public servants who have served Mississippi well for decades,” Wicker said in a statement. “… They have upheld the Constitution, exercised sound judgement and lived with integrity.”

Hyde-Smith praised both jurists’ records on the state high court and said she believes they will serve the federal Northern District of Mississippi well.

Trump nominated Chamberlin and Maxwell to the federal posts in August, but their initial confirmation by the Senate Judiciary Committee was held up for months by a North Carolina senator over a dispute over federal recognition of an indigenous group in his state as a tribe.

Republican Sen. Thom Tillis had said he was blocking a committee vote on Mississippi nominations by Trump over negotiations with Wicker to recognize the Lumbee people as a Native American tribe in legislation before the Senate Armed Services Committee, of which Wicker is chairman.

The Lumbee is a group of indigenous people in North Carolina that has been seeking federal recognition as a tribe for over a century. But other federally recognized tribes have opposed this effort.

Language granting federal recognition of the tribe had been added to the House version of the Pentagon’s annual spending bill, but was not included in the Senate’s version, which Wicker oversees.

In November, the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs held a hearing on the Lumbee Fairness Act, legislation now being pushed by Tillis and other North Carolina lawmakers, and Tillis dropped his blockage of a committee vote on Chamberlin and Maxwell. Trump has also endorsed recognition of the Lumbee as a tribe.

Maxwell earned his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Mississippi. Former Gov. Haley Barbour in February of 2009 appointed Maxwell to the state Court of Appeals. 

Maxwell was elected to the post in 2010 and reelected in 2014. 

Former Gov. Phil Bryant appointed him to the state Supreme Court in January 2016. He was later elected to an eight-year term in November of 2016 and reelected in 2024.

Maxwell said his prior experience as a federal prosecutor and growing up with an attorney for a father helped make him qualified to become a federal judge. 

Chamberlin earned his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Mississippi. He first served as a state circuit court judge for 12 years in the 17th Circuit District. In 2016, he was elected to an open seat on the state Supreme Court and reelected in 2024. 

Before becoming a judge, Chamberlin was a member of the state Senate for five years, representing DeSoto County. 

Chamberlin, at the hearing, said his role as a state circuit court judge has prepared him to preside over a federal courtroom because he’s previously had to “run a docket” in a state court. 

Chamberlin and Maxwell will replace U.S. District Judges Michael Mills and Sharion Aycock, both of whom decided to take senior status in recent years. 

Chamberlin and Maxwell were reelected to eight-year terms on the state high court in 2024. Gov. Tate Reeves will appoint people to serve on the state court until special elections in November 2026.