Regina M. Rodriguez, President Joe Biden’s nominee to be a federal trial judge in Colorado, will now face a final confirmation vote before the entire U.S. Senate, after the Judiciary Committee advanced her nomination by 17-5 on Thursday.

Rodriguez has “tremendous experience in the courtroom,” said committee chair U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill. “I have no doubt she’s ready to serve on the bench. She’s practiced for 30 years, taken 35 cases to verdict … In private practice, she’s had a broad range of clients from individuals to Fortune 500 companies. Given her extensive experience representing plaintiffs and defendants, she understands the importance of applying the law to facts.”

The top Republican member of the committee, U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, also supported Rodriguez, saying her “background as a law firm law partner and former prosecutor are very impressive.”

Senators who voted against the nomination, all of whom were Republican, were Mike Lee of Utah, Ted Cruz of Texas, Ben Sasse of Nebraska, Josh Hawley of Missouri and Tom Cotton of Arkansas. None of them spoke prior to the vote about their reasons for voting no, and none of them attended Rodriguez’s confirmation hearing in late April to ask questions of her.

“I do not ascribe to a particular judicial philosophy,” Rodriguez wrote in response to questionnaires from Cruz and Lee. “If confirmed, I will be bound by the Supreme Court and Tenth Circuit interpretation of the Constitution and will strictly adhere to binding precedent.”

Lee’s questionnaire further asked what the role of empathy should be as a judge considers a case. “None,” Rodriguez wrote. “It is the role of a district judge to adjudicate cases objectively and impartially in accordance with all applicable precedent.”

The committee also forwarded to the Senate floor the nominations of four other judicial aspirants, with majorities voting in favor of two U.S. District Court nominees for New Jersey and two circuit courts of appeals nominees.

Rodriguez has the support of U.S. Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper. Former President Barack Obama previously nominated her in 2016 for a vacancy on the same court, with the backing of Bennet and then-U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner, but the Republican-controlled Senate did not take up the nomination.

If confirmed, Rodriguez would fill the seat of Senior Judge Marcia S. Krieger, who stepped down from active status on the seven-member court in March 2019. The policymaking body for the federal courts has determined there to be a “judicial emergency” in Colorado, with 641 case filings per judge, exceeding established thresholds.

Rodriguez is the daughter of a Mexican-American father and a Japanese-American mother whose family was subject to internment during World War II. She has served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney, including as head of the office’s civil division in Colorado, and represented corporate clients in private practice. Rodriguez would become the first Asian-American judge to serve on Colorado’s U.S. District Court.