
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, May 3, 1990                   TAG: 9005030443
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

JUDGE APPROVAL LIKELY/ PANEL QUESTIONS ROANOKE LAWYER

U.S. Sen. John Warner, R-Va., says he expects Roanoke lawyer Samuel G. Wilson to be confirmed for a federal judgeship in the Western District of Virginia before the end of the month.

Philip Smith, Warner's press secretary, said the senator made the prediction to a group of reporters Wednesday after Wilson's confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

President Bush announced in March that he was nominating Wilson, 40, for the vacancy created by the retirement of U.S. District Judge Glen Williams of Lee County.

Wilson, a lawyer with Woods, Rogers & Hazlegrove, was considered the front-runner in a pool of three candidates recommended by Warner.

At a brief hearing Wednesday, Warner and U.S. Sen. Charles Robb, D-Va., spoke on Wilson's behalf, Smith said. Wilson was one of five potential federal judges, including one from Georgia and one from Texas, to be questioned by the committee.

"I saw Sam in the hall afterwards and he said it went fine," Smith said. "There was no opposition to his nomination."

Wilson, a Norfolk native, was an assistant commonwealth's attorney in Roanoke from 1974 to 1976 and served in 1976 as an assistant U.S. attorney until he was appointed a U.S. magistrate for the Western District later that year. He joined Woods Rogers in 1981.

by CNB