By a vote of 49-48, Keli Neary was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as a judge to the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.

Neary has served as the Executive Deputy Attorney General for the Civil Law Division of the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General since 2019. She started with the AG’s office in 2012 as deputy, senior deputy, and later chief deputy attorney general in the Civil Law Division. Before joining the office, Neary was an assistant counsel in the Pennsylvania State Police’s Office of Chief Counsel from 2007 to 2012.

She was nominated to replace judge Christopher Conner who announced that he would retire on Jan. 17, 2025.

The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania is one of 94 U.S. district courts. The geographic jurisdiction consists of 33 counties from offices in Scranton, Harrisburg, Williamsport and Wilkes-Barre.

Neary is a 2003 graduate of the University of Pittsburgh Johnstown and earned her J.D. from the Widener University Commonwealth Law School in 2006. She joins Matthew Brann (chief), Jennifer P. Wilson, Julia Munley, Karoline Mehalchick, Joseph Saparito, Sylvia H. Rambo, Yvette Kane, Robert D. Mariani and Malachy E. Mannion, as well as U.S. Magistrate judges Daryl F. Bloom (chief), Susan Schwab and William Arbuckle on the U.S. Middle District bench.