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COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- President Barack Obama has nominated a Columbia attorney to serve as a federal judge from South Carolina.

U.S. Rep. James Clyburn said Wednesday the president had chosen Mary Geiger Lewis for a seat on the state's U.S. District Court that has been vacant since 2009.

Lewis has been a partner at Columbia firm Lewis & Babcock since 1987. She previously served as a law clerk for Circuit Judge Owen T. Cobb Jr. and also as a clerk for the state Senate Judiciary Committee.

Lewis is a graduate of Clemson University and the University of South Carolina School of Law. Her confirmation will be up to the U.S. Senate.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)