MADISON - A Town of Waterford jurist is one of six finalists from a field of 11 applicants selected to fill a pending vacancy on a federal appeals court which handles appeals from Wisconsin and other states.

The finalists named Monday by the Federal Nominating Commission include U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman, 70, a resident of the unincorporated Caldwell community in the far northwest corner of the Town of Waterford. Adelman is a former Democratic state senator from 1977-1997, whose district included Waterford and Rochester, Norway and Raymond. President Bill Clinton nominated Adelman to the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Wisconsin, in September 1997. Adelman has degrees from Princeton University and Columbia Law School.

Other appeals court finalists are: Milwaukee County Judge Richard Sankovitz; Madison attorney Linda Clifford, who unsuccessfully ran for the Wisconsin Supreme Court in 2007; criminal defense attorney Dean Strang; and University of Wisconsin-Madison law professors Anuj Desai and Victoria Nourse.

President Barack Obama will ultimately pick the replacement for 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Terence Evans, who is taking senior status in January.