Biden names diverse slate of judicial candidates in first effort to reshape federal courts

WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden on Tuesday announced plans to appoint a diverse group of judicial candidates to federal courts in his early efforts to have the federal judiciary “reflect the full diversity of the American people – both in background and in experience professional, ”the White House said.

The group includes three black women nominated for circuit court openings, the first Asian American woman for the Washington DC District Court and the first woman of color for the Maryland District Court.

The list of 11 nominees, which includes nine women, “is inspired by the best and brightest minds in the American legal profession,” Biden said in a statement announcing the nominees. “Each is deeply qualified and ready to deliver justice faithfully under our Constitution and impartially to the American people – and together they represent the great diversity of backgrounds, experiences and perspectives that make our nation strong.”

The White House statement said the candidates came from a wide range of legal backgrounds, including prosecutors, public defenders, lawyers and those who have served in the military and in the private sector.

Among those appointed is Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, whom Biden will appoint to sit on the District of Columbia’s U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which would fill the post left by Attorney General Merrick Garland. Since 2013, she has served on the United States District Court for the District of Columbia and was previously vice-chair of the US Sentencing Commission.

Brown Jackson has been considered for the post for months, which some observers say could put her in a position for a future Supreme Court appointment.

The president also appointed Judge Florence Y. Pan for the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. If confirmed by the Senate, she would be the first Asian American woman to sit on this tribunal.

Judge Zahid N. Quraishi, who is a Muslim, will be appointed to sit on the US District Court for the District of New Jersey. He has been a magistrate for this court since 2019.

Biden also plans to appoint Julien Neals, attorney and acting administrator for Bergen County, NJ, for that state’s Federal District Court; Lydia Griggsby, United States Federal Claims Court Judge, and Justice of the Peace Deborah Boardman for the Federal District Court of Maryland; and Rupa Ranga Puttagunta, Administrative Judge of the District of Columbia Rental Housing Commission, for the DC Superior Court.

The president also appointed several attorneys, including Chicago attorney Tiffany Cunningham to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit; DC lawyer Candace Jackson-Akiwumi for the 7th US Circuit Court of Appeals; Denver attorney Regina Rodriguez for the Colorado Federal District Court; and New Mexico attorney Margaret Strickland for that state’s Federal District Court.