The Good News

President Biden announced his forty-ninth slate of judicial nominees on Wednesday.  

Alliance for Justice is pleased to support the nomination of Judge Joseph E. Saporito, a former public defender and current United States Magistrate Judge, to the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. 

We are also grateful for the administration’s continued commitment to promoting both excellence and diversity in the judiciary. The nomination of Judge Embry J. Kidd, presently a United States Magistrate Judge in the Middle District of Florida, to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit represents another stride forward for diversity, maintaining African American representation on that court and growing the still too-tiny number of non-white attorneys who have become Article III judges. 

Finally, Judge Meredith A. Vacca, the nominee to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York, will be the first person of color to serve on that court—an important milestone for advocates committed to diversifying the federal judiciary and to achieving and nurturing a reflective democracy. The number of districts that have only ever had white judges remains far too high and deeply out of sync with the population of our nation. 

Senate Updates

On Thursday, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted Judge Rebecca Pennell, a former public defender nominated to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington, out of committee and on to the floor. 

Next Wednesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee should be holding a hearing for a slew of stellar nominees, including Judges Michelle Williams Court, Anne Hwang, and Cynthia Valenzuela Dixon—all nominated to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. All three women are movement lawyers and all would contribute personal and professional diversity to that district’s court. 

Our If-Then Nominee 

Should the Senate successfully confirm Judge Nancy Maldonado, currently on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, to the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit—making her the first Latino judge to serve on that court—senators will be able to turn their attention to confirming nominee April Perry to the newly vacated district court seat. 

Blue Slip Blues 

Provided Senator Susan Collins of Maine returns her blue slip, the Senate will be able to act on the nomination of Stacey Neumann to that state’s sole district court. Neumann will bring much-needed professional diversity, having served in the Vermont Office of the Defender General and practiced criminal defense law in private practice. 

Also waiting on a blue slip—this one from Senator Steven Daines of Montana—is nominee Danna Jackson, a historic pick. Biden’s fifth Native American Article III judicial nominee, she will be the first indigenous person to serve as a judge on that state’s district court. A Kootenai descendent, Jackson grew up on a cattle ranch on the Flathead Indian Reservation, home to the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, to whom she currently serves as Tribal Attorney. Jackson has spent most of her career practicing environmental and Indian law.  

Detra Shaw Wilder, nominated to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, a long-awaited nominee, awaits action by Senator Rick Scott, who has so far refused to submit his blue slip. Wilder serves as general counsel to a Florida firm where she was previously managing partner. She is the CFO and Co-Founder of the Kozyak Minority Mentoring Fund.  

Reminder: Alliance for Justice has long called for blue slip reform. Obstructionist Senate Republicans are using this mechanism to block highly qualified nominees who would bring much-needed balance, diversity, and bandwidth to our overwhelmed federal judiciary.  

Decision Day(s)

On Thursday, the Supreme Court announced decisions in two relatively low-profile cases Culley v. Marshall and Warner Chappell Music, Inc. v. Nealy—one with major implications for access to justice. 

Culley saw Justice Brett Kavanaugh write for the all-too-familiar 6-3 conservative uber-majority, upholding an Eleventh Circuit ruling holding that individuals whose property is seized during arrests aren’t entitled to preliminary hearings to get their property back sooner—even if they’re not the ones under arrest. Justices Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas concurred—which is no surprise—but noted concern about how law enforcement agencies can abuse civil forfeiture, even conceding that the dissent might be on to something vis-á-vis how these outrageous practices disadvantage those least able to advocate for themselves—which is a surprise.  

The dissent, authored by Justice Sonia Sotomayor and joined by Justice Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, calls out the majority opinion for “sweep[ing] far more broadly than the narrow question presented” and making it harder for lower courts to address the abuse of civil forfeiture. 

Still Ahead

We are awaiting the Supreme Court’s rulings in critical gun safety, administrative law, and voting rights cases—as well as whatever it decides to do (or not) about that pesky presidential immunity case.  

Need a refresher on the decisions yet to come? Check out AFJ’s Supreme Court Term Preview as the Court creeps toward Term’s end. We will be updating our preview with summaries of the various holdings as the justices issue them. 

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