On Wednesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing for a fantastic slate of nominees:
Judge Michelle Court for the Central District of California is a Black woman who has served as a judge on the Los Angeles County Superior Court since 2012. Her experience before that includes serving as General Counsel for Bet Tzedek, a nonprofit law firm that serves low-income Angelenos, and she spent the late 90s on housing justice issues as a civil rights fellow at HUD and a litigation associate at Litt and Marquez.
Judge Anne Hwang for the Central District of California is an AAPI woman who has served as a judge on the Los Angeles County Superior Court since 2018. She spent more than a decade before that as a federal public defender, working her way up to chief deputy federal defender for the district in which she is now nominated.
Judge Cynthia Venezuela Dixon for the Central District of California is a Latina who has served as a judge on the California State Bar Court in Los Angeles since 2016. Before that, she was the Criminal Justice Act supervising attorney for this circuit, overseeing the federal indigent defense panel. She also has experience as head of national litigation for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF).
Judge Sarah Netburn for Southern District of New York is currently U.S. Magistrate Judge for the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Judge Netburn served as the Southern District of New York’s Chief Counsel to the Office of Pro Se Litigation. Before her work in the courthouse, Judge Netburn was a commercial and civil rights litigator at Emery Celli Brinckerhoff & Abady LLP.
Stacey Neumann for the District of Maine is a former Staff Attorney at the Chittenden County Public Defender’s Office in Vermont, where she zealously represented indigent clients facing felony and misdemeanor charges, including defending clients in high-stakes trials and appeals. Following her tenure as a public defender, Neumann served with distinction as an Assistant United States Attorney in the District of Maine, where she prosecuted a wide range of criminal cases, including those involving child exploitation, firearms offenses, fraud, and immigration violations.
However, the Senate Judiciary Committee still hasn’t been able to hold hearings for two great nominees because the home-state Senators have not yet returned their blue slips:
In March, Biden nominated Detra Shaw-Wilder for the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, but neither Florida Senators have returned their blue slips.
Danna Jackson was nominated on April 24 for the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana. Jackson is the Tribal Attorney for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. She is an expert in environmental and federal Indian law, with almost three decades of legal experience. Jackson previously worked for the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, the Bureau of Land Management, and the U.S. Senate. If confirmed, she will be the first Native American judge to serve on the District of Montana. She needs a blue slip from Senator Daines.
On the Senate Floor, we’re still waiting for votes for many of our priority nominees. These nominees include Adeel Mangi, Nancy Maldonado, Mustafa Kasubhai, Sarah Russell, Dena Coggins, Amir Ali, and Rebecca Pennell. Several of these exceptional nominees have been pending since last year and the Senate must work to quickly confirm them all to the bench.
