The Push for Confirmations 

After a month away, the Senate is back in session on Monday and there is A LOT of work to be done! With the Senators recessed from September 30-November 11, we only have three weeks to ensure that fantastic nominees like Judge Mustafa Kasubhai, Karla Campbell, and Sarah Rusell are confirmed to the bench! Confirming these judges means confirming President Biden’s legacy: a legacy characterized by his profound commitment to nominating all-star lawyers and jurists to the bench. Join us in saying thank you to President Biden by getting these last nominees over the finish line. Call your senators today and encourage them to vote yes on:  

Adeel Mangi (3rd Cir.) 

Mangi is currently a partner at Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP, where he has consistently demonstrated exceptional skills as a versatile litigator in a diversity of fields, including commercial joint venture agreements, false advertising, trade secret misappropriation, antitrust issues, consumer protection, and class action lawsuits. If confirmed, Mangi will be the first Muslim person to serve as a federal appellate court judge. 

Karla Campbell (6th Cir.) 

Campbell currently serves as Of Counsel for prestigious plaintiff’s side employment and labor law firm Stranch, Jennings & Garvey, where she has litigated everything from union-management disputes to employee benefits cases. Campbell’s impressive legal career testifies to her steadfast commitment to protecting the rights of working people and using her legal expertise to help her community.  

Judge Mustafa Kasubhai (D. Or.) 

Judge Kasubhai currently serves as a U.S. Magistrate Judge for the District of Oregon and has extensive experience representing plaintiffs in labor law litigation. If confirmed, he would make history as the first Muslim person to serve on Oregon’s federal district court and the third Muslim person to serve as a federal district court judge in the United States.  

Judge Rebecca Pennell (E.D. Wash.) 

Judge Pennell currently sits on the Washington Court of Appeals in Spokane and has served in that capacity since 2016. She possesses a deep commitment to public service and innovative justice solutions, demonstrated by her pivotal role in establishing federal re-entry drug courts, enhancing community support for survivors of domestic violence, and advocating for marginalized voices in the legal system.  

Amir Ali (D.D.C) 

Ali currently serves as President & Executive Director of the Roderick & Solange MacArthur Justice Center. He is also a Lecturer on Law and Clinical Co-Director at Harvard Law School, and an Adjunct Professor at the University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law. Ali’s rich professional background in movement lawyering and civil rights litigation would bring much needed professional diversity to the bench.  

Sparkle Sooknanan (D.D.C.) 

Sooknanan has been the Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the United States Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division since 2023. She is strongly committed to upholding civil rights and has extensive experience in both pro bono and public service roles, demonstrated by her over 3,000 hours of pro bono work.  

Now is the time to cement President Biden’s tremendous legacy on federal judicial nominations. Under his presidency, an impressive 131 women, 136 people of color, and 88 women of color have been confirmed to the bench. President Biden is also responsible for the nominations of many historic firsts for our federal courts: the first Black woman Supreme Court Justice, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson; the first Muslim federal judge, Judge Zahid Quraishi; and the first openly LGBTQ+ woman judge, Judge Beth Robinson. We must honor President Biden’s fantastic work by confirming his pending nominees!  

In support of this goal, members of our Federal Courts team participated in the #ConfirmJudgesNow Day of Action today, advocating for the confirmation of Biden’s 21 pending nominees. Your support allows us to participate in these important advocacy events, and we are so grateful to have you doing this important work alongside us! If you’d like to hear more about our day of action, check out our posts on X/Twitter: https://x.com/AFJustice. 

The Good News  

In the meantime, more nominees have been announced! The Biden administration’s 54th Slate includes Elizabeth C. Coombe (N.D.N.Y.), Sarah Davenport (D. N.M.), and Sharad Desai (D. Ariz.). We applaud the administration’s continued efforts to fill our federal vacancies. Vacant seats hamper the administration of justice – increasing wait times, overburdening an already busy federal docket, etc. – and we are pleased to see the Biden administration working hard to fill these vacancies.  

What’s Next? 

Finally, join us on Tuesday, October 8 from 6:30-8:30pm for our annual in-person Holding Court: Supreme Court Term Preview. Our panelists will delve into the 2024- 2025 Supreme Court term, discussing the implications for us and the future of the United States. Panelists include Emmy Award-winning journalist Ari Melber, the host of MSNBC’s The Beat with Ari Melber, and Elie Mystal, Justice Correspondent at the Nation. Click here to sign up for this event – and stay tuned for more exciting panelists! We hope to see you there!  

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