Happy New Year! After a remarkable year for judicial confirmations, the Senate is preparing to confirm more impressive nominees. This includes last night’s confirmation of Judge Gabriel Sanchez to the Ninth Circuit, as well as moving over a dozen of the judicial nominees left pending at the end of the last Congress back to the Senate floor. And in the last couple of days, we have had vacancies announced in Ohio and Washington State.
We look forward to the next round of nominations and moving those nominees pending in committee to confirmation. See the latest updates below.
The Good News: The Rush
At the end of last year, President Biden announced the nomination of two more extremely talented and well-respected Black women to fill powerful judgeships in the DC Circuit and the Eleventh Circuit.
J. Michelle Childs, nominated to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, is longtime a South Carolina judge who has served in her current role for over ten years. Notably, Childs was the first Black partner of the law firm Nexsen Pruet, LLC in 2000. Childs enjoys support from House Majority Whip James Clyburn.
Nancy Abudu, nominated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, is a civil rights attorney and the Deputy Legal Director and Director for Strategic Litigation at the Southern Poverty Law Center. Abudu is a widely recognized criminal justice and voting rights expert who has litigated extensively in federal courts to ensure the voting rights of communities of color and other historically disenfranchised groups in the South. Prior to her time at the Southern Poverty Law Center, Abudu served as Legal Director of the ACLU of Florida, Senior Staff Attorney at the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project, and Staff Attorney for the Eleventh Circuit. Abudu would be the first Black woman to serve on the Eleventh Circuit.
Biden has now tapped seven Black women for the federal appeals courts, the greatest number appointed by any recent president.
Pay Attention: More Nominees are One Step Closer
The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on Wednesday, January 12, on the nomination of Andre Mathis to the Sixth Circuit, who would be the first Black man from Tennessee on the court. He is also the first Biden nominee from a state with two Republican senators.
The Senate is also moving to advance the nominations of seventeen federal judges who will be advanced this week. The exciting line-up includes several stand-out judges and practitioners we have tracked closely: Alison Nathan, a distinguished judge currently serving in New York who is nominated to the Second Circuit; Charlotte Sweeney, who would be the first woman to serve in the federal district court for Colorado, as well as the first LGBTQ+ judge; and Dale Ho, a prominent voting rights champion nominated to the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.
What’s Next? Keep the Pressure!
We will continue to work with our organizational partners and all you dear friends to bolster the call for demographic and experiential diversity on the federal bench. We are awaiting the final vote for phenomenal judges such as Holly Thomas (California) and we are highlighting the need for nominees from severely underrepresented groups such as those who have practiced environmental and disability rights law, to name a few, as well as judges from the Latin American community.
Last year proves that this message is resonating and gaining steam. When our courts reflect all our important communities and experiences, our democracy is stronger.
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