On Friday, Alliance for Justice wrote that the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. JWHO, “will be remembered in the same vein as Dred Scott v. Sandford, Plessy v. Ferguson, Korematsu v. United States, and Bowers v. Hardwick as a dreadful stain on our nation’s history.” The insulting decision to overturn the constitutional right to an abortion “speaks to how hyper-partisan and lawless the Trump Court has become.” 

This and other recent devastating Supreme Court rulings are inconsistent with the America we know – one that for decades has expanded rights, not taken them away. The Republican party has relentlessly worked for decades to get here. Our response to the horrifying consequences of these decisions must be relentless and fierce.  

Filling every outstanding judicial vacancy before 2023 is absolutely necessary. To succeed, Leader Schumer and the Democratic Senate majority must commit to exceeding their historic pace from last year. Congress must also expand the Supreme Court and codify federal rights the Supreme Court is stripping away through legislation, including by passing the Women’s Health Protection Act which would codify Roe into law.  

The judges who sit on our lower courts matter more now than ever before. We need nominees with expertise in abortion access and reproductive freedom. We need more LGBTQ+ nominees. We need more Latino and Latina nominees. We need lawyers who have represented workers and consumers. We need more nominees with disabilities.  

The Latest News: Nominations Continue

This week, the administration announced two more judicial nominees: Justice Tiffany Montgomery-Reeves for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (DE) and Judge Frances Kay Behm for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. As always, AFJ is diving deep into their records to learn more about what they may bring to the federal judiciary. 

On June 15, 2022, President Biden announced another slate of eminently qualified nominees. These individuals bring us one step closer to filling every judicial vacancy with champions of equal justice and adding to the demographic and professional diversity of our courts. We were heartened to see several historic firsts, including Judge Gina Méndez-Miró, who will be the first openly LGBTQ+ federal district court judge in Puerto Rico.  

 Other historic nominees include: 

• Bradley Garcia, nominated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, is an experienced appellate attorney with extensive pro bono work who joined the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel in February 2022. A former clerk for Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan, he would be the first Latino in history to serve on the influential D.C. Circuit. 
  
  
• Roopali Desai, nominated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, is an attorney at Coppersmith Brockelman specializing in election and political law. She was recently named one of USA Today’s “Women of the Year” for her work, which included fighting false claims about election fraud, and would be the first South Asian to serve on the Ninth Circuit. 
  
  

Pay Attention: Civil Rights Champions Awaiting Confirmation

In addition to nominees pending in Committee, there are 17 nominees awaiting final votes on the Senate floor. The number of pending nominees is deeply concerning, and we continue to urge Leader Schumer to prioritize floor time for final votes to confirm as many judicial nominees as quickly as possible. Here are a few of the excellent nominees that are still pending: 

• Natasha Merle, nominated to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, is a civil rights champion currently serving as Deputy Director of Litigation at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF). Her work centers on promoting racial justice in the areas of voting rights, education, and criminal justice. If confirmed, Merle would be the first Black woman who has previously been a public defender to serve on the Eastern District. 
  
  
• Nancy Maldonado, nominated to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, is a partner at Miner, Barnhill, & Galland specializing in employment discrimination and other civil rights issues. In addition to her experience with labor law, Ms. Maldonado was part of the legal team that filed an amicus brief on behalf of the Brady Center in a lawsuit challenging an assault weapons ban. If confirmed, she will become the first Latina on the Northern District. 

Focus on State Courts

Alliance for Justice recently launched our State Courts Hub, a first-of-its-kind resource for understanding your state’s highest court. In the wake of the Dobbs decision, state supreme courts will be front lines in the fight to protect abortion access and so much more. That’s why understanding how judges are selected for high courts across all fifty states, the party affiliation of current judges, and the method by which the people weigh in on who interprets state constitutions is absolutely essential. Explore AFJ’s State Courts Hub here. 

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