Biden to Nominate First Slate of Diverse Federal Judges

President Biden confirmed plans to appoint 11 federal judges, including D.C. District Court Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, who will succeed former D.C. Circuit Court Judge Merrick Garland, who is now the United States Attorney General.

According to the White House, the nominees include three Black women who, if confirmed, would include the first Muslim federal judge in the country’s history, the first AAPI woman to serve on the D.C. District Court, and the first woman of color to serve as a federal judge in Maryland.

The White House wrote in a news release that the appointments “reflect the president’s deeply held conviction that the federal bench should reflect the full diversity of the American people.”

Other nominees:

• Zahid N. Quraishi, a magistrate judge, and nominee for the New Jersey District Court, would be the first Muslim American to serve on the federal bench.
• Tiffany Cunningham, a patent litigator in Chicago, was nominated to the Federal Circuit Appeals Court. She would be the first Black woman to serve on that court.
• Florence Y. Pan, a D.C. Superior Court judge, is nominated to replace Jackson on the D.C. District Court. She would be the first Asian American woman on the court.
• Candace Jackson-Akiwumi, who has served as a federal public defender for the last decade, is a nominee for the Seventh Circuit Appeals Court. She would be the only Black woman on that court’s bench.

Other nominations include:

• Magistrate Judge Deborah Boardman and Federal Claims Court Judge Lydia Griggsby for the Maryland District Court.
• Julien Neals, a county council and acting county administrator in New Jersey, to serve on New Jersey’s District Court.
• Civil rights and criminal lawyer Margaret Strickland for the New Mexico District Court.
• Former federal prosecutor Regina Rodriguez for the Colorado District Court.

Biden said, “This trailblazing slate of candidates draws from the very best and brightest minds in the American legal profession.” Adding that “Each is deeply qualified and prepared to deliver justice faithfully under our Constitution and impartially to the American people — and together they represent the broad diversity of background, experience, and perspective that makes our nation strong.”

In the release, The White House stated, “none of the last four administrations had nominated more than two candidates by this point in their presidency.”