Biden Releases First Slate of Judicial Nominees

WASHINGTON - President Joe Biden released his first slate of 11 federal judicial nominations on Wednesday, including three Black women for federal circuit court vacancies, a Muslim American and an Asian American and Pacific Islander. “This trailblazing slate of nominees draws from the very best and brightest minds of the American legal profession,” Biden said in a statement that emphasized their “broad diversity of background experience and perspective.” The nominees, which include nine women, must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate. The Black women nominated for federal circuit court vacancies include Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Tiffany Cunningham for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and Candace Jackson-Akiwumi for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Zahid N. Quraishi, a New Jersey magistrate judge, would be the nation’s first Muslim American to serve on a federal district court. Judge Florence Pan would be the first Asian-American judge to serve on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the White House said in a statement.