With judicial picks, Biden seeks to address disparity in legal experience of federal judges
CBSN
Washington — In the first five months of his presidency, President Biden has undertaken an effort to broaden the work experiences of judges appointed to the federal courts, addressing a gap in the legal professions represented on the bench that was exacerbated by former President Donald Trump.
Already, Mr. Biden has matched President Barack Obama in the number of nominees to the U.S. Circuit Courts who have worked as public defenders, with five of his seven nominees having represented indigent clients charged with state or federal crimes in the course of their legal careers. Six of the president's judicial picks to serve on the federal trial courts also have worked as public defenders. In announcing his early slate of judicial nominees, Mr. Biden cheered the "broad diversity of background, experience and perspective" represented by his candidates for the federal bench, and he has been lauded for so far following through on a commitment to appoint judges who span the legal profession.Ashley White received her earliest combat action badge from the United States Army soon after the first lieutenant arrived in Afghanistan. The silver military award, recognizing soldiers who've been personally engaged by an attacker during conflict, was considered an achievement in and of itself as well as an affirming rite of passage for the newly deployed. White had earned it for using her own body to shield a group of civilian women and children from gunfire that broke out in the midst of her third mission in Kandahar province. All of them survived. She never mentioned the badge to anyone in her battalion.