WASHINGTON (CN) — President Joe Biden on Wednesday announced six judicial nominations for federal district courts.
The announcement brings the total number of judicial nominees during Biden’s tenure to 215.
“These choices … continue to fulfill the President’s promise to ensure that the nation’s courts reflect the diversity that is one of our greatest assets as a country — both in terms of personal and professional backgrounds,” the White House said in a statement.
Amir Ali, executive director of the MacArthur Justice Center, was nominated for the District of Columbia. Ali, who has also been director of the Criminal Justice Appellate Clinic at Harvard Law School since 2018, previously worked in private practice at Jenner & Block LLP in Washington.
Ali received his bachelor’s from the University of Waterloo and his Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School.
Judge Melissa DuBose was nominated for the District of Rhode Island, where she has been an associate judge since 2019. She was previously in-house counsel for Schneider Electric in Foxboro, Massachusetts.
DuBose’s legal career started as a prosecutor in the Rhode Island Attorney General’s Office. She after completing law school while working full time for 10 years as a high school history and social studies teacher.
DuBose received her bachelor’s from Providence College and her Juris Doctor from the Roger Williams School of Law.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Sunil Harjani was nominated for the Northern District of Illinois. He previously served as an assistant U.S. attorney in the district, working in the Securities and Fraud section.
Harjani also practiced federal civil litigation as senior counsel at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and at Jenner & Block LLP in Chicago.
Harjani received his bachelors and Juris Doctor from Northwestern University.
San Diego Superior Court Judge Rebecca Kanter was nominated for the Southern District of California. She previously worked in the district’s U.S. Attorney’s Office before joining the bench in 2023.
Kanter’s experience also includes time with the Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles offices of O’Melveny & Myers LLP. She received her bachelor’s from the University of California, Irvine, and her juris doctor from the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert White was nominated for the Eastern District of Michigan, where he’s worked in the federal prosecutor’s office since 2018.
He previously served in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Western District of Texas following a stint in private practice at Ralph E. Meczyk and Associates. White received his bachelor’s from the University of Michigan and his juris doctor from Chicago-Kent College of Law at the Illinois Institute of Technology.
Jasmine Yoon, vice president of corporate integrity, ethics and investigations at Capital One Financial Corp., was nominated for the Western District of Virginia.
Yoon previously worked in the university counsel office at the University of Virginia. She also served as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia.
Yoon’s experience also includes time with Crowell & Moring LLP in Washington. She received her bachelor’s and Juris Doctor from the University of Virginia.
Lena Zwarensteyn, senior director of the fair courts program at The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, applauded the diversity of the nominations. She noted that Ali will be the first Arab American and Muslim for the District Court for the District of Columbia; DuBose would be the first judge of color and openly LGBTQ+ judge in the District of Rhode Island; and Yoon would be the first judge of color in the Western District of Virginia and the first Asian American judge in federal district courts in Virginia.
“We urge the president and our senators to continue nominating and confirming fair-minded and ethical judges, in all parts of the country, who will protect the rights of all of us,” Zwarensteyn said in a statement.
“Time is of the essence. Significant civil rights advancements — and efforts to undermine our rights — are happening today through our federal courts. That is why filling every judicial vacancy this year with diverse judges committed to equal justice remains incredibly urgent.”
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