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Friday, March 29, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Seven new judicial nominees put Biden over the 100-pick marker

The latest round of appointments includes three circuit court picks and four district court nominees.

WASHINGTON (CN) — President Joe Biden announced candidates for the federal bench Wednesday, giving him 105 judicial nominations since the start of his presidency.

As the administration attempts to keep pace with last year's swift confirmation of judicial picks and fill federal court vacancies in the lead-up to midterms, the latest round of judicial nominees includes three circuit court judges and four district court nominees.

Judge Dana M. Douglas is nominated to serve on the Fifth Circuit and would be the first woman of color to serve as a federal judge on that court.

Since 2019, Douglas has been a U.S. magistrate judge for the Eastern District of Louisiana. Previous to that, she spent 17 years as a partner at Liskow & Lewis, a Louisiana law firm focused on energy and oil industries.

She also spent 10 years on the New Orleans Civil Service Commission and spent a year as a law clerk for a federal judge in the Eastern District of Louisiana.

Douglas earned her undergraduate degree from Miami University of Ohio and her law degree from Loyola University New Orleans School of Law.

Roopali Desai, Biden's nominee for the Ninth Circuit, would be the first South Asian person to serve the sprawling federal appeals court.

Desai is a partner at Coppersmith Brockelman, a business law firm in Arizona. Earlier in her career, Desai worked as an associate at Lewis & Roca and a law clerk for Chief Judge Mary Schroeder, the most senior jurist on the very court to which Desai is set to ascend.

She earned her undergraduate degree, master's degree and law degree from the University of Arizona.

Nominated to serve on the D.C. Circuit, Bradley Garcia would be the first Latino judge on that court.

Garcia has worked as a deputy assistant attorney general in the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel since 2022.

Before his work for the federal government, Garcia spent nearly a decade at O'Melveny and Myers where he was a partner in the firm's Supreme Court and appellate practice group.

During his time as an appellate attorney, Garcia argued 13 cases before federal and state courts of appeals, including cases before the Supreme Court.

Early in his career, he clerked for Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan as well as now-retired Judge Thomas Griffith on the D.C. Circuit.

He earned his undergraduate degree from Johns Hopkins University and his law degree from Harvard Law School.

Three of Biden's nominees, María del R. Antongiorgi-Jordán, Judge Gina R. Méndez-Miró and Judge Camille L. Vélez-Rivé, are nominated to fill vacancies on the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico.

Antongiorgi-Jordán has been a clerk of court for the District of Puerto Rico since 2018.

With a history in private practice, Antongiorgi-Jordán spent more than 20 years as a partner at McConnell Valdés' office in San Juan.

She earned her undergraduate degree from Seton Hill University, her law degree from Interamerican University of Puerto Rico and her master of laws degree from Georgetown University Law Center.

Méndez-Miró has been a judge on the Puerto Rico Court of Appeals since 2016.

Before that, she spent time as chief of staff for the president of the Puerto Rican Senate and served in the Puerto Rico Office of Court Administration in several roles, including general counsel and director of the legal affairs office.

From 2006 to 2008, Méndez-Miró was an assistant attorney general for human resources with the Puerto Rico Department of Justice. She began her career as an associate with the law firm O’Neill & Borges in San Juan.

She earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Puerto Rico, her master's from Princeton University and her law degree from the University of Puerto Rico School of Law.

Vélez-Rivé, also nominated to serve as a district judge in Puerto Rico, has spent the past 18 years as a federal magistrate judge. She previously worked as an assistant U.S. attorney and as an associate with the law firm of Pietrantoni Méndez.

She earned her undergraduate degree from Washington University in St. Louis and her law degree from the University of Puerto Rico Law School.

The last of Biden's nominees, Jerry Blackwell, is nominated to serve as a judge for the District of Minnesota.

Blackwell is a founding partner of the Blackwell Burke law firm in Minneapolis. From 2000 to 2006, he worked as a partner at Blackwell Igbanugo, which was one of the largest Black-owned law firms in the country before he dissolved the practice.

At the start of his career, Blackwell spent time as a partner at Robins Kaplan and Nilan Johnson Lewis. He earned his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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Categories / Courts, Government, National

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