The official said Biden has selected Andre B. Mathis as his candidate to serve on the Sixth US Circuit Court of Appeals. Judge Alison J. Nathan will be nominated to serve on the Second U.S. Court of Appeals on the circuit of appeals. Nathan is currently presiding over the criminal trial of Ghislaine Maxwell, a former associate of Jeffrey Epstein.
The selections mark the latest attempt to fill important appeals court openings, which are seen as highly important in an effort to shape the second largest courts in the country. Biden’s two latest picks will bring the total number of Circuit Court candidates so far to 16.
Biden and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer have opened up on the federal judiciary for quickly filling the centerpiece of the first 10 months of Democratic control of the White House and Senate, and have already confirmed nine circuit judges and 19 district judges. have been has received. Biden’s latest choice will be the 63rd and 64th judicial nominee from his first year in office.
Schumer has made it clear to his members that floor time is important for votes on Biden’s candidates, and Senate Judiciary Chairman Richard Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, made processing and vetting candidates a central component of his committee’s work. . have given.
Biden served as chairman of the Judiciary Committee during his 36 years in the Senate.
“President Biden has spent decades committed to strengthening the federal bench, which is why he is moving quickly to fill judicial vacancies,” the official said.
The pace of the effort—and the focus Biden’s team has focused on quickly identifying, naming and sending nominees to Capitol Hill—has pushed the issue for Democrats inside and outside the government in the wake of the former president. Donald Trump’s sweeping effort to confirm more than 230 federal judges while in office.
Trump’s success marked a cornerstone achievement for then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, and raised the issue among Democrats who, before Trump’s 2020 election defeat, asked the Supreme Court to reduce the balance of the courts. said to. asked for. looked at
But beyond the pace of confirmation, Biden’s two circuit courts have become a clear model for presidential judicial candidates in their first year, a clear model for a group of executives defined by diversity in their personal and professional lives. The model poses as she marks the latest performance of the show. background. Mathis, who currently works in private practice at Butler Snow LLP, will become the first black person to serve on the Sixth Circuit in 24 years if confirmed.
Nathan, while addressing the potential selection Wednesday, assured that she would continue to oversee the Maxwell case regardless of any potential nominations.
“Needless to say, I am honored, but let me be clear: If I am nominated, like every other district judge up for promotion to the circuit, I will continue to do my day job. Will stay, which means that presiding over this trial through completion and handling of hundreds of other civil and criminal cases,” Nathan said.
Maxwell was charged by federal prosecutors in New York from 1994 to 1997 of conspiracy and framing and recruiting minors to engage in illegal sex acts, and of causing minor girls to engage in criminal sexual activity. The charge has been done. The trial is on the jury. selection.
Overall, 73% of Biden’s judicial selections so far are women and 27 percent are African American. The president has nominated 20 public defenders, 14 civil rights attorneys and 5 labor lawyers to expand beyond the traditional professional backgrounds that often dominate the makeup of judicial candidates.
CNN’s Lauren Del Valle contributed to this report.