10 Champions of Justice That Exemplify The Importance Of Judicial Nominations
Regardless of the outcome of any one election, justice-centered courts are vital to protecting our democracy. The only way to bring balance to the federal judiciary is for the Senate to confirm more equal justice champions like the ones profiled below.
These nominees, and the many more like them pending, have backgrounds our democracy needs represented on the bench immediately. There are still many vacancies left, and we look forward to more highly qualified, diverse judicial nominees to #FillEverySeat between now and 2025.
For more information on pending federal judicial nominees and vacancies, check out Alliance for Justice’s Judicial Nomination Tracker, with information on all of President Biden’s confirmed and pending nominees to federal district and circuit courts.
Confirmed
Rachel Bloomekatz
Nominee for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
Economic justice and voting rights champion
Nominated May 25, 2022 (appeared in committee June 22, 2022)
CONFIRMED on July 19, 2023
Rachel Bloomekatz has briefed and argued cases on a broad range of issues, including voting rights, consumers’ and workers’ rights, and gun safety. Bloomekatz’s previous private and public sector roles include serving as a clerk to former Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer.

Judge Myong Joun
Nominee for the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts
Civil rights champion and former public defender
Nominated July 29, 2022 (appeared in committee December 13, 2022)
Confirmed on July 12, 2023
Judge Joun, a veteran and immigrant who has dedicated his career to criminal defense and civil rights, is currently an Associate Justice of the Boston Municipal Court.

Tiffany M. Cartwright
Nominee for the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington
Civil rights & workers’ rights champion
Nominated January 19, 2022 (appeared in committee May 25, 2022)
CONFIRMED on July 12, 2023
Tiffany M. Cartwright is a partner at MacDonald Hoague & Bayless. She has notably dedicated her career to civil rights litigation — in particular, cases in which the state government has unlawfully burdened citizens for exercising their constitutional rights, as well as employment discrimination and wrongful conviction cases.

Natasha Merle
Nominee for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York
Civil rights champion
Nominated January 19, 2022 (appeared in committee April 27, 2022)
CONFIRMED on June 21, 2023
Natasha Merle is a civil rights champion who has dedicated the majority of her legal career to public interest law and public defense, having served as the Deputy Director of Litigation at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and as an assistant federal public defender. Judges with such civil rights backgrounds remain severely underrepresented on our courts, making Merle a significant and historic nominee.

Julie Rikelman
Nominee for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
Reproductive rights champion
Nominated August 1, 2022 (appeared in committee September 21, 2022)
CONFIRMED on June 20, 2023
The current U.S. Litigation Director for the Center for Reproductive Rights, Julie Rikelman was a veteran civil rights litigator known for her work protecting reproductive rights in state and federal courts throughout the country. She also spent a decade in various corporate litigation practices.

Nusrat Choudhury
Nominee for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York
Civil rights champion and historic nominee
Nominated January 19, 2022 (appeared in committee April 27, 2022)
CONFIRMED on June 15, 2023
A dedicated civil rights and civil liberties attorney, Ms. Choudhury has spent her career advocating for equal justice under the law. When confirmed, Ms. Choudhury became the first Muslim-American woman and the first Bangladeshi American to serve as a federal judge.

Dale Ho
Nominee for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York
Historic nominee
Nominated September 20, 2021 (appeared in committee December 1, 2021)
CONFIRMED on June 14, 2023
As one of the nation’s premier civil rights attorneys, Dale Ho has spent his career fighting for our most critical constitutional rights and legal protections and is eminently qualified to serve as a federal judge.

Casey Pitts
Nominee for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
Workers’ rights champion and historic nominee
Nominated September 2, 2022 (appeared in committee December 13, 2022)
CONFIRMED on June 14, 2023
Casey Pitts has spent most of his career litigating complex labor law cases including employment discrimination actions and cases to establish and preserve collective bargaining for workers. When he was confirmed on June 14, 2023, he became the only openly LGBTQ+ Article III judge actively serving on the District Court for the Northern District of California.

Nancy G. Abudu
Nominee for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
Voting rights champion and historic nominee
Nominated December 23, 2021 (appeared in committee April 27, 2022)
CONFIRMED May 18, 2023
Nancy Gbana Abudu’s work as a civil rights litigator, focusing on the Voting Rights Act, felon disenfranchisement, and other key issues, has touched every state in the Eleventh Circuit. Upon her confirmation 511 days after she was nominated, she is now the first Black woman on the Circuit and the first person of color from Georgia to serve on that court.
Image via Southern Poverty Law Center

Bradley Garcia
Nominee for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
Historic nominee
Nominated June 15, 2022 (appeared in committee July 27, 2022)
CONFIRMED on May 15, 2023
After a long wait, Bradley N. Garcia was confirmed to what is often dubbed “the second highest court in the country”, after the Supreme Court. He has served as an appellate litigator in over 50 cases, including significant pro bono work. He is the first Latinx judge to sit on this court since it was established in 1893.

Araceli Martinez-Olguin
Nominee for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
Historic nominee
Nominated July 29, 2022 (appeared in committee October 12, 2022)
CONFIRMED on February 28, 2023
Araceli Martinez-Olguin served as one of the nation’s leading immigration attorneys, having spent her entire career advocating for rights of immigrant workers. When she was confirmed on February 28, 2023, Martinez-Olguin would be only the second Latina to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

Jamal Whitehead
Nominee for the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington
Workers’ rights champion
First nominee with a disability nominated by President Biden
Nominated July 13, 2022 (appeared in committee September 21, 2022)
CONFIRMED on February 28, 2023
Jamal N. Whitehead was previously a trial attorney at Schroeter Goldmark & Bender, where he regularly represented victims of workplace discrimination and unfair labor practices. Whitehead, who uses a prosthetic leg, is the first person with a disability nominated to the federal bench by President Biden. He was confirmed on February 28, 2023.

Adrienne Nelson
Judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon
Historic nominee and former public defender
Nominated July 14, 2022 (appeared in committee October 12, 2022)
CONFIRMED on February 15, 2023
Adrienne Nelson previously served on the Supreme Court of the State of Oregon and has extensive experience in public defense and on the bench. When confirmed on February 15, 2023, she became the first Black woman to serve in the United States District Court for the District of Oregon.
