Washington — The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday approved its first group of President Biden’s judicial nominees, setting up votes from the full Senate on two of his picks to the federal circuit courts and three to the U.S. district courts.
The panel advanced the nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the influential U.S. Court of Appeals to the District of Columbia Circuit by a vote of 13 to 9, as well as Candace Jackson-Akiwumi to the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals by a near party-line vote of 12-10.
The Democratic-led committee also gave bipartisan approval of the nominations of Judge Zahid Quraishi and Julien Neals to the U.S. district court in New Jersey, and Regina Rodriguez to the federal district court in Colorado.
Senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and John Cornyn of Texas were the only Republicans to join their Democratic colleagues in supporting Jackson’s nomination, while Graham was the lone GOP senator who voted to advance Jackson-Akiwumi’s nomination.
Jackson, currently a judge on the federal district court in D.C., is considered a frontrunner for the Supreme Court if a vacancy arises. If confirmed by the Senate, she will fill the seat on the D.C. Circuit vacated by now-Attorney General Merrick Garland.
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson speaks during a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing on Wednesday, April 28, 2021. Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Quraishi, meanwhile, would make history if his nomination is approved by the Senate as the first Muslim-American federal judge in U.S. history.
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