Biden Puts Forward Trial Court Judge for Seventh Circuit Seat

President Joe Biden plans to nominate federal trial judge Nancy Maldonado to a seat on the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

Maldonado currently sits on the Chicago-based Northern District of Illinois, appointed by Biden to that seat in 2022.

The Columbia Law graduate was previously a partner at Miner, Barnhill & Galland in Chicago and a former clerk for US District Judge Rubén Castillo on the Northern District of Illinois.

Biden also announced on Wednesday his intention to nominate four candidates for trial courts and two for US attorney positions.

Georgia Alexakis, an assistant US attorney, is Biden’s pick for a trial court seat on the Northern District of Illinois. She’s been chief of appeals for the criminal division in the US Attorney’s office there since 2022, and a line attorney between 2013 and 2021.

Krissa M. Lanham, an assistant US attorney, has been tapped for a judgeship on the District of Arizona. She’s been the appellate chief in the district’s US Attorney’s office since 2020, and was previously deputy appellate chief and human trafficking coordinator.

Also tapped for a trial seat on the District of Arizona, Angela Martinez has been a US magistrate judge there since 2023. She was previously an assistant US attorney in the district from 2015 to 2023.

Biden’s pick for the District of Columbia’s trial bench, Sparkle Sooknanan, has been the principal deputy assistant attorney general in the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division since 2023. She’s also a former Jones Day partner.

Biden’s intended US attorney pick for the Northern District of Iowa is Matthew Gannon, first assistant attorney general in the Iowa Attorney General’s Office from 2021 to 2023.

For the Southern District of Iowa, David Waterman of the law firm Lane & Waterman has been tapped for the top lawyer post. He was previously an assistant US attorney for the Middle District of Florida from 2016 to 2020.