Biden Taps Abortion Lawyer From Dobbs Case for First Circuit (1)

A lawyer who represented the Mississippi abortion clinic in the Supreme Court case that overturned constitutional protections for abortion access is President Joe Biden’s nominee for a seat on the Boston-based US appeals court.

Center for Reproductive Rights lawyer Julie Rikelman, who argued for Jackson Women’s Health before the justices, is nominated to be a judge on the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.

Rikelman is one of nine judicial nominees—two for circuit courts and seven for district courts—Biden announced Friday.

The nominations come as the White House and Senate Democrats are under pressure from progressives to move quickly on nominations as the midterms threaten their slim Senate majority that aids the confirmation process.

Also on the list: Connecticut Supreme Court Justice Maria Araújo Kahn is nominated to the Second Circuit. Biden has nominated five people to the 13-seat federal appeals court based in New York City—four of whom have already been confirmed.

Biden also named seven district court nominees Friday, including several sitting judges in state and federal courts. They were:

• Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Daniel Calabretta, a former Justice John Paul Stevens clerk, nominated to the US District Court for the Eastern District of California;
• US Bankruptcy Judge Jeffery Hopkins, nominated to the Southern District of Ohio;
• Boston Municipal Court Associate Justice Myong Joun, a US Army and Massachusetts National Guard veteran, nominated to the District of Massachusetts;
• Massachusetts Deputy State Solicitor General Julia Kobick, nominated to the District of Massachusetts;
• San Francisco County Superior Court Judge Rita Lin, nominated to the Northern District of California;
• National Immigration Law Center lawyer Araceli Martinez-Olguin, nominated to the Northern District of California; and,
• Superior Court of the District of Columbia Associate Judge Todd Edelman is Biden’s planned nominee for a seat on the D.C. District.