President Joe Biden resubmitted 25 judicial nominees to the US Senate, including lawyers for the ACLU, Southern Poverty Law Center, and Center for Reproductive Rights who previously deadlocked in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The first list of renominations sent to the Senate Tuesday came as the 118th Congress began and Democrats enjoy a newly boosted majority.
Among the renominations were US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit nominee Nancy Abudu, of the Southern Poverty Law Center; First Circuit nominee Julie Rikelman, who represented the Mississippi abortion clinic in the case that overturned Roe v. Wade; and Southern District of New York nominee Dale Ho, of the ACLU.
Those nominees are just a few who have been celebrated by progressives but received tie votes in the previously evenly divided Judiciary Committee. Their nominations face a slightly easier path now that Democrats control the Senate with an outright majority.
Biden and Senate Democrats have made judicial nominations a priority. The Senate confirmed 97 Biden judicial nominees in his first two years, including Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. Those nominees have been diverse in terms of demographics and professional background.
In addition to the 25 renominations, the list included three new district nominees who Biden announced in December. Three of the nominations from that list are still waiting to be sent to the Senate.
The Tuesday list isn’t the final batch of judicial renominations. Biden plans to renominate more judicial selections later this month, a White House official said.
Nine circuit and 36 district nominees returned to the White House at the end of the previous Congress, which is a routine practice.
—With assistance from Justin Sink
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