US District Court Nominee Wamble Withdraws From Consideration (1)

Jabari Wamble has asked the White House to withdraw his nomination to be a federal trial court judge in the District of Kansas.

He is the second Biden judicial nominee to withdraw from consideration in less than a week.

“After careful thought and consideration, I feel that it is best for me to continue my work at the United States Attorney’s Office in the District of Kansas,” Wamble said in a letter Tuesday to President Joe Biden obtained by Bloomberg Law. His withdrawal was reported earlier Tuesday by Politico.

Wamble, a federal prosecutor and son-in-law of Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.), had first been nominated last year for a seat on the US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. He didn’t receive a hearing or a rating from the American Bar Association, which is customary for federal judicial nominees.

Biden then put him up for the trial court judgeship in February, and he similarly stalled once again without a confirmation hearing.

When asked about the hold-up on Wamble’s nomination on Monday, Cleaver said the ABA was “working on it, talking about it. That’s all I know.” The group has yet to rate Wamble’s qualifications for the district court job as of Tuesday night.

“Contrary to what people might believe, I didn’t carry the name to the White House,” Cleaver said in a brief interview, crediting Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly’s (D) support for Wamble’s nomination.

Wamble was expected to receive a “not qualified” rating from the ABA, according to a source familiar with the nomination.

Michael Delaney asked the White House to withdraw his nomination from consideration to be a judge on the First Circuit after it stalled over bipartisan concerns.

Delaney, a former New Hampshire attorney general, faced criticism from Republicans and progressives about his representation of a New Hampshire prep school years ago in sex assault litigation involving a student.