The White House announced June 15 that President Joseph R. Biden has nominated seven more candidates to seats in the federal judiciary.
Two female nominees and one male nominee to appellate slots would continue Biden’s focus on diversifying the federal courts of appeals.
For the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, Biden named Bradley N. Garcia. A deputy assistant attorney general, Garcia is a former O’Melveny & Myers partner. While at O’Melveny & Myers Garcia handled appeals, including in the U.S. Supreme Court. He clerked for Justice Elena Kagan and Thomas Griffith, a retired U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit judge.
If confirmed, Garcia would be the first Hispanic to serve on the DC Circuit.
Biden tapped Dana M. Douglas, a federal magistrate in New Orleans since Jan. 2019, to sit on the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. Douglas was a longtime partner at Liskow & Lewis in the Crescent City, where she focused her practice on energy, intellectual property, and products liability litigation. Douglas served as vice-chair of the New Orleans Civil Service Commission.
Douglas would become the first woman of color to sit on the Fifth Circuit.
To replace Andrew D. Hurwitz, a judge on the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, Biden nominated Roopali H. Desai. A partner at the Phoenix firm Coppersmith Brockelman, Desai started in practice at Lewis & Roca after clerking for judge Mary Schroeder of the Ninth Circuit. She has represented Arizona Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema and her Senate election campaign, as well as campaigns of U.S. Rep. Tom O’Halleran, D-Ariz.
Desai, if confirmed, would be the first woman of south Asian descent to serve on the San Francisco-based appeals court.
Biden also chose three nominees for the federal district court in Puerto Rico and one for the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota.
María del R. Antongiorgi-Jordán, one of the nominees for the court in San Juan, is the current clerk of that court. She is a former partner at McConnell Valdés and holds an LL.M. degree from Georgetown University in addition to juris doctorate and undergraduate degrees.
Gina R. Méndez-Miró, a judge on Puerto Rico’s court of appeals, was also chosen to sit on the federal district court in San Juan. She previously worked for a Puerto Rico territorial senator, the territory’s judicial administration office, and for the Puerto Rico Department of Justice.
The third nominee for a federal judgeship in Puerto Rico is Camille L. Vélez-Rivé, a U.S. magistrate in San Juan. Vélez-Rivé was an assistant U.S. attorney for about six years and also worked as an associate at Pietrantoni Méndez & Alvarez. She also clerked for Puerto Rico Supreme Court justice Francisco Rebollo-López.
For the Minnesota seat, Biden chose Blackwell Burke founding partner Jerry W. Blackwell. A former partner at Minneapolis’ Blackwell Igbanugo and two other law firms, Blackwell has been practicing law since 1987.
Biden has now nominated 103 individuals to serve as Article III federal judges. Sixty-eight have been confirmed, including 16 to the federal appeals courts and one U.S. Supreme Court justice.
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