Thread by @ZoeTillman

New: Biden's first slate of judicial nominees is out, with a focus on diversity. His circuit picks include two former public defenders, and all are Black women:

- Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, DC Circuit
- Tiffany Cunningham, Federal Circuit
- Candace Jackson-Akiwumi, 7th Circuit

Biden's district court picks include nominees who would be the:
- first Muslim American district judge (Judge Zahid Quraishi, NJ)
- first AAPI woman on the DC federal district court (Judge Florence Pan)
- first BIPOC woman on the Maryland district court (Judge Lydia Griggsby)

Finally, there's a nominee for DC Superior Court: Judge Rupa Ranga Puttagunta, a local administrative judge

For the DC federal bench, a few things to note:
- There are two DC Circuit vacancies, but only one nominee announced today, so that's another big one TBD

- Recall Rep. Norton had recc'd Jia Cobb for Judge Emmet Sullivan's seat –WaPo reports Judge Florence Pan (who had been nominated to the DC fed court under Obama) is being nominated for Jackson's future vacancy, so the Sullivan seat remains TBD washingtonpost.com/local/legal-is…

- Judge Florence Pan was one of three DC district court nominees the Senate didn't act on at the end of Obama's second term. The others were Judge Todd Edelman and Abid Qureshi (who we prev. reported were also under consideration for the DC bench again)
buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…