President Biden Keeps Diversity Pledge, Announces Third Slate Of Judicial Nominees

President Joe Biden announced three U.S. Court Of Appeals judicial nominees and three District Court judicial nominees in his third slate of judicial nominations.

According to the White House, the nominees “will bring deep credentials and qualifications to the federal bench, as well as career-long devotion to our Constitution and the rule of law.”

The judicial nominees show President Biden’s pledge to add diversity to his cabinet and judicial selections. The nominees include groundbreaking African American and Hispanic nominees and the third active Native American federal judge serving in the United States.

“President Biden has spent decades committed to strengthening the federal bench, which is why he continues to move at a historically fast pace with respect to judicial nominations,” the White House said in a release. “His first announcement of candidates for the judiciary was made faster than any that of any new President in modern American history, and today’s announcement further continues that trend.”

Circuit Court Nominees

Gustavo A. Gelpi Jr. has been nominated for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. Gelpi is a federal judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico and has served as chief judge of the court since 2018.

Gelpi is the second judge of Hispanic origin to serve on the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and the second judge from Puerto Rico ever to sit on the First Circuit.

He previously served as a magistrate judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico from 2001 to 2006 and prior to his appointment worked in the litigation department of the McConnell Valdés law firm. Judge Gelpí was also the solicitor general of Puerto Rico from 1999 to 2000.

Eunice C. Lee, an assistant federal defender with the Federal Defenders of New York, has been nominated for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Lee worked two decades with the Office of the Appellate Defender in New York. She also served as an adjunct assistant professor of clinical law at New York University School of Law from 2003 to 2019, teaching a criminal appellate defense clinic.

Lee is the second African American woman to serve on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, Lee has represented over 380 indigent clients in proceedings before state and federal appellate courts on direct appeal, in post-judgment motions, and in habeas proceedings.

Veronica S. Rossman served as senior counsel to the Office of the Federal Public Defender for the Districts of Colorado and Wyoming since 2017. From 2015 to 2017 Rossman served as the appellate division chief of her office, and she previously worked as an assistant federal public defender in the Appellate Division from 2010 to 2015.

District Court Nominees

Angel Kelley has been nominated for the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts. Kelley has served as an associate judge on the Massachusetts state court since 2009, with an initial appointment to the district court then appointed to the superior court in 2013. Judge Kelley served as an assistant U.S. attorney for the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts from 2007 to 2009.

Lauren J. King is the third active Native American federal judge currently serving in the U.S. and has been nominated for the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. King is currently a principal at Foster Garvey, P.C. and chairs the firm’s Native American law practice group.

King is also an appointed commissioner on the Washington State Gambling Commission and  previously taught federal Indian Law at the Seattle University School of Law.

Karen M. Williams has been nominated for the U.S. District Court For the District of New Jersey. Williams has served as a U.S. magistrate jdge for the U.S. District Court in the District of New Jersey since 2009. Williams currently serves as an adjunct professor at Rowan University in Glassboro, NJ. Prior to her appointment, Judge Williams spent more than 15 years in private practice at Jasinski & Williams, P.C. in Atlantic City,