President Joe Biden nominated several Black women, an Asian American and the first Muslim ever to federal judgeships Tuesday in a push for diversity in the US court system.
Breaking with predecessor Donald Trump’s four-year effort to staff federal courts with largely white male conservatives, Biden unveiled his first 11 picks for judges, with only two of them men, neither of them white.
At the top of his list was nominating Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, who is African-American, to the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which is known to handle major cases. If confirmed by the Senate, Jackson, 50, would replace Merrick Garland — who is now Biden’s attorney general — and be in a good position to become a candidate for the Supreme Court if a vacancy opens up.
No Black woman has yet served on the nine-justice high court. “Ketanji Jackson Brown is one of the best judges in the nation. Brilliant and with deep values. That she is now joining our second…