Educators applaud Biden’s historic slate of judicial nominees

WASHINGTON — President Biden today announced his intent to nominate 10 individuals to serve as Federal Circuit and District Court judges, and one individual to serve as a Superior Court Judge for the District of Columbia.

The following statement can be attributed to NEA President Becky Pringle:

“Early in my teaching career, I quickly realized that the issues and laws impacting my students and their families, my school, my colleagues, and my own family were decided outside my classroom walls. Indeed, educators understand how so many of the issues that affect our students and our profession end up in the federal courts — students’ rights, workers’ rights, immigrant rights, voting rights, and civil rights. This first slate of Biden judicial nominees is a promising start, and we are hopeful that the expansion of this much-needed diversity — both demographic and professional — continues in the federal courts as more judicial nominees are announced.

“In just the past year, the power of the courts has been on vivid display. We have seen how courts have been called upon to enforce COVID-19 safety measures, protect workers from unsafe conditions, defend our democracy from assault, shelter immigrants, and promote our students’ civil rights. But courts will work for all of us only when judges who preside on those benches look like and represent all of us. That’s why we applaud President Biden for prioritizing filling judicial vacancies with haste and doing so with nominees who look like America. We are particularly pleased with the nomination of Judge Kentaji Brown-Jackson, a Black woman for the nation’s ‘second highest court’ who comes from an educator family and has a proven track record of standing up for workers, educators, and our students.

“In this inaugural round of judicial nominations, there are lots of exciting firsts: first Muslim-American federal judge in U.S. history, first Asian-American Pacific Islander woman to serve on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, and the first woman of color to ever serve as a federal judge for Maryland district. We look forward to future nominees who have spent their careers advocating for student, worker, labor, and employment rights. The U.S. Senate must put aside politics and work to confirm these judicial nominees quickly.”

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