On Wednesday, President Joe Biden announced a new slate of four judicial nominees as part of his efforts to diversify the federal bench, with plans to elevate a Florida magistrate judge to a seat on a federal appeals court.
The Democratic president stated his intention to nominate U.S. Magistrate Judge Embry Kidd in Orlando to fill a vacancy on the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which is primarily composed of appointees of Republican presidents.
Before joining the bench in 2019, Kidd served as a federal prosecutor for about five years. Earlier in his career, he worked as an associate at the law firm Williams & Connolly in Washington, D.C. Biden’s selection aims to fill a vacancy created in January when U.S. Circuit Judge Charles Wilson, an appointee of Democratic former President Bill Clinton, announced plans to take senior status, a form of semi-retirement for judges.
Biden’s nominees also include selections for district courts in Maryland, New York, and Pennsylvania, continuing his efforts to diversify the federal bench.
Wilson succeeded by Kidd
Wilson, the second Black person to serve on the court, which hears appeals from Alabama, Georgia, and Florida, was succeeded by Kidd, who is also Black and from Florida.
In the Western District of New York, Biden nominated Monroe County Acting State Supreme Court Judge Meredith Vacca, a Korean American in Rochester, to become the first woman of color to serve as a life-tenured judge on that trial court. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who recommended Vacca to the White House, stated that upon confirmation, that district court would become one of the few nationally with 50% or more women judges.
In Maryland, Biden moved to elevate U.S. Magistrate Judge Adam Abelson in Baltimore to a life-tenured position as a district judge. Before joining the bench last year, Abelson had been a partner at the law firm Zuckerman Spaeder.
And in Pennsylvania’s Middle District, Biden nominated Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge Joseph Saporito to serve as a district court judge. Before joining the bench in 2015, Saporito had been a public defender.
