By Nate Raymond
President Joe Biden is moving to nominate two new federal trial court judges in California, adding to the list of judicial nominees that Senate Democrats will need to push to confirm in the lame-duck session following the Nov. 5 election.
The White House late Wednesday said Biden planned to nominate Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Serena Murillo to serve as a federal trial court judge in the city and was seeking to elevate U.S. Magistrate Judge Benjamin Cheeks in San Diego to a life-tenured district court judgeship.
They would join a list of 28 other judicial nominees put forward by the outgoing Democratic president whose nominations remain pending in the Democratic-controlled Senate.
Faced with the prospects of Republican former President Donald Trump returning to the White House or Democratic rival Vice President Kamala Harris being stymied from appointing judges if she were to win the presidential contest but Republicans were to win control of the Senate, Democrats are gearing up to confirm multiple new judges before 2024’s end.
The White House said Wednesday’s nominees in California would help fulfill Biden’s pledge to diversify the federal judiciary. The vast majority of his 213 confirmed judicial nominees have been women or people of color.
“Californians deserve a federal bench that reflects the diversity of the Golden State,” Democratic Senator Laphonza Butler of California said in a statement.
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