Today, the Biden administration announced nominees for several seats on federal courts throughout the country. These nominees include Jia Cobb for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and Myrna Perez for the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Sherrilyn Ifill, President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), issued the following statement regarding these nominees:
“We are encouraged that the Biden administration has continued to focus on advancing judicial nominees. It is of utmost importance to prioritize this matter and ensure our court system’s soundness and integrity.
“We also congratulate Jia Cobb and Myrna Perez on their nominations for seats in the federal judiciary. Both individuals will bring much-needed professional diversity to the federal court system. Ms. Cobb is an esteemed civil rights attorney with deep experience working on criminal justice, police accountability, and fair housing issues – and Ms. Perez is an exceptional voting rights attorney who is intimately familiar with election law. The nominees’ professional backgrounds will be exceedingly valuable in the federal judiciary, which has recently seen an influx in civil rights-related cases.
“We welcome the establishment of a federal judiciary that is reflective of this nation’s rich diversity, which helps ensure the system’s legitimacy and integrity. If confirmed, Ms. Cobb will be only the fourth Black woman ever appointed to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. And Ms. Perez would be the only Latina sitting on the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court — the first since Justice Sonia Sotomayor vacated her seat to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court. We call on the U.S. Senate to take up and confirm these nominees without delay.”
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Founded in 1940, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) is the nation’s first civil and human rights law organization. LDF has been completely separate from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) since 1957—although LDF was originally founded by the NAACP and shares its commitment to equal rights. LDF’s Thurgood Marshall Institute is a multi-disciplinary and collaborative hub within LDF that launches targeted campaigns and undertakes innovative research to shape the civil rights narrative. In media attributions, please refer to us as the NAACP Legal Defense Fund or LDF. Follow LDF on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook
