The President is announcing ten judicial nominees, including nine new candidates for the federal bench. All of the nominees are extraordinarily qualified, experienced, and devoted to the rule of law and our Constitution.
These choices also continue to fulfill the President's promise to ensure that the nation's courts reflect the diversity that is one of our greatest assets as a country - both in terms of personal and professional backgrounds.
For example, this slate includes:
- A nominee who is President Biden's second Latina nominee to the Southern District of California; California currently has only one active Latina federal district court judge out of sixty-one federal district court seats.
- A nominee who would be the second Latina federal judge on the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey.
- A nominee who would be the second Latina federal judge on the United States District Court for the District of Nevada and only the third Hispanic judge to ever serve on that court.
- A nominee who would be the only active Black woman federal district court judge in the Northern District of California, and who is President Biden's second Black woman federal district court nominee in California-a state which currently has no active Black women federal district court judges out of sixty-one seats.
This is President Biden's ninth round of nominees for federal judicial positions, bringing the number of announced federal judicial nominees to 62.
President Biden has spent decades committed to strengthening the federal bench, which is why he continues to move rapidly to fill judicial vacancies.
Circuit Court
Judge Leonard Stark: Nominee for the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
Judge Leonard Stark has served as a United States District Court Judge for the District of Delaware since 2010. Judge Stark served as Chief Judge for the District of Delaware from July 2014 to June 2021. Previously, he served as a United States Magistrate Judge for the District of Delaware from 2007 to 2010. From 2002 to 2007, Judge Stark served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Delaware, where he worked in both the criminal and civil divisions. From 1997 to 2001, Judge Stark was an associate in the Wilmington, Delaware office of the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP. He served as a law clerk for Judge Walter Stapleton on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit from 1996 to 1997.
Judge Stark received his J.D. from Yale Law School in 1996., a D. Phil. from the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar in 1993, and a B.A., B.S., and M.A., summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from the University of Delaware in 1991.
District Court
Georgette Castner: Nominee for the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey
Georgette Castner is a partner at Montgomery, McCracken, Walker & Rhoads, LLP in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, where she is a member of the litigation practice group and the firm's diversity committee. She joined the firm in 2007 as an associate before becoming a partner in 2015. Ms. Castner's practice includes representing individuals, non-profits, businesses, and, government entities in litigation and investigations, as well as in pro bono matters. She served as a law clerk for Judge Joseph F. Lisa on the New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division, from 2006 to 2007. Ms. Castner currently serves on the New Jersey Supreme Court Committee on Character and the New Jersey Supreme Court Committee on Model Civil Jury Charges.
Ms. Castner received her J.D., with honors, from Rutgers University School of Law in 2006 and her B.S., cum laude, from The College of New Jersey in 2002.
Judge Jacqueline Corley: Nominee for the United States District Court for the Northern District of California
Judge Jacqueline Corley has served as a Magistrate Judge on the United States District Court for the Northern District of California since 2011. From 2009 to 2011, Judge Corley was a partner at Kerr & Wagstaffe LLP, a San Francisco law firm that specializes in civil litigation. From 1998 to 2009, she served as a career law clerk for Judge Charles Breyer on the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. From 1994 to 1997, Judge Corley was a litigation associate at Coblentz, Patch, Duffy and Bass in San Francisco, where she practiced civil and criminal litigation. From 1992 to 1994, Judge Corley was a litigation associate at Goodwin Procter LLP in Boston. She served as a law clerk for Judge Robert Keeton on the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts from 1991 to 1992.
Judge Corley received her J.D., magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School in 1991 and her B.A., with high distinction, from the University of California at Berkeley in 1988.
Judge Ruth Bermudez Montenegro: Nominee for the United States District Court for the Southern District of California
Judge Ruth Bermudez Montenegro has served as a Magistrate Judge on the United States District Court for the Southern District of California since August 2018. From 2012 to 2013 and again from 2015 to 2018, she served as a judge on the Imperial County Superior Court in California. Judge Montenegro served as the Imperial County Superior Court's Family Support Commissioner from 2013 to 2015. She was Assistant County Counsel for Imperial County from 2011 to 2012 and also served as a Deputy County Counsel IV in 2000. Judge Montenegro served as Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources and Administrative Services for the El Centro Elementary School District in Imperial County from 2002 to 2011 and served as Director of Human Resources for the Imperial Community College District from 2000 to 2002. She was previously an attorney at Horton, Knox, Carter & Foote, LLP from 1993 to 2000.
Judge Montenegro received her J.D. from the UCLA School of Law in 1992, her B.A., summa cum laude, from Clarion University of Pennsylvania in 1989, and her A.A., with honors, from Imperial Valley College in 1987.
Evelyn Padin: Nominee for the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey
Evelyn Padin is the Senior Managing Partner of the Law Offices of Evelyn Padin, a practice she founded in 1995. Her areas of practice include family law and civil litigation. Ms. Padin also served as the President of the New Jersey State Bar Association from 2019 to 2020. She also previously served as a trustee to the Hispanic Bar Association of New Jersey and on the Board of Governors for the New Jersey Association for Justice. Prior to starting her own practice, Ms. Padin was an associate at Linares & Coviello from 1992 to 1994.
Ms. Padin received her J.D. from Seton Hall University School of Law in 1992, her M.S.W. from Fordham University in 1985, and her B.A. from Rutgers University in 1983. Between college and law school, from 1985 until 1989, Ms. Padin worked as a social worker in New York and New Jersey.
Judge Julie Rubin: Nominee for the United States District Court for the District of Maryland
Judge Julie Rubin has served as a judge on the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, Maryland since 2013. From 2000 to 2012, Judge Rubin worked at Astrachan Gunst Thomas Rubin, P.C. in Baltimore where she handled intellectual property and employment law matters. From 1998 to 2000, Judge Rubin was an associate at another Baltimore law firm, Shapiro and Olander, P.A.
Judge Rubin received her J.D. from the University of Maryland School of Law in 1998 and her B.A., cum laude, from Mount Holyoke College in 1995.
Judge Cristina D. Silva: Nominee for the United States District Court for the District of Nevada
Judge Cristina D. Silva has served as a judge on the Eighth Judicial District Court, Department IX, in Las Vegas, Nevada since 2019. From 2011 to 2019, Judge Silva served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Nevada. Judge Silva held numerous leadership positions in the office, including Chief of the Criminal Division from 2018 to 2019 and Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division from 2013 to 2018. From 2007 until 2010, she worked as an Assistant State Attorney in the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office, serving as Assistant Chief of Litigation for the Domestic Violence Unit in 2010.
Judge Silva received her J.D. from American University Washington College of Law in 2007 and her B.A. from Wellesley College in 2001.
Judge Trina Thompson: Nominee for the United States District Court for the Northern District of California
Judge Trina Thompson has served as a judge on the Alameda County Superior Court in Oakland, California since 2002. From 2000 to 2002, Judge Thompson was a Juvenile Court Commissioner in Alameda County Superior Court. From 1991 to 2000, Judge Thompson served as a criminal defense attorney at her own law firm, The Law Offices of Trina Thompson-Stanley. She served as a law clerk and later as an Assistant Public Defender in the Alameda County Public Defender's Office from 1986 to 1991.
Judge Thompson received her a J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law in 1986, and a B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley in 1983.
Anne Rachel Traum: Nominee for the United States District Court for the District of Nevada
Anne Rachel Traum is Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Experiential Legal Education at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, William S. Boyd School of Law, where she has taught since 2008. Ms. Traum served from 2015 to 2016 as Special Counsel in the Office for Access to Justice at the United States Department of Justice. From 2002 to 2008, Ms. Traum was an Assistant Federal Public Defender in the District of Nevada, and from 2000 to 2002, she was a civil Assistant United States Attorney in the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Nevada. From 1998 to 2000, Ms. Traum was a trial attorney in the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the United States Department of Justice. She served as a law clerk for Judge Stanwood R. Duval, Jr. on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana from 1996 to 1998.
Ms. Traum received her J.D., cum laude, from the University of California, Hastings College of Law in 1996 and her A.B., with honors, from Brown University in 1991.
Local D.C. Courts
Kendra Briggs: Nominee for the Superior Court of the District of Columbia
Kendra Briggs has served an Assistant United States Attorney in the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia since 2010. She currently serves as a Senior Assistant United States Attorney in the Public Corruption and Civil Rights Section, where she is responsible for prosecuting civil rights offenses. From 2008 to 2010, Ms. Briggs was an attorney in private practice at Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP in Washington, D.C. From 2006 to 2008, Ms. Briggs served as an Associate General Counsel for the Florida Department of Transportation, and from 2002 to 2006, she was a senior associate at Parks & Crump, LLC, a Florida-based law firm.
Ms. Briggs received her J.D., cum laude, from the University of Miami School of Law in 2002. She received both her B.S. from Florida State University and her A.A. from Florida A&M University in 1996.