The President is announcing three new federal judicial nominees, all of whom 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, if confirmed, Judge Doris Pryor would be the first judge of color to ever serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit from Indiana.
This is President Biden's eighteenth round of nominees for federal judicial positions and his fifth slate of nominations in 2022, bringing the number of announced federal judicial nominees to 98.
President Biden has spent decades committed to strengthening the federal bench, which is why he continues to move rapidly to fill judicial vacancies. And he has won confirmation of the most lower court judges for the first year of a presidency since the Kennedy Administration.
U.S. Circuit Court
Rachel S. Bloomekatz: Nominee for the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
Rachel S. Bloomekatz is a solo practitioner at Bloomekatz Law LLC, which she founded in 2019 in Columbus, Ohio. From 2016 to 2019, Ms. Bloomekatz was a principal at Gupta Wessler PLLC. She was previously an associate at Jones Day LLC in Columbus, Ohio from 2013 to 2015. Ms. Bloomekatz served as an Assistant Attorney General in the Office of the Attorney General in Boston, Massachusetts from 2010 to 2011. From 2011 to 2012, Ms. Bloomekatz served as a law clerk for Justice Stephen Breyer on the U.S. Supreme Court. From 2009 to 2010, she served as a law clerk for Chief Justice Margaret Marshall on the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. From 2008 to 2009, Ms. Bloomekatz served as a law clerk for Judge Guido Calabresi on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Ms. Bloomekatz received her J.D. from UCLA School of Law in 2008 and her A.B., magna cum laude, from Harvard University in 2004.
Judge Florence Y. Pan: Nominee for the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
Judge Florence Y. Pan has served on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia since 2021. She previously served as an Associate Judge on the Superior Court for the District of Columbia from 2009 to 2021. From 1999 to 2009, Judge Pan served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, where she also served as Deputy Chief of the Appellate Division from 2007 to 2009. From 1998 to 1999, she worked at the U.S. Department of Treasury, first as a Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary for Financial Markets in 1998 and then as a Senior Advisor to the Undersecretary for Domestic Finance in 1999. Judge Pan worked for the U.S. Department of Justice from 1995 to 1998, during which time she was a Bristow Fellow in the Office of the Solicitor General from 1995 to 1996 and an attorney in the Appellate Section of the Criminal Division from 1996 to 1998. She served as a law clerk for Judge Ralph K. Winter on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from 1994 to 1995, and for Judge Michael B. Mukasey on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York from 1993 to 1994.
Judge Pan received her J.D. with distinction from Stanford Law School in 1993, and her B.A. and B.S., summa cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania in 1988.
Judge Doris L. Pryor: Nominee for the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
Judge Doris L. Pryor has served as a U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Southern District of Indiana since 2018. From 2006 to 2018, Judge Pryor served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Indiana. She served as National Security Chief for the office from 2014 to 2018. From 2005 to 2006, Judge Pryor served as a Deputy Public Defender for the State of Arkansas Public Defender's Commission. Judge Pryor served as a law clerk for Judge J. Leon Holmes on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas from 2004 to 2005 and for Chief Judge Lavenski Smith on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit from 2003 to 2004.
Judge Pryor received her J.D. from the Indiana University Maurer School of Law in 2003 and her B.S. from the University of Central Arkansas in 1999.