Press Release - President Biden Names Eighth Round of Judicial Nominees

The President is announcing fourteen judicial nominees, including ten 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 would be the second Black woman judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia and the first former federal defender to become a district court judge in Georgia.
• A nominee who would be the first AAPI man on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.
• A nominee who would be the second active Black judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio and the only judge on that court with experience as a public defender.
• A nominee who would be the only active AAPI male judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
• A nominee who would be the only active Latina judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.
• A nominee who would be the first AAPI woman judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.
• A nominee who would be the first Hispanic district court judge in Ohio.
• A nominee who would be the first AAPI judge on the D.C. Court of Appeals.

This is President Biden’s eighth round of nominees for federal judicial positions, bringing the number of announced federal judicial nominees to 53.

President Biden has spent decades committed to strengthening the federal bench, which is why he continues to move rapidly to fill judicial vacancies.

Biographies

DISTRICT COURTS

Bridget Meehan Brennan: Nominee for the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio

Bridget Meehan Brennan has served as the Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio since January 2021. Ms. Brennan has held a number of leadership roles since joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office in 2007, including First Assistant from 2018 to 2021, Chief of the Criminal Division from 2017 to 2018, Chief of the Civil Rights Unit from 2015 to 2017, and Ethics Advisor from 2013 to 2018. She was previously an associate at Baker Hostetler LLP in Cleveland from 2000 to 2007. Ms. Brennan received her J.D. from Case Western Reserve School of Law in 2000 and her B.A. from John Carroll University in 1997.

Victoria Marie Calvert: Nominee for the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia

Victoria Marie Calvert has been a staff attorney in the Federal Defender Program in Atlanta since 2012. From 2006 to 2012, Calvert was an associate at King & Spalding LLP in Atlanta, where she represented clients in the Special Matters and Government Investigations group, and engaged in substantial pro bono work. Calvert received her J.D. from New York University Law School in 2006 and her B.A. from Duke University in 2003.

John H. Chun: Nominee for the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington

Judge John H. Chun has been a judge on the Washington Court of Appeals since 2018. He previously served on the King County Superior Court in Seattle from 2014 to 2018. Prior to joining the bench, Judge Chun was a litigator in Seattle, where he focused on commercial and employment litigation. He was a Member with the Summit Law Group P.L.L.C from 2006 to 2013 and a partner at Preston, Gates & Ellis LLP (now K&L Gates LLP) from 2005 to 2006.
From 2002 to 2005, Judge Chun was a partner at Mundt MacGregor LLP, where he also worked as an associate from 1995 to 2001. Judge Chun served as a law clerk for Judge Eugene A. Wright on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit from 1994 to 1995. Judge Chun received his J.D. from Cornell Law School in 1994 and his B.A. from Columbia University in 1991.

Samantha D. Elliott: Nominee for the United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire

Samantha D. Elliott is a partner and Vice President at Gallagher, Callahan & Gartrell, P.C., in Concord, New Hampshire. She has held a number of leadership roles at the law firm since joining in 2006, including hiring partner from 2014 to 2019 and President from 2015 to 2020. Ms. Elliott has also been an active member of New Hampshire Legal Assistance and the Legal Advice Referral Center since 2011 and served as President of the Board of Directors from 2014 to 2017 and co-chair of the Board from 2017 to 2018. Beginning in June 2021, Ms. Elliott has been Co-Chair of the founding Board of Directors for 603 Legal Aid, an entity created by merging the Legal Advice Referral Center and New Hampshire Pro Bono as the result of the work of a statewide legal aid committee on which Ms. Elliott served from 2018 to 2021. Ms. Elliott received her J.D. from Columbia Law School in 2006 and her B.A., cum laude, from Colgate University in 1997.

Charles Esque Fleming: Nominee for the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio

Charles Esque Fleming has served as an Assistant Federal Public Defender in the Office of the Federal Public Defender for the Northern District of Ohio in Cleveland since 1991. In addition to serving as an Assistant Federal Public Defender, Mr. Fleming was the Investigative and Paralegal Staff Supervisor from 2010 to 2016 and the Cleveland Trial Team Supervisor from 2016 to 2021. He was an associate at Forbes, Forbes & Associates in Cleveland from 1990 to 1991. Mr. Fleming received his J.D. from Case Western Reserve University Law School in 1990 and his B.A. from Kent State University in 1986.

Sarah Elisabeth Geraghty: Nominee for the be United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia

Sarah Elisabeth Geraghty is Senior Counsel at the Atlanta-based Law Office of the Southern Center for Human Rights. Since joining the Southern Center for Human Rights in 2003, Ms. Geraghty has held a number of leadership positions, including Managing Attorney of the Impact Litigation Unit from 2015 to 2020. Ms. Geraghty was previously a Staff Attorney with the Office of the Appellate Defender from 2002 to 2003 in New York. Ms. Geraghty served as a law clerk for Judge James B. Zagel on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois from 2000 to 2002. She received her J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School in 1999, her M.S.W. from the University of Michigan School of Social Work in 1998, and her B.A. from Northwestern University in 1996.

Dale E. Ho: Nominee for the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York

Dale E. Ho has served as the Director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Voting Rights Project since 2013. From 2009 to 2013, Mr. Ho worked at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., where he was an Assistant Counsel working on voting rights litigation and other civil rights matters. From 2007 to 2009, Mr. Ho worked as a litigation associate and as an NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Fellow at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson, LLP in New York City. Mr. Ho served as a law clerk for Judge Robert S. Smith on the New York Court of Appeals from 2006 to 2007 and for Judge Barbara S. Jones on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York from 2005 to 2006. Mr. Ho received his J.D. from Yale Law School in 2005 and his A.B., summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from Princeton University in 1999.

Linda Lopez: Nominee for the United States District Court for the Southern District of California

Judge Linda Lopez has served as a Magistrate Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California since 2018. From 2007 to 2018, Judge Lopez worked as a federal public defender in San Diego. From 2003 to 2007, Judge Lopez worked as a criminal defense attorney in Miami as a solo practitioner, where she served on the Criminal Justice Act Panel and represented indigent defendants in federal court on a court-appointed basis. Judge Lopez began her career as a criminal defense attorney in private practice from 1999 to 2003. Judge Lopez received her J.D., magna cum laude and Order of the Coif, from the University of Miami School of Law in 1999 and her B.A., magna cum laude, from Florida International University in 1996. She also received her A.S. in 1994 and her A.A. in 1992, both from Miami Dade Community College.

Jinsook Ohta: Nominee for the United States District Court for the Southern District of California

Judge Jinsook Ohta has served as a Superior Court Judge for the Superior Court in San Diego County since 2020. From 2011 to 2021, Judge Ohta worked in the Consumer Protection Section of the California Attorney General’s Office, first as Deputy Attorney General from 2011 to 2019 and then as a Supervising Deputy Attorney General from 2019 to 2020. Before joining the California Attorney General’s Office, Judge Ohta was an associate at the law firms Sheppard Mullin in San Diego from 2003 to 2006 and O’Melveny & Myers in Los Angeles from 2002 to 2003. Judge Ohta served as a law clerk for Judge Barry Moskowitz on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California from 2001 to 2002 and again from 2007 to 2008. Judge Ohta received her J.D. from New York University School of Law in 2001 and her B.A., magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from Yale University in 1998.

David Augustin Ruiz: Nominee for the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio

Judge David Augustin Ruiz has served as a Magistrate Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio since 2016. From 2010 to 2016, he served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Northern District of Ohio. From 2003 to 2010, Judge Ruiz worked as a senior attorney at Calfee Halter & Griswold LLP in Cleveland. From 2001 to 2003, Judge Ruiz was worked in private practice in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Judge Ruiz received a J.D. from Ohio State University Moritz College of Law in 2000 and a B.A. from Ohio State in 1997.

LOCAL D.C. COURTS

Loren L. AliKhan: Nominee for the District of Columbia Court of Appeals

Loren L. AliKhan has served as the Solicitor General for the District of Columbia since 2018. She previously served as Deputy Solicitor General from 2013 to 2018. From 2010 to 2013, Ms. AliKhan worked in the Supreme Court and Appellate Practice Group at O’Melveny & Myers LLP in Washington, D.C., where she had an extensive pro bono practice. Ms. AliKhan served as a Bristow Fellow in the Office of the Solicitor General at the U.S. Department of Justice from 2008 to 2009. Ms. AliKhan served as a law clerk for Judge Thomas L. Ambro on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit from 2007 to 2008 and for Judge Louis H. Pollak on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania from 2006 to 2007. Ms. AliKhan received her J.D., magna cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center in 2006 and her B.A., summa cum laude, from Bard College at Simon’s Rock in 2003.

Adrienne Jennings Noti: Nominee for the Superior Court of the District of Columbia

Judge Adrienne Jennings Noti has served as a Magistrate Judge on the District of Columbia Superior Court since 2014. From 2011 to 2014, she was an advisor at the Office of Child Support Enforcement of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Judge Noti served as a Managing Attorney at the D.C. Bar Pro Bono Program from 2010 to 2011. From 2006 to 2010, she was a clinical law professor at American University’s Washington College of Law. From 2004 to 2006, Judge Noti was a clinical law professor at Rutgers School of Law–Newark and director of a pro bono program for law students. From 2002 to 2004, she was a staff attorney with the Safe Horizon Domestic Violence Law Project in New York City. Judge Noti was a legal fellow with the Center for Reproductive Rights from 2001 to 2002. She served as a law clerk for Judge Carol Bagley Amon on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York from 2000 to 2001. Judge Noti received her J.D., magna cum laude, from the Georgetown University Law Center in 2000 and her B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1996.

Ebony M. Scott: Nominee for the Superior Court of the District of Columbia

Judge Ebony M. Scott has served as a Magistrate Judge on the Superior Court of the District of Columbia since 2020. From 2018 to 2019, Judge Scott served as a Deputy Director in the District of Columbia Mayor’s Office of Legal Counsel. From 2016 to 2018, she served as General Counsel for the District of Columbia Office of Human Rights. From 2012 to 2016, Judge Scott served as an Assistant Attorney General for the Office of the Attorney General in the Housing and Community Justice Section. Judge Scott was previously a civil litigator at Chaikin, Sherman, Cammarata & Siegel, P.C. from 2007 to 2012. Judge Scott served as a law clerk for Judge Anna Blackburne-Rigsby on the District of Columbia Court of Appeals from 2006 to 2007. Judge Scott received her J.D. from American University Washington College of Law in 2006 and her B.A. from the University of Rochester in 2000.

D.W. Tunnage: Nominee for the Superior Court of the District of Columbia

D.W. Tunnage has served as a Criminal Trial Attorney in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice since 2009. From 2000 to 2009, Mr. Tunnage served as a Civil Trial Attorney, also in the Civil Rights Division. Mr. Tunnage previously served as an Assistant Public Defender in Florida’s Office of the Public Defender in Miami from 1993 to 1998. Mr. Tunnage received his M.P.P. from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government in 2000, his J.D. from Duke University Law School in 1992, and his B.A., magna cum laude, from Morehouse College in 1990.