The White House announced Friday that President Biden has tapped a Cincinnati judge, Jeffrey Hopkins, as one of seven judicial nominees for district courts.
Hopkins is a candidate for the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.
According to a statement from the White House, the slate of nominees will ensure, "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."
Judicial candidates would bring diversity to the bench
The White House press release states the slate of candidates that the president feels adds diversity to the bench includes Judge Daniel Calabretta, who, if confirmed, would be the first LGBT judge to serve on the US District Court for the Eastern District of California.
It also includes Araceli Martinez-Olguin, who would be the second Latina to serve on the US District Court for the Northern District of California if confirmed.
And if confirmed, Judge Rita Lin would be the second Asian American woma, and the first Chinese American woman to serve on the United States District Court for Northern District of California.
The dislate also includes Hopkins, who is African American, and currently a judge on the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Ohio. He has held that judgeship since 1996.
Hopkins previously was an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio from 1990 to 1993. He was also an associate at Squire, Sanders & Dempsey LLP (now Squire Patton Boggs) from 1987 to 1990, according to the White House statement.
He is a graduate of The Ohio State University Law School and received his undergraduate degree from Bowdoin College.
Hopkins served as a law clerk for Judge Alan Norris on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit from 1986 to 1987 and the Ohio Court of Appeals from 1985 to 1986.
The Williams Chair in Law at the University of Richmond School of Law, Carl Tobias, told The Enquirer via email on Friday, that Hopkins will make an excellent judge based on his qualifications.
"Judge Hopkins is a very experienced, mainstream nominee, who brings ethnic diversity to the federal bench. A number of district judges across the U.S have first served as bankruptcy judges and that expertise can be very relevant to district judge service," Tobias stated.
He added that Hopkins also has private practice experience with a highly regarded law firm and public service as an an assistant United States attorney, which Tobias says, gives him the criminal law experience that district judges must possess.
"One issue for him and the other nominees in this group is timing, because there are many nominees ahead of them and the days that the Senate will work between now and the end of the year are relatively few," Tobias said in his statement. "However, the Judiciary Committee Chair, Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, is committed to moving ASAP all nominees whom Biden taps."
List of Biden's district court nominees
Biden district court nominees announced Friday, include several sitting judges in state and federal courts. They were:
- Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Daniel Calabretta, a former Justice John Paul Stevens clerk, nominated to the US District Court for the Eastern District of California;
- Boston Municipal Court Associate Justice Myong Joun, a US Army and Massachusetts National Guard veteran, nominated to the District of Massachusetts;
- Massachusetts Deputy State Solicitor General Julia Kobick, nominated to the District of Massachusetts;
- San Francisco County Superior Court Judge Rita Lin, nominated to the Northern District of California;
- National Immigration Law Center lawyer Araceli Martinez-Olguin, nominated to the Northern District of California;
- Superior Court of the District of Columbia Associate Judge Todd Edelman is Biden’s planned nominee for a seat on the D.C. District.
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