The Federal Defender Program, Inc. in Atlanta, Georgia has selected Natasha Perdew Silas to serve as its next Executive Director.
She has spent more than a quarter-century defending indigent persons accused of federal criminal offenses as a Staff Attorney and then Senior Litigation Attorney with the Atlanta Federal Defender Program.
The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit has selected Tara I. Allen to serve as the next Federal Defender for the Districts of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island (access press release).
The presence of Black men serving as active judges on the federal appellate courts has stalled in the past 10 years, even as President Joe Biden has prioritized demographic diversity in his judicial nominations and almost doubled the number of Black women on the circuit courts (access full article).
The Senate on Monday voted to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the influential federal appeals court in Washington DC (access full article).
Jackson, a federal trial court judge in D.C. since 2013 and former district, circuit, and supreme court law clerk to Justice Stephen G. Breyer, is often mentioned as someone who could fulfill President Biden’s pledge to put the first Black woman on the supreme court.
The Senate Judiciary Committee, holding its first judicial confirmation hearing since President Biden took office, heard from two nominees for federal appeals roles: Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, nominated for a prominent appeals court in Washington; and lawyer Candace Jackson-Akiwumi, tapped for a seat on the Chicago-based Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (access full article).
President Biden on Tuesday rolled out his first slate of judicial nominees, announcing candidates with diverse backgrounds and professional qualifications as he begins to make his own stamp on the nation's district and circuit courts (access full article).
In 2021, FBI agents lied to a judge, got permission to raid safe-deposit boxes owned by people suspected of no crime, and then sent hundreds of forfeiture notices never saying what the box owners did wrong. Then they lost the contents of many of the boxes, including retirees' entire life savings. But don't take our word for it. Head over to The Los Angeles Times and see the FBI agents admit as much under oath.
As we commemorate Juneteenth this year, we reflect on its profound significance in our nation’s history and in the lives of all those who have fought for freedom and equality. Juneteenth, which commemorates the end of slavery in the United States, marks the enduring legacy of emancipation and the ongoing journey toward justice for all.
The Training Division is honored to recognize and celebrate this profound day in American history.
On June 24, 2024, The Bronx Defenders announced its appointment of Juval O. Scott as their next Executive Director. Scott is a trailblazer in indigent defense and her commitment is exemplified in every aspect of her work.
Starting in at least 2007, Oklahoma has allowed transgender people to obtain Oklahoma birth certificates with amended sex designations. In 2021, the governor issued an executive order directing the Department of Health to stop amending sex designations. Three transgender Oklahomans sue. Tenth Circuit: This is sex discrimination and thus might get heightened scrutiny, but it fails even rational-basis scrutiny.