Merrick Brian Garland is an American lawyer and jurist who serves as the 86th United States attorney general. He previously served as a circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 1997 to 2021. In 2016,President Barack Obama nominated Garland to the U.S. Supreme Court,but the Republican-led U.S. Senate effectively blocked Garland's appointment.
Speculation abounded over potential nominations to the Supreme Court of the United States by President George W. Bush since before his presidency.
Miguel Angel Estrada Castañeda is a Honduran-American attorney who became embroiled in controversy following his 2001 nomination by President George W. Bush to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Senate Democrats,unable to block his nomination in the Senate Judiciary Committee after the Republican Party took control of the U.S. Senate in 2002,used a filibuster for the first time to prevent his nomination from being given a final confirmation vote by the full Senate.
Gustavo Antonio GelpíJr. is an American lawyer who serves as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. He is a former chief United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico.
Gerard Edmund Lynch is an American lawyer who serves as a senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He was confirmed to that seat on September 17,2009,after previously having been appointed in 2000 by President Bill Clinton to serve on the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Judge Lynch was the first appeals-court judge nominated by President Barack Obama to win confirmation from the United States Senate.
Salvador Mendoza Jr. is an American lawyer serving as United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He previously served as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Washington from 2014 to 2022 and as a Washington state court judge from 2002 to 2014.
Donald Trump,President of the United States from 2017 to 2021,entered office with a significant number of judicial vacancies,including a Supreme Court vacancy due to the death of Antonin Scalia in February 2016. During the first eight months of his presidency,he nominated approximately 50 judges,a significantly higher number than any other recent president had made by that point in his presidency. By June 24,2020,200 of his Article III nominees had been confirmed by the United States Senate. According to multiple media outlets,Trump significantly impacted the composition of the Supreme Court and lower courts during his tenure.
Stephanie Dawkins Davis is an American lawyer who is serving as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. She previously served as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan and a former United States magistrate judge of the same court.
Tiffany Patrice Cunningham is a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
Candace Rae Jackson-Akiwumi is an American attorney who has served as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit since July 2021. She was previously a staff attorney at the federal defender program in the Northern District of Illinois from 2010 to 2020 and a partner at Zuckerman Spaeder in Washington,D.C.,from 2020 to 2021.
Veronica Sophia Rossman is a Russian-born American lawyer serving as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.
Gabriel Patrick Sanchez is an American lawyer who has served as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit since 2022. He served as an associate judge of the California Court of Appeal from 2018 to 2022.
Holly Aiyisha Thomas is an American attorney serving as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. She previously served as a judge of the Los Angeles County Superior Court from 2018 to 2022.
Arianna Julia Freeman is an American lawyer from Pennsylvania who serves as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
Ana Isabel de Alba is an American attorney who serves as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. She previously served as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California from 2022 to 2023.
President Joe Biden began his presidency with fewer vacancies to fill than his predecessor. He pledged to nominate people with diverse backgrounds and professional experience;further he pledged to nominate the first black woman to the Supreme Court of the United States.
On February 25,2022,President Joe Biden announced that he would nominate Ketanji Brown Jackson to the position of associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States to fill the vacancy by Stephen Breyer,who announced his retirement on January 27,2022,at the age of 83. Jackson,a former law clerk of Breyer,was a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit,having been appointed by Biden in 2021. Jackson is the first Black woman in U.S. history to be nominated to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Rachel Sarah Bloomekatz is an American lawyer from Ohio who serves as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
Dana Marie Douglas is an American attorney who is a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. She previously served as a United States magistrate judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.
Seth Robert Aframe is an American lawyer from New Hampshire who has served as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit since 2024.
