Latinos for a Fair Judiciary lauds progress on diversifying the federal bench in 2021, but urges White House and the Senate to appoint more Latinos in 2022

In reaction to today’s announcement from the White House regarding the latest slate of judicial nominations, Latinos for a Fair Judiciary (LFJ) issued the following statement from its Director, Andrea Nill Sánchez:

“2021 marks a historic year for diversifying the federal bench. Not only have Latinos themselves made up 20 percent of the total judicial nominees in 2021, a significant percentage of all judicial nominees have had experience as public defenders or civil rights advocates. By nominating highly qualified, professionally diverse women of color like Nancy Gbana Abudu and J. Michelle Childs, the White House is making the federal judiciary more just, more enlightened, and more representative of the U.S. population — particularly communities of color who are disproportionately impacted by the justice system.”

“But while the Biden-Harris administration has kept its overall promise of prioritizing the nomination of qualified people of color and women to the federal courts, many of us in the Latino community are alarmed that not enough progress was made this year. We end 2021 still with a gaping lack of Latino judicial representation in key states where the Latino population grew significantly over the last decade. 2022 must be the year that the White House and Senate act with urgency and prioritize identifying, nominating, and confirming more Latinos to key courts — particularly the Second, Fourth, Seventh, Ninth, and Tenth Circuits.”

For more information about LFJ, visit www.latinosforafairjudiciary.org.

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