Read Full Article (PDF)
Appoint Candace Jackson-Akiwumi to the Seventh Circuit
On November 30, Seventh Circuit Judge Joel Flaum assumed senior status when he completed over four decades of rigorous public service as a prominent jurist. On that day, the Senate resumed the prolonged lame duck session, which the GOP upper chamber majority began after voters had elected Joe Biden to replace former President Donald Trump. Trump correctly refrained from nominating Flaum’s successor. Four months later, President Biden dutifully announced that he would name Candace Jackson-Akiwumi to replace Flaum. Jackson-Akiwumi is a particularly qualified, mainstream nominee. Because she comprehensively answered senators’ complex, probing questions, and the Seventh Circuit lacks any people of color, the Senate must promptly confirm her.
*Carl Tobias
* Williams Chair in Law, University of Richmond. I wish to thank Peggy Sanner and Jamie Wood for ideas, Leslee Stone for excellent processing, University of Richmond Law Review Editor-in-Chief Christopher Sullivan and Online Editor Tesia Kempski for expeditious, careful editing, as well as, Russell Williams and the Hunton Andrews Kurth Summer Endowment Research Fund for generous, continuing support. Remaining errors are mine.