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6 ■ JUNE 21, 2021 NEWS

■ From BIDEN on PAGE 5 in 2016 after serving as a judge in New London,
Judge Diane Wood of the U.S. Court of Appeals Connecticut, from 2014 to 2016. He was previ-
for the Seventh Circuit. She has also taught tri- ously an assistant public defender in Connecticut.
al advocacy at American University Washington He graduated from the University of Connecticut
College of Law, as well as through a trial advocacy Law School in 2002.
workshop at Harvard Law School. She earned her >> Tovah Calderon, nominee for the D.C.
law degree from Harvard. Court of Appeals: Currently the acting deputy
>> Sarah Merriam, nominee for the Con- assistant attorney general at DOJ’s civil right di-
necticut District Court: Merriam is currently vision, Calderon has held several roles within
serving as a magistrate judge for the District of the department since she joined in 2001. Some
Connecticut, a role she has held since 2015. Be- of those positions include deputy chief in the
fore then, she spent 2007 to 2015 as an assistant civil right division’s appellate section, as well as
public defender in Connecticut, and was an as- details to the Senate Judiciary Committee, the
sociate with the firm Cowdery, Ecker & Murphy White House Domestic Policy Council and the
from 2003 to 2006. Between civil rights division’s policy and
then she worked on political strategy section.
campaigns in the state, accord- Calderon clerked for Judge
ing to the White House. Francis Murnaghan Jr. of the
Merriam clerked for U.S. Dis- U.S. Court of Appeals for the
trict Judge Alvin Thompson of Myrna Pérez, the director Fourth Circuit, as well as other
the District of Connecticut and of the Brennan Center’s judges on that court and the
Judge Thomas Meskill of the U.S. Voting Rights and Maryland district court, and
Court of Appeals for the Second Elections Program, was graduated from the Howard
Circuit. She earned her law de- already announced by University School of Law.
gree from Yale Law School, as Senate Majority Leader >> Kenia Seoane Lopez,
well as a master of laws from Chuck Schumer as his nominee for the D.C. Superior
Duke University School of Law. Court: Seoane Lopez is a magis-
>> Sarala Vidya Nagala, nom- recommendation to sit on trate judge with the D.C. Superior
inee for Connecticut District the Second Circuit. Court, a role she was appointed
Court: Nagala is deputy chief to in 2012. Before then, she was
of the major crimes unit at the a bilingual attorney negotiator
U.S. Attorney’s Office in Con- at the court’s domestic violence
necticut. She joined that office division. She also served as an
in 2012 and was previously hate assistant attorney general in the
crimes coordinator in that office. She was an as- legal services section of the D.C. attorney gener-
sociate at Munger, Tolles & Olson’s San Francisco al’s child support division. Seoane Lopez clerked
office from 2009 to 2012, and clerked for Judge for the Massachusetts Supreme Court, as well as
Susan Graber of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the for the D.C. Superior Court’s senior judges. She
Ninth Circuit. Nagala earned her law degree from earned her law degree—as well as a masters in
the University of California at Berkeley School of Latin American, Caribbean and Iberian studies—
Law. If confirmed, she would be the first judge of from the University of Wisconsin. ■
South Asian descent to serve at the Connecticut
trial court, according to the White House. Jacqueline Thomsen, based in Washington, is a re-
>> Omar Williams, nominee for Connecti- porter covering D.C. federal courts and the legal
cut District Court: Williams is a Superior Court side of politics. Contact her at [email protected]
judge in Hartford, Connecticut, a role he took on and follow her on Twitter @jacq_thomsen.
CONNECTICUT
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