Senate Confirms Norton Recommendations, Sparkle L. Sooknanan and Amir H. Ali, for the U.S. District Court for D.C.

WASHINGTON, D.C. –– Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) announced that the Senate confirmed Norton’s recommendations who President Biden nominated, Sparkle L. Sooknanan and Amir H. Ali, to serve on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The two are the last federal judicial nominees Norton recommended to President Biden. 

Sooknanan has been the Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the United States Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division since 2023. She previously served as a Deputy Associate Attorney General in the Department of Justice after first working in the Department as an appellate attorney in the Civil Division. She served as a law clerk for Justice Sonia Sotomayor on the U.S. Supreme Court, for Judge Guido Calabresi on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and for Judge Eric N. Vitaliano on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Sooknanan received her J.D., summa cum laude, from Brooklyn Law School, her M.B.A. with distinction from Hofstra University, and her B.S., summa cum laude, from St. Francis College.

Amir H. Ali has been President and Executive Director of the MacArthur Justice Center since 2021 and Director of the Criminal Justice Appellate Clinic at Harvard Law School since 2018. Previously, Mr. Ali worked in private practice as an associate at Jenner & Block LLP in Washington, D.C. from 2013 to 2017. He also served as a law clerk for Justice Marshall Rothstein on the Supreme Court of Canada from 2012 to 2013 and Judge Raymond C. Fisher on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit from 2011 to 2012. Mr. Ali received his J.D., magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School in 2011 and his B.S.E. from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada in 2008.

Because D.C. lacks senators to recommend candidates for some positions, Presidents Clinton, Obama, and Biden granted Norton senatorial courtesy to recommend judges for the U.S. District Court for D.C., the U.S. Attorney for D.C., the U.S. Marshal for the D.C. Superior Court, and the U.S. Marshal for the U.S. District Court for D.C. Norton has established a nominating commission, comprised of lawyers and non-lawyers from all eight wards in D.C., to screen applicants and to make recommendations to her for the senatorial courtesy positions.

"As is evident from both nominees’ extensive and impressive accomplishments, Sooknanan and Ali have the principles, acumen and experience to serve as exemplary federal judges," Norton said. "They will bring much-needed diversity to the federal bench. I look forward to their service and thank President Biden for granting me senatorial courtesy to recommend judges for the U.S. District Court for D.C."

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