Biden rolls out 2 new red-state judicial picks

President Joe Biden is rolling out two new red-state picks for the federal bench — both of whom are expected to clear a critical political hurdle in the Senate.

Biden’s two nominees are both set to fill judicial vacancies in Louisiana: Jerry Edwards, Jr. is a top federal prosecutor in the state, according to a forthcoming White House announcement that POLITICO reviewed, while Brandon Scott Long is a former deputy chief of staff to FBI Director Chris Wray.

Both picks must go through the Senate tradition known as the blue slip, which affords home-state senators effective veto power over federal district court nominees they disapprove of. That puts Biden’s judicial picks in red states in limbo unless they win the sign-off of the Republican senators who represent those states.

One red-state Biden judicial nominee withdrew from consideration last month amid uncertainty over whether his state’s two GOP senators would exercise their blue slip power to block him.

But Wednesday’s nominees don’t appear in peril: Both Louisiana senators are expected to secure blue slips for confirmation hearings, according to a person familiar with the nomination process who was granted anonymity to discuss private deliberations.

The new judicial picks underscore the Biden White House’s continued focus on filling vacancies on the federal bench, where major policy matters are often settled after presidents in both parties use executive orders to make decisions without congressional involvement.

Donald Trump’s White House famously put a massive emphasis on confirming judges. Then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell prioritized that work, which resulted in the Senate confirming 234 Article III judges (including three Supreme Court justices) — an enormous number.

Trump’s overhaul of the federal judiciary left Democrats reeling; Biden’s team has kept up a healthy confirmation pace, however, getting more judges through during its first two years of work than Trump did during his first two years in power.

Biden has now nominated 170 people to federal judgeships, according to the White House, 64 percent of whom are people of color. Edwards, if confirmed, will be the first person of color to serve as a judge in the Western District of Louisiana.

Long has worked in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Louisiana since 2014. From 2005 to 2010, he was an associate at the firm King & Spalding. Wray was a partner at the firm at the same time. From February 2020 until July 2021, Long was Wray’s deputy chief of staff.

In addition to the two judicial picks, the president is also nominating Rebecca Lutzko to be U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio. She joined that office as a prosecutor in 2005 and currently heads its appellate division. Cleveland.com reported in January that she was the likely pick for the job.

Further, Biden is nominating Philip S. Hadji to the Court of Federal Claims and Kenechukwu Onyemaechi Okocha to D.C. Superior Court.