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Floor Speech

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Mr. PETERS. Mr. President, I rise today to urge my colleagues to confirm several highly qualified nominees to serve on the local District of Columbia courts--the DC Superior Court, which functions as the State-level trial court, and the DC Court of Appeals, which serves as the State-level appellate court right here in our Nation's Capital.

Both courts are currently suffering from a vacancy crisis. There are 16 of the 62 DC Superior Court seats that are currently empty, and 3 of the 9 seats on the DC Court of Appeals are also vacant, slowing justice and impeding public safety for all District residents.

Last year, the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs reported seven nominees to serve on the DC courts by a bipartisan voice vote. These include five nominees to serve on the DC Superior Court--Rupa Ranga Puttagunta, Kenia Seoane Lopez, Sean Staples, Ebony Scott, and Donald Tunnage--and two nominees to serve on the DC Court of Appeals--John Howard III and Loren AliKhan.

Judge Puttagunta currently serves as an administrative judge for the DC Rental Housing Commission. She began her legal career as a law clerk in the DC Superior Court and the DC Court of Appeals and practiced for several years in the District of Columbia, focusing on family and criminal law. I am certainly pleased that my colleagues confirmed her earlier today.

Judge Seoane Lopez currently serves as a magistrate judge on the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, a position that she has held for 9 years. She previously served as a bilingual attorney negotiator in the court's domestic violence division and as an assistant attorney general for the Office of the Attorney General of the District of Columbia.

Judge Staples also currently serves as a magistrate judge for the District of Columbia Superior Court, a position he was appointed to in 2013. Early in his career, he served as a law clerk on the superior court and then worked as a solo practitioner and an assistant public defender. He went on to work as a clinical professor for several years, supervising law students representing criminal defendants in DC Superior Court.

Judge Scott has served as a magistrate judge on DC Superior Court since 2020. She previously served as a deputy director in the DC Mayor's Office of Legal Counsel as general counsel for the District of Columbia Office of Human Rights and the assistant attorney general for the DC Office of the Attorney General's housing and community justice section.

Mr. Tunnage has served as a criminal trial attorney in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice since 2009 and previously served as an assistant public defender in Miami, FL.

Loren AliKhan has served as the solicitor general for the District of Columbia since 2018. She previously served as deputy solicitor general and spent time in the U.S. Department of Justice and in the appellate practice division of a DC law firm.

John Howard III currently serves as an administrative law judge with the District of Columbia Office of Administrative Hearings. He previously worked in private practice and served as an administrative law judge with the District of Columbia Commission on Human Rights.

All of these nominees are experienced lawyers and adjudicators, and all of them are dedicated to serving the people of the District of Columbia.

These are not controversial nominations. Unlike Federal judicial nominees, these individuals are extensively vetted by an independent, seven-member local commission, which recommends candidates for the President to nominate.

During the last administration, the Senate confirmed 10 local DC judicial nominees, all by voice vote.

I urge my colleagues to join me in confirming these nominees, each of whom has broad and strong bipartisan support.

Thank you.

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