Legal leaders and community members are calling for President Biden to nominate a Black woman for an open seat on the South District Court in Florida.
The open seat was most recently held by the late Marcia Cooke — who passed away earlier this year after a battle with cancer.
Cooke made history for being the first and only Black woman to serve as a federal judge in the Florida court’s 176-year history.
According to WSVN in Miami, reports detail that people in Florida are hopeful that a Black woman will be appointed to at least one of the four open and soon-to-be-vacant judge seats in South Florida
Members of the Black Bar Association in South Florida are joining the effort to push for continued diversity on the bench in South Florida.
“President Joseph R. Biden has the ripe opportunity to ensure that glass ceiling remains shattered,” said Dwayne Robinson, Judicial Diversity Initiative Chair.
The Judicial Diversity Initiative includes members of the Black Bar Association in Broward, Miami and Palm Beach County.
“In a district that serves 6.3 million people, we urge the administration to seek out at least one who has walked the road of a Black woman in America,” said Bacardi Jackson of the Southern Poverty Law Center. “Long underrepresented communities deserve representation.”
According to the Judicial Diversity Initiative, there are currently three Black women finalists in the search for a judge in the Southern District of Florida.
The late Cooke was nominated to the federal bench by former President George W. Bush in November 2003. She was confirmed as a federal judge by a 96-0 Senate vote in 2004.
“Judge Cooke established herself as a sharp and fair jurist who treated everyone in her courtroom with respect and kindness,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a statement following her death. “Judge Cooke’s death is an immense loss and she will be sorely missed.”