Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On The Vote To Confirm Roopali Desai As A Circuit Judge On The Ninth Circuit

Washington, D.C. –  Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor on continuing to confirm the President’s highly qualified and diverse slate of judicial nominees, including Roopali Desai to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:

Today, the Senate will continue fulfilling its Constitutional duty to confirm the President’s highly qualified judicial nominees.

This afternoon, we will vote to confirm the seventy-sixth federal judge since the beginning of President Biden’s term, Roopali Desai, nominated to serve as a Circuit Judge for the Ninth Circuit.

Not long ago, a nominee like Ms. Desai would have been rarely seen in the Senate, but under President Biden the Senate is confirming more and more nominees that break away from the norm: over 75% of President Biden’s nominees are women, and nearly half are women of color. Now people say, well, why shouldn't it be the same percentage as the population? Well that's what we're trying to get to, but we're way behind and putting more women and people of color on the bench gets those percentages a little closer to the American norm. But we have a ways to go.

Moreover, Ms. Desai will make history as the first South Asian judge to serve on the Ninth Circuit, and only the fifth AAPI woman ever to sit on a federal circuit court.

Ms. Desai’s resume leaves no doubt she merits confirmation: a graduate of Arizona School of Law, a clerk for Judge Mary Schroeder, the first woman to ever serve as a Ninth Circuit Chief Judge, she has excelled at every step of her legal career. She is one of Arizona’s top election lawyers, having played a crucial role in protecting her state’s elections in 2020, and has fought for everyone from children in foster care to children in public schools during the pandemic.

As my Arizona colleagues, Senator Sinema and Senator Kelly, will attest to, Ms. Desai is deeply respected by all corners of Arizona’s legal community and will make an excellent judge when we confirm her later today.

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