Congressman A. Donald McEachin (VA-04) sent a letter to President Biden urging him to nominate Judge Arenda Wright Allen to fill an upcoming vacancy on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
The vacancy will be made by Judge Barbara Milano Keenan, who will take senior status in August.
Allen has been a U.S. District Court Judge in the Norfolk division of the Eastern District of Virginia since 2011. Allen served in the Federal Public Defender’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia from 2005-2011 and served in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in both the Eastern District of Virginia and the Western District of Virginia from 1990 to 2005. She also has a distinguished record of service in the Navy and has a lifelong commitment to diversity.
“As a mentor of mine once said, the standard of any judge should be whether we can trust them with defending and upholding our civil rights. In her ruling in Bostic v. Rainey, Judge Allen demonstrably showed her commitment to protecting all Americans’ rights, when she struck down the same-sex civil marriage ban in Virginia,” said Rep. McEachin (VA-04).
“Judge Allen has an impressive legal career that spans over twenty years and includes service in the U.S. Navy’s Judge Advocate General’s Corps, as a federal prosecutor, and as a public defender. The first African American woman appointed as a federal District Court judge in Virginia, Judge Allen is a barrier breaker and trailblazer. It is with great pride that I urge President Biden to nominate Judge Allen to fill the vacancy in the Fourth Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals.”
Read McEachin’s letter to President Biden here.
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