Washington, Sept. 28 (BUS) – President Joe Biden nominates nine attorneys to run US attorney general’s offices across the country, a diverse group of candidates in the latest round of selections for senior law enforcement positions.
The nominations, announced by the White House on Tuesday, are expected to run by federal prosecutors’ offices in Hawaii, Rhode Island, North Carolina, Colorado, Ohio, Vermont and the US Virgin Islands. The Biden administration said they would include many historic firsts, including the first black female attorneys to lead their counties.
93 US attorneys at the Department of Justice, who are responsible for federal criminal trials in their counties, are central to the Biden administration’s efforts to combat violent crime, the Associated Press reports.
The White House said the nominees were “selected because of their dedication to law enforcement, their professionalism, experience and qualifications in the field, their dedication to the pursuit of equal justice for all, and their commitment to the independence of the Department of Justice.” .
The announcement also means that Biden has now nominated 25 people to serve as US attorneys, positions that have been held for months by US attorneys general.
Candidates include Claire Connors, who served as Hawaii’s attorney general in 2019, and Sandra Hairston, who has served as the acting U.S. attorney for the Central District of North Carolina since March. If confirmed by the Senate, Hairston would be the first black woman to hold the position.
The White House also nominates Zachary Kona to be the attorney general of the United States in Rhode Island, where he currently directs the civil division of the office. Michael Easley, Jr., partner at law firm McGuire Woods, is being selected to run the firm in the Eastern District of North Carolina, based in Raleigh.
Cole Finnegan, managing partner of the Denver-based law firm Hogan Lovells, is assigned to the US attorney in Colorado, and Nicholas Kerst, a longtime federal prosecutor in Vermont, is nominated to run the office there.
Other candidates include former federal prosecutors. Dina King, who was responsible for prosecuting violent crime and drug cases in the Western District of North Carolina, is proposed to run the US Attorney’s office there and would be the first black person to hold this position. Kenneth Parker is nominated for the Southern District of Ohio.
Management also nominated Delia L. Smith to manage the US Attorney’s office in the US Virgin Island. She has worked there as a prosecutor since 2005 and will be the first black woman to hold that position.
RAE