Biden nominates several federal judges, including replacement for Garland

March 30 (UPI) -- President Joe Biden named nearly a dozen nominees for open federal judge positions on Tuesday, including a woman who could ultimately be in line for a nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The White House announced the presidential nominations on Tuesday.

Among the candidates are Ketanji Brown Jackson, a longtime District Court judge in Washington, D.C., who would succeed Merrick Garland on the Circuit Court of Appeals. Garland vacated the post to become Biden's attorney general and was unsuccessfully nominated to the Supreme Court by former President Barack Obama in 2016.

Brown Jackson, an honors graduate from Harvard Law School, clerked for Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer in 1999 and 2000.

She has ruled against President Donald Trump on several issues, which may generate some opposition from Senate Republicans -- including granting a preliminary injunction that blocked Trump from expanding government authority to deport migrants through a fast-track process.

"This trailblazing slate of nominees draws from the very best and brightest minds of the American legal profession," Biden said in a statement.

"Each is deeply qualified and prepared to deliver justice faithfully under our Constitution and impartially to the American people -- and together they represent the broad diversity of background, experience and perspective that makes our nation strong."

Biden's other judicial candidates include:

• Tiffany Cunningham for the U.S. Court of Appeals Federal Circuit
• Candace Jackson-Akiwumi for U.S. Court of Appeals in the Seventh Circuit
• Judge Deborah Boardman for U.S. District Court in Maryland
• Judge Lydia Griggsby for U.S. District Court in Maryland
• Julien Neals for U.S. District Court in New Jersey
• Judge Florence Y. Pan for U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia
• Judge Zahid N. Quraishi for U.S. District Court in New Jersey
• Regina Rodriguez for U.S. District Court in Colorado
• Margaret Strickland for U.S. District Court in New Mexico
• Judge Rupa Ranga Puttagunta for Superior Court in the District of Columbia