JNC Recommends Six Candidates for Superior Court Vacancies

May 07, 2024

The District of Columbia Judicial Nomination Commission has recommended to President Biden six candidates for judicial vacancies on the Superior Court of the District of Columbia created by the retirement of Judge Jennifer M. Anderson and the resignation of Judge Rupa Ranga. The president has 60 days to select a nominee for each vacancy.

The nominees for Judge Anderson’s position are Saba Bireda, cofounder and chief legal counsel of Brown’s Promise, an organization working to increase equal access to educational resources and end segregation in K–12 schools; Maryam Hatcher, an attorney specializing in environmental law and sustainability; and James Graham Lake, chief of the Workers’ Rights and Antifraud Section at the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia (OAG).

To fill Judge Ranga’s position, the commission has recommended Judge John Lui, administrative law judge with the District of Columbia Office of Administrative Hearings; Elizabeth “Beth” Mellen, assistant deputy attorney general in the Public Advocacy Division at OAG; and Nicholas Miranda, chief of the Victim Witness Assistance Unit at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.