Amir Ali – Nominee to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

The Biden administration has tapped 39-year-old civil rights litigator Amir H. Ali for a lifetime appointment to the federal bench on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Ali is the fifth Muslim American nominated as an Article III judge by President Biden. Prior to the start of the Biden administration, there had never been a Muslim Article III judge in the history of the country.

Background    

Amir Ali immigrated to the United States of America, eventually becoming a naturalized citizen. He received a B.S.E. in Software Engineering from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada in 2008 and his J.D., magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School in 2011. 

After graduating, Ali served as a law clerk for Judge Raymond C. Fisher on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit from 2011 to 2012 and Justice Marshall Rothstein on the Supreme Court of Canada from 2012 to 2013. Ali then joined Jenner & Block LLP in Washington, D.C. as an associate from 2013 to 2017. In 2018, he became Director of the Criminal Justice Appellate Clinic at Harvard Law School. Since 2021, he has been the President and Executive Director of the MacArthur Justice Center, overseeing the organization’s trial and appellate litigation. He replaced Locke Bowman, who served as Executive Director for almost 30 years.

Ali teaches at Harvard Law School, co-directing the law school’s Criminal Justice Appellate Clinic. He is a founding Board Member and Co-Chair of the nonprofit organization The Appellate Project.

History of the Seat

Ali has been nominated to replace Beryl Howell, who assumed senior status on February 1, 2024.​ Howell recently stepped down as chief judge of the court on March 16, 2023.

Legal Experience

Ali is a veteran litigator who has argued civil rights, racial justice and criminal defense cases at all levels in federal court. Ali has argued several major civil rights cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. In Welch v. United States (2016), Ali argued on behalf of Gregory Welch, who pleaded guilty to one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm in 2010 and had previously been convicted of three other felonies. The Armed Career Criminal Act enhanced the maximum sentence for a convicted felon from 10 years to a minimum of 15 years and a maximum of life imprisonment if the felon had three or more prior convictions for drug or violent felonies. Welch was subsequently sentenced to 15 years in prison. In the 2015 case Johnson v. United States, the United States Supreme Court ruled the Residual Clause of the Armed Career Criminal Act was unconstitutionally vague and a violation of due process. Ali represented Welch who filed a petition for certiorari resulting in a 7–1 decision the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Johnson v. United States announced a substantive rule change and was thus retroactive with Justice Thomas being the lone dissenter.

In 2017, Ali filed a brief in Hawaii v. Trump challenging President Trump’s “Muslim ban” executive order. The brief asked for declaratory judgment and an injunction halting the order. Justice Sotomayor cited Ali’s brief in her dissenting opinion.

In 2018, Ali represented Gilberto Garza, Jr. in Garza v. Idaho before the United States Supreme Court. The case centered on two plea agreements Garza signed in 2015 which required him to waive his right to appeal. Garza then informed his trial counsel he wanted to appeal post sentencing, however his counsel declined to file a notice of appeal due to the waivers Garza signed. In a 6-3 decision, the court ruled in favor of the petitioner, reversing and remanding the case on the grounds that Garza’s trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance.

In 2018, the MacArthur Justice Center, in partnership with the Promise of Justice Initiative filed a petition for certiorari on behalf of Corey Williams in the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1998, Williams, who was an intellectually disabled 16-year-old child that had an IQ of 68, was accused and convicted of first-degree murder. Prosecutors sought the death penalty and Williams spent 20 years in Louisiana prison. In response to the petition to the U.S. Supreme Court, the Caddo Parish District Attorney’s Office agreed to the immediate release of Mr. Williams.

 In 2022, Ali represented Navy veteran Larry Thompson before the U.S. Supreme Court in Thompson v. Clark. Thompson’s sister-in-law called 911 to his Brooklyn, New York apartment, alleging he was sexually abusing his one-week-old child. Thompson refused to let police inside of his apartment without a search warrant. The four police officers dispatched to the apartment forced their way in, restrain Thompson who resisted and took him into custody for two days charging him with resisting arrest. After an investigation by law enforcement revealed no signs of child abuse, all charges were dismissed. Thompson filed suit against the four officers alleging they violated his Fourth Amendment rights.  The case was dismissed at the trial level and on appeal to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals due to existing precedent, requiring Thompson to show that he had been affirmatively found innocent of committing the crimes in question. Thompson filed a petition for a writ of certiorari and in a 6–3 opinion, the Supreme Court ruled Thompson was not required to show that he had been affirmatively exonerated of committing the alleged crime and, instead, “need only show that his prosecution ended without a conviction.”  

Ali worked with now U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit judge Bradley Garcia in a case raising important issues involving access to courts for indigent incarcerated people. Garcia took the lead on the case pro bono and Ali said of him he “litigated the hell out of it,”.

Ali is currently representing the mother of Ahmaud Arbery in a civil suit against the people responsible for the murder of her son. Arbery was a 25-year-old black man murdered while jogging in a neighborhood near Brunswick, Georgia on February 23, 2020.

Political Activity

Ali has numerous political contributions to his name. His donation recipients include President Joe Biden and Democrat candidates for both the Georgia and Texas House of Representatives.

Overall Assessment

Despite Ali not reaching his 40th birthday yet, he has a vast legal career with an extensive progressive pro bono portfolio. If confirmed, he could serve on the court for decades and likely will be on any Democrat president’s short list for elevation for the foreseeable future. Significant opposition from senate Republicans should be expected through the confirmation process. Senate Democrats (And possibly Vice President Harris) have the votes to confirm Ali if they can keep their caucus together with nearly a year left in President Biden’s term.

References

109 Comments

  1. Frank's avatar

    Interested to hear about the connection with Garcia, had no idea about that. All in all, a good nominee with a diverse background compared to many of Biden’s recent nominees, even if I would prefer a bit more experience. I would expect a party line vote for Ali based on his background, and he probably won’t get a vote until after the election or next year depending how on the results of the Senate elections go. Nonetheless, I do think he’ll get confirmed eventually.

    Liked by 1 person

  9. Gavi's avatar

    This is an A nominee from Biden, as scarce as those are these days. Dems do not need Republican votes to confirm him. Nor can Republicans do anything special to slow down his confirmation. Confirmation of the Ali nomination will follow every single step taken in the Irma Ramirez confirmation, regardless of the final vote total.
    All that matters are for Durbin to process the nomination through SJC, Schumer to schedule the vote, and, as you say, Dequan, Dems “have the votes to confirm Ali if they can keep their caucus together with nearly a year left in President Biden’s term.”
    What wouldn’t I give for him to replace the execrable Karen Henderson!

    Liked by 2 people

  12. Zack's avatar

    The South Dakota nominees aren’t going to be as progressive as the people they’re replacing but they appear to be moderate and as was pointed out yesterday, fighting over liberal nominees in red states doesn’t matter as much when you know the conservative circuit they are a part of (the 8th) will overturn them in a heartbeat.

    Liked by 1 person

  16. tsb1991's avatar

    One thing I’m curious about is what the Senate does if the supplemental doesn’t get 60 votes on Wednesday. If cloture isn’t filed on anything else today or tomorrow they’d have nothing lined up for Thursday. Worst case scenario from a nominations standpoint is that the supplemental is blocked on Wednesday, nothing is setup for Thursday, and the Senate decides to just skip town and start the two week break early (from their perspective it’d be the tradeoff for coming in on Monday today). This would mean that the nominations hearing set for Thursday would be canceled. On the flipside I’d have a hard time seeing them cancelling the hearing with that short notice since I’m sure all of the nominees are ready to go and you’d be disrupting their travel plans for themselves and their families and whatnot.

    Only things that are given today are A) The unanimous confirmation of Laroski and B) Cloture filed on the motion to proceed to the supplemental. In a unicorn world we’d get cloture on additional nominations as a backup plan for the rest of the week.

    Liked by 1 person

  18. Mitch's avatar

    I found more about Camela Theeler. She’s a Republican, but seems to be both moderate and apolitical. She’s made only three small donations, one to moderate Congressman Dusty Johnson, and two to Jim Abbot, a Democrat and academic who ran for Congress in 1996 and Governor in 2002.

    Liked by 3 people

  19. tsb1991's avatar

    Interesting moment watching the non-exciting Laroski vote. Vance voted No, and then one of the guys sitting at the table up front bolted from the chamber to go grab him and switch his vote. Probably a habit of Vance never voting yes lol.

    Speaking of, if anyone has a good answer, are those people that sit at the mini-tables up front the Democratic/Republican secretaries? It looks like they have the schedules and votes for the day, and I wonder if each side has their own talking points printed out for Senators on why to support or oppose whatever’s being voted on, lol.

    I also wonder if those are the people that operate the Senate Cloakroom Twitter feed (which is operated by Republican staff) and the Majority Floor Updates feed (operated by Democratic staff).

    Liked by 1 person

  20. Zack's avatar

    By this time tomorrow, Amy M. Baggio will be confirmed to the district of Oregon.
    I know her seat won’t open up until August but IMO, if you have a chance to get an easy nominee way now, do it.
    That way, you can focus on nominees who will need the full senate like Mustafa Kasubhai will later on.

    Liked by 1 person

    • burbs's avatar

      Damn shame Blumenthal isn’t Senate Judiciary Chair or Majority Leader then when compared to Durbin’s pathetic, lackluster answer of “I don’t know” when asked if Dems can catch up to Trumps’ number. And Schumer’s lackluster scheduling where he is more interested in confirming administrative positions for people who could hold office for less than a year if Biden loses versus judges who will hold them for life.

      Liked by 1 person

    • tsb1991's avatar

      I’d say the most informative part of that article was that at least Tillis confirmed that he’s in talks with the White House (I’m sure Budd is the bigger problem there), and that the White House is still in talks over red state nominees.

      With cloture on the supplemental likely to fail now, I hope to god we get cloture filed on a nominee or two tomorrow so there’s something to vote for on Thursday. I doubt they stick around for the weekend and they’ll take the two week break after the cloture vote fails.

      Liked by 1 person

  22. Joe's avatar

    TSB, I hate to say it but my guess is that if the supplemental fails then Schumer will probably hold a vote on a very minor/non controversial administration position and call it a week. That’s usually the MO.

    He may file cloture on Thursday for a couple of nominees after the recess, though. 2-3 district nominees wouldn’t surprise me (maybe some of the Florida nominees?)

    Liked by 1 person

  25. Ben's avatar

    There was some confusion the other day about how/why this week’s business meeting and nominee hearing were announced as occurring at the same time. Looking at the overall senate hearing calendar, it does confirm they’ve been rolled together. A nice time saver, since the batch will be held over anyway.

    “ Business meeting to consider the nominations of Ann Marie McIff Allen, to be United States District Judge for the District of Utah, Susan M. Bazis, to be United States District Judge for the District of Nebraska, Ernest Gonzalez, and Leon Schydlower, both to be a United States District Judge for the Western District of Texas, Kelly Harrison Rankin, to be United States District Judge for the District of Wyoming, and Robin Michelle Meriweather, of Virginia, to be a Judge of the United States Court of Federal Claims; to be immediately followed by a hearing to examine pending nominations.”

    Liked by 3 people

    • tsb1991's avatar

      Interestingly, they’re listed on the SJC site but not colored red, which would indicate that they’d be up for a vote. I still expect the nominees to be held over and not be voted on until when the Senate gets back from their break since we can’t have nice things, but I wonder what the possibility is of those nominees just getting voice votes or quick committee votes before proceeding to the hearing.

      Liked by 1 person

  27. Mike S.'s avatar

    Given that the cloture bill on the immigration package is going to fail, I would file cloture on Mangi and Lee today. Barasso is still out, which means you likely wont need the VP for Thursday votes. Get the most controversial noms confirmed ASAP – the closer you get to the election, the less likely Tester and Brown are going to want to vote on them.

    Liked by 1 person

  28. tsb1991's avatar

    By the looks of it there’s full Democratic attendance today (the cloture vote on the State Dept. nominee was 90-5, four of the five nonvotes were Republicans, the D nonvote was Bernie, who did vote for confirmation).

    Best case scenario we’d get cloture on a district and appeals court nominee for Thursday. Neither would be confirmed that day but could be setup for confirmations when the Senate returns from the two week break.

    In “I wish there was a live mic on for this” I did see Manchin sitting down and talking with Durbin during this vote, maybe Durbin was getting a whip count from Manchin?

    Liked by 1 person

  32. tsb1991's avatar

    Baggio confirmed 54-44.

    Merkley delivering a speech on Ukraine. Hope to god this doesn’t mean he’s wrapping up tonight, as that would most likely indicate no cloture motions being sent out (sometimes if Schumer doesn’t wrap up, it’s a Senator who will wrap up after giving a floor speech).

    Liked by 1 person

  33. Joe's avatar

    We should get some nominees tomorrow.

    As for Thursday, Schumer will likely seek unanimous consent to skip cloture on a very non controversial administration nominee. That’s typically the case when there’s an empty date and the senate doesn’t want to appear that they aren’t doing anything.

    Liked by 1 person

  34. Ryan J's avatar

    If we have nominees tomorrow, there’s a number of places they could come from, which include:

    S.D. Cal. (replacement for Gaston)
    C.D. Cal (3 vacancies; Biden could name 1 nominee now and 2 later)
    E.D. Cal (understaffed so should be a priority)
    N.D. Cal
    E.D. Washington (replacement for Bjelkengren)
    D.C. (replacement for Edelman)
    Massachusetts
    South Dakota
    Maryland
    Maine/CA1
    Vermont
    Arizona
    E.D. Pennsylvania
    New York

    Less likely but possible:
    E.D. Wisconsin (though I don’t trust that Ron Johnson will actually follow through)
    Texas
    Louisiana (though John N. Kennedy’s comments might mean no future nominees this year)
    North Carolina/CA4
    Tennessee/CA6
    Illinois/CA7

    Liked by 1 person

    • star0garnet's avatar

      I’d say we have about

      95% chance for SD x2
      45% for AZ x3
      Each of the CA districts, ED/SD/WD NY, ND IL, and ED WA have about a 1/3 chance of making an appearance
      20% for CA6 x1, 10% each for CA6x2 and WD TN
      Maybe 10% for DC, but I’m expecting a new selection process

      I don’t think I’d give anything else more than 5%; perhaps 25% cumulatively for a Kelly Rankin-style Republican that the admin’s been sitting on for a long time.

      Liked by 2 people

  35. Ryan J's avatar

    I read the article that someone posted yesterday and the article named a number of potential upcoming problems:

    1. Red state senators becoming more uncooperative than they already are (especially if they think Trump will win)
    2. Sinema, Tester, & Brown becoming less cooperative as they are all up for re-election

    Other problems include:
    3. Absences due to senators being on the campaign trail (24 of the 34 senators running for re-election are Democrats/Independents)
    4. If the House GOP succeeds in impeaching Mayorkas in a re-vote, that would waste valuable Senate time.
    5. If a Supreme Court vacancy opened up, there would be 50 votes + VP to confirm the nominee, however GOP senators might withdraw blue slips to protest (Dem senators in California, New Mexico & New York withdrew blue slips to protest the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett)

    Liked by 1 person

  36. keystone's avatar

    So……

    Sens Durbin and Duckworth announced a screening process for the CDIL seat.

    Application Due date is Monday, March 4th.

    James Shadid is currently in the seat, based in Peoria, and his senior status date is Sept 27. Shadid announced on Oct 31. Hopefully, the IL Sens are moving a bit faster with the 7th Circuit Nom process.

    https://www.durbin.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/durbin-duckworth-announce-screening-committee-application-process-for-federal-district-court-in-the-central-district-of-illinois-2-5-24

    Liked by 1 person

    • Frank's avatar

      Why would that be a hope? Almost certainly the same amount of time is being spent on that process that is being spent for the district court, I’m not aware of the IL senators doing otherwise. If anything, I’d think they’d spend more time on the appeals court since it is a higher court.

      Like

      • Gavi's avatar

        I’m with Frank, even though I disagree with this approach.
        I cannot believe the Il senators have been sitting on this vacancy for so long! They are just announcing the screening process? The rot starts from the top. The majority whip and SJC chair? If Durbin of all people can’t move faster on district court vacancies, what hope do we have that other Dems who are less attuned to the judiciary will? Dems are so unserious about the courts, it’s quite sad. Whatever happened to the timeline that Dana Remus laid out to Dems? She’s gone, so the successive WHCs abandoned it?
        All of last year folks like Frank tried to convince us that there’s still time, no need to rush. Well, Durbin must have been listening to you.
        And to think that they are about to go even slower with the Rovner vacancy is! Gen Zers, please save us!

        Liked by 2 people

  37. Zack's avatar

    If we get nominees tomorrow, I will be shocked if there aren’t a couple of CA nominees among them, as I can see Butler wanting to make her impression on the federal bench while she still can, plus the fact any vacancies can result in judicial emergencies.
    At some point though, seats will have to be added to the Eastern District of CA as well as a few other places but that won’t happen for a while.

    Liked by 1 person

  38. Ben's avatar

    For those wondering what Schumer’s got planned for the rest of the week, after the bipartisan deal fails today he’ll apparently push a version that’s just the ukraine/israel/gaza/taiwan aid parts. Don’t know if that’s any more likely to proceed, but that’s why no judges have been teed up.

    Liked by 3 people

    • tsb1991's avatar

      I saw the news for it this morning. Republicans sound more supportive of this but this also explains why no cloture motions were sent out yesterday (was hoping for some votes on nominations on Thursday). It sounds like the vote for the border-less supplemental will happen today after the original supplemental is blocked. A tea leave that the Senate is staying beyond Thursday? I think the House is in session next week so the endgame may be to pass it before the Senate leaves and put it in the House’s lap.

      Liked by 1 person

    • Ethan's avatar

      I’m surprised Coggins was chosen since there are others in that district with more federal practice experience but I’ll take her since she’s a young Black woman. I expected Julie Yap though but Coggins’ background as a juvenile court judge is certainly intriguing.

      As for Bulsara, he was on my radar but I was hoping for someone more progressive. But at least he should be confirmed without much controversy. And there are no active AAPI men on EDNY so now there will be.

      And I do wonder if one of Theeler or Schulte will end up moving to Rapid City.

      Liked by 1 person

      • keystone's avatar

        @ethan
        Theeler’s husband is VP in a large bank based in Sioux Falls, so I’m not sure I see her making the across the state.

        I don’t know what Schulte’s home situation is, but I have seen a few articles from his time at head of the State Bar about him working to encourage more Native Americans in SD to enter the legal profession. I know that Native courts encompass a big part of the cases around Rapid City, so maybe there’s something there.

        For Bulsara – do we know if this was a Schumer or a Gillibrand pick?

        Liked by 2 people

  42. Joe's avatar

    Another solid batch of nominees. Always loved to see a good red state package and these two seem like fine picks.

    Some back of the napkin math. With 177 confirmations and 26 nominees somewhere in the process that would bring Biden’s total to 203, assuming all are confirmed.

    If we take it a step further and assume that the other six appellate (1st, 4th, 6th, 6th, 7th, 11th) and 22 (by my count) blue state district vacancies are also filled that would bring Biden to 231 by the end of his term. I certainly hope we can surpass even that, but that would certainly be a win in my opinion.

    Liked by 2 people

  44. Zack's avatar

    I would think after South Dakota the areas where red state senators will work to fill vacancies in their states is non-existent.
    Thus I expect blue state nominees (sans the Circuit court seats) to be the only ones we see from here on out.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Joe's avatar

      I had the same thought Zack. Other than Maine, I’m not too bullish on any other vacancies getting nominees. I guess TX or LA could be possibilities, but based on Kennedys recent comments they may be hitting pause. And I know Cornyn said a while back that he and Cruz were most focused on El Paso so they may be done too until after November

      Liked by 1 person

  46. keystone's avatar

    Casual observation – It seems like WH is starting to nominate, or consider, more South Asian candidates.

    It makes me think we shouldn’t sleep on Jason Mehta’s chances of being the 11th Circuit nom. He was a candidate for the MDFL US Attorney role, he’s young, he’s a Dem, his career focuses on healthcare and fraud (so not sure what Rep opposition would be).

    I’d prob prefer Embry Kidd or Stacie Harris or Andrew Warren (could you imagine those fireworks), but Mehta could be a viable choice.

    Liked by 1 person

  47. Mike S.'s avatar

    Nice to see noms this morning, particularly in South Dakota. While I wish we got the full six, I will take four – especially for the understaffed E.D.Cal.

    In a somewhat related to judicial nominations news… Matt Rosendale has announced he is running in MT!
    If he wins the Republican primary, that gives Tester a pretty good shot of winning. Along with Trump endorsing the most conservative person running against Brown in OH, we might have a chance at a 50/50 Senate again, should Biden be reelected.

    I think this is great news for the federal judiciary!

    Liked by 4 people

  50. tsb1991's avatar

    As expected, the SJC business meeting tomorrow was cancelled, so it would have been a holdover meeting for the red state nominees with nothing else going on. Still waiting to see what nominees appear at the hearing tomorrow just to avoid any surprises.

    The red state nominees should be voted out of committee on the 29th, hopefully the nominees from tomorrow’s hearing will get listed then and held over (since it will have been three weeks from their hearing), setting up a vote on 3/7.

    Today’s nominees should be good to go for a 3/6 hearing, next round of nominees should hopefully come in two weeks to make a 3/20 hearing.

    Liked by 2 people

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