Biden Nominates 9 for Fed Prosecutor   09/28 06:10

   

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Joe Biden is nominating nine lawyers to run 
U.S. attorney's offices across the country, a diverse group of candidates in 
the latest round of picks for the top law enforcement positions.

   The nominations, announced by the White House on Tuesday, are expected to 
run the federal prosecutors' offices in Hawaii, Rhode Island, North Carolina, 
Colorado, Ohio, Vermont and the U.S. Virgin Islands. They would include several 
historic firsts, including the first Black female attorneys to lead their 
districts, the Biden administration said.

   The Justice Department's 93 U.S. attorneys, who are responsible for federal 
criminal prosecutions in their respective districts, are central to the Biden 
administration's efforts to combat violent crime.

   The candidates were "chosen for their devotion to enforcing the law, their 
professionalism, their experience and credentials in this field, their 
dedication to pursuing equal justice for all, and their commitment to the 
independence of the Department of Justice," the White House said.

   The announcement also means Biden has now nominated 25 people to serve as 
U.S. attorneys, positions that have been filled for months by acting U.S. 
attorneys.

   The nominees include Clare Connors, who served as the attorney general in 
Hawaii in 2019, and Sandra Hairston, who has been the acting U.S. attorney in 
the Middle District of North Carolina since March. If confirmed by the Senate, 
Hairston would be the first Black woman to hold that position.

   The White House is also nominating Zachary Cunha to be the U.S. attorney in 
Rhode Island, where he currently runs the office's civil division. Michael 
Easley Jr., a partner at the law firm McGuire Woods, is being tapped to run the 
office in the Eastern District of North Carolina, based in Raleigh.

   Cole Finegan, managing partner of the law firm Hogan Lovells in Denver, is 
being put up for U.S. attorney in Colorado, and Nikolas Kerest, a longtime 
federal prosecutor in Vermont, is nominated to run the office there.

   The other nominees include longtime federal prosecutors. Dena King, who has 
been in charge of prosecuting violent crime and narcotics cases in the Western 
District of North Carolina, is proposed to run the U.S. attorney's office there 
and would be the first Black person to hold the position. And Kenneth Parker is 
being nominated for the Southern District of Ohio.

   The administration has also nominated Delia L. Smith to run the U.S. 
attorney's office in the U.S. Virgin Island. She has worked there as a 
prosecutor since 2005 and would be the first Black woman to hold the position.