(WXYZ) — President Joe Biden has announced the latest judicial nominees to the federal bench, including two judges here in Michigan.
According to the White House, Biden has nominated Judge Shalina D. Kumar to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan and Judge Jane M. Beckering to the Western District of Michigan.
Kumar is the chief circuit court judge at the Oakland County Sixth Circuit Court and has been at the court since 2007. She was appointed chief judge in January 2018.
On top of her caseload, the White House said Kumar has served as a presiding judge of the Adult Treatment Court, the Chairperson of the Oakland County Criminal Assignment Committee, the bench liaison to the Oakland County Bar Association Circuit Court Committee, a member of the Michigan State Bar Professionalism Committee, and a member of the Executive Committee of the Michigan Judges’ Association.
Kumar graduated from the University of Michigan and then the University of Detroit-Mercy law school, and worked in private practice from 1997-2007.
Beckering has served with the Michigan Court of Appeals since 2007 and is the chief judge pro tempore of the court.
She was a trial lawyer in private practice for 17 years and founded a law firm in Grand Rapids.
Both still have to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate. If confirmed, Kumar would be the first federal judge of South Asian descent in Michigan.
