A group of Black attorneys at the Department of Justice are backing 16 current and potential nominees to serve as U.S. attorneys a move that comes after barely any Black U.S. attorneys were appointed under the previous administration.

The Department of Justice Association of Black Attorneys made the endorsements in a letter Friday to Attorney General Merrick Garland, White House counsel Dana Remus and Monty Wilkinson, the director of the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys, saying they were expressing their “strong support for consideration of a broadly diverse cohort of candidates and nominees to the office of United States attorney.”