(l-r) Nominees Jacquelyn D. Austin, to be U.S. District Judge for the District of South Carolina, Jacqueline Becerra, Melissa Damian, and David Seymour Leibowitz, to be U.S. District Judges for the Southern District of Florida, Julie Simone Sneed, to be U.S. District Judge for the Middle District of Florida, and Kirk Edward Sherriff, to be U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of Californiat, testifie before the Senate Judiciary Committee during a judicial nominations hearing, on Wednesday, November 29, 2023. Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM
The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing Wednesday for six judicial nominees, including a pick for California district court.
Republican senators grilled Assistant U.S. Attorney Kirk E. Sherriff, a nominee for the U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of California, over his affiliation with the ACLU in Southern California. The lawmakers questioned Sheriff, who had donated to the group around $120 annually for roughly three years, about the non-profit’s past statements, including that U.S. policing has “historical roots in slave patrols.”
