Biden cancels Trump's nomination of Indian American as judge

US President Joe Biden on Thursday withdrew the nomination of Indian-American advocate Vijay Shanker to be an Associate Judge of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals.

Former President Donald Trump had re-nominated Shanker to the top post on January 2, two months after he lost the presidential elections and just a little over a fortnight before Biden was sworn in as the 46th President of the United States on January 20.

Vijay Shanker’s nomination was not the only one withdrawn. The Senate has received withdrawal notifications of more than 30 such Trump nominees, announced during the last months of the Trump administration.

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At present, Shanker serves as Senior Litigation Counsel in the Department of Justice, Criminal Division, and as Deputy Chief of the Appellate Section.

Shanker joined the Department of Justice in 2012. Before that he was in private practice with the Washington, DC, offices of Mayer Brown, LLC and Covington & Burling, LLP.

After graduating from a law school, Shanker served as a law clerk to Judge Chester J. Straub on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

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Shanker completed his bachelors, cum laude, from Duke University and his Juris Doctor from the University of Virginia School of Law, where he served as a Notes Editor for the Virginia Law Review and was inducted into the Order of the Coif.