Biden to nominate Nashville attorney for Sixth Circuit federal appeals court

President Joe Biden plans to nominate a Nashville lawyer to take the place of a soon-retiring federal appeals court judge who practiced in the same law firm, the White House announced Thursday.

The announcement comes as part of the president's most recent slate of judicial nominations, bringing the number of Biden nominees to the federal judiciary to 244.

The president said he intends to nominate Karla M. Campbell to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit to fill a vacancy after Judge Jane Bransetter Stranch steps down from active service on the court. The Sixth Circuit Court, based in Cincinnati, hears cases from Tennessee, Kentucky, Michigan and Ohio. Campbell is Biden's fifth announced nominee to the court.

This would be Campbell's first time on the bench if confirmed, having worked at Nashville law firm Stranch, Jennings & Garvey since 2009. She became a partner in 2015 and has been of counsel since 2022.

"During her 15 years with our firm, she has demonstrated her profound legal acumen, meticulous attention to detail and deep commitment to justice," the law firm said in an emailed statement. "Her ability to navigate complex legal issues will be an asset to the court. We look forward to her speedy confirmation and the positive impact she will have on the bench for years to come."

Stranch was a managing partner at the same firm before President Barack Obama nominated her to the Sixth Circuit in 2010, overlapping with Campbell at Stranch, Jennings & Garvey for just a year. From 2010 to 2011, Campbell clerked for Stranch at the Cincinnati court. Reuters reported in January that Stranch planned to step down from active service on the court upon the confirmation of a successor.

Campbell mostly practices labor and employment law, according to her profile on the firm's website. A coalition of civil and human rights groups praised her nomination.

A statement from Lena Zwarensteyn, senior director of the fair courts program at the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, says in part that Campbell is "a respected lawyer who will bring vital but underrepresented civil rights experience to the appellate bench, particularly her background in employment law protecting the rights of working people."

Carl Tobias, Williams Chair in Law at the University of Richmond School of Law, said Campbell's experience is notable since there are "virtually no" employee-side labor lawyers in the federal judiciary, adding that Biden has "tried to balance that out."

Campbell has worked with marginalized groups, including in a class action lawsuit brought by incarcerated residents against the Tennessee Department of Correction over a lack of Hepatitis C medication and in a lawsuit accusing a Murfreesboro landscaping company of trafficking immigrants for forced labor.

Campbell could become Biden's fifth appointee to the Sixth Circuit Court after the president nominated another Tennessee lawyer in March. U.S. Attorney Kevin Ritz of the Western District of Tennessee is awaiting confirmation by the Senate to take the place of Judge Julia Smith Gibbons, a George W. Bush appointee and fellow Tennessean.

If both Campbell and Ritz are confirmed, seven of the court's 16 judges will have been appointed by Democratic presidents. First, Campbell will go before the Senate Judiciary Committee for a panel hearing, likely within a few weeks. Three weeks after that, the committee will vote on her nomination. If she gets a majority, her nomination goes to the Senate floor for a debate on the floor, a cloture vote to limit debate and a confirmation vote, Tobias said.

Campbell is 2002 graduate from the University of Virginia and a 2008 graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center. Campbell chose not to comment when reached via email.

Evan Mealins is the justice reporter for The Tennessean. Contact him at emealins@gannett.com or follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @EvanMealins.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Biden nominates Karla Campbell, Nashville lawyer, for Sixth Circuit