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Floor Speech
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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, today, the Senate will vote to confirm Sparkle Leah Sooknanan to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
Born in Trinidad and Tobago, Ms. Sooknanan earned her B.S. from Saint Francis College in 2002, her M.B.A. from Hofstra University in 2003, and a J.D., summa cum laude, from Brooklyn Law School in 2010.
After graduating from law school, Ms. Sooknanan served as a law clerk to the Honorable Eric N. Vitaliano on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York between 2010 and 2011 and for the Honorable Guido Calabresi on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from 2011 to 2012. Following her clerkships, she joined the U.S. Department of Justice through its honors program as an appellate attorney in the civil division. Ms. Sooknanan then served as a law clerk to Justice Sonia Sotomayor on the U.S. Supreme Court from 2013 to 2014.
Following the completion of her Supreme Court clerkship, Ms. Sooknanan joined Jones Day in Washington, DC, as an associate between 2014 and 2019 and, later partner from 2020 to 2021. She spent more than 6 years at the firm representing clients in complex, multifaceted Federal district court and appellate litigation.
In 2021, Ms. Sooknanan rejoined the Department of Justice as Deputy Associate Attorney General in the Associate Attorney General's Office. In the fall of 2023, she moved to the civil rights division to serve as the Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, the second highest leadership position in the division.
The American Bar Association rated Ms. Sooknanan as ``well qualified,'' and her nomination is strongly supported by Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton.
Ms. Sooknanan's experience clerking at all levels of the Federal judiciary, as well as her work in private practice and public service, have prepared her to serve as a district judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
I am proud to support her nomination.
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