The President is announcing his intent to nominate three individuals to federal district courts—all of whom are extraordinarily qualified, experienced, and devoted to the rule of law and our Constitution.

These choices also continue to fulfill the President’s promise to ensure that the nation’s courts reflect the diversity that is one of our greatest assets as a country—both in terms of personal and professional backgrounds.

This will be President Biden’s fifty-fourth round of nominees for federal judicial positions, bringing the number of announced federal judicial nominees to 257.

United States District Court Announcements

Elizabeth C. Coombe: Nominee for the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York

Elizabeth C. Coombe has served as the First Assistant United States Attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of New York since 2018. She joined the Office in 2003 and previously served as Chief of its Criminal Division from 2014 to 2018. Earlier in her career, Ms. Coombe served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia from 1998 to 2003; a trial attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Division, Commercial Litigation Branch from 1996 to 1997; and a staff attorney in the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Enforcement Division from 1994 to 1996. She served as a law clerk for Judge Diana E. Murphy on the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota from 1992 to 1994. Ms. Coombe received her J.D., cum laude, from the University of Michigan Law School in 1992 and her B.A., summa cum laude, from Hamilton College in 1989.

Sarah M. Davenport: Nominee for the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico

Sarah M. Davenport has served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Mexico in Las Cruces, New Mexico since 2009. Before that, Ms. Davenport worked as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney in Las Cruces from 2008 to 2009 and as a law clerk in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Albuquerque, New Mexico from 2006 to 2008. Ms. Davenport received her J.D. from the University of New Mexico School of Law in 2006 and her B.Mus. from New Mexico State University in 1998.

Sharad H. Desai: Nominee for the United States District Court for the District of Arizona

Sharad H. Desai has been Vice President and General Counsel for Honeywell International’s Integrated Supply Chain and Information Technology divisions in Phoenix, Arizona since 2023. He has worked in senior legal counsel roles at Honeywell since 2015. From 2007 to 2015, Mr. Desai worked as an attorney with the Phoenix law firm Osborn Maledon, P.A., first as an associate and later as partner. He began his legal career serving as a law clerk for Justice Rebecca White Berch on the Arizona Supreme Court from 2006 to 2007. Mr. Desai received his J.D. from New York University School of Law in 2006 and his B.A. and B.S. from the University of Arizona in 2003.

 
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